Kernel 2.6.2 Changes

[AthlonRob]

On Thu, 2004-02-05 at 16:57, Jim Thompson wrote:

> > Linux-wlan-ng brings more to the plate than extreme tweakability and the
> > 802.11 mlme/mib interface.  As far as I've been able to tell, the
> > drivers have a more broad list of supported devices.  They seemed to
> > work flawlessly with my card (an AirLink+)... sans encryption, although
> > I am not sure if that is the problem of the drivers or my configuration.
> 
> Likely the problem is behind the keyboard.  :-)
> 
> Seriously, apart from firmware rev issues, if hostap doesn't work on a
> given card, then it is unlikely that linux-wlan-ng will work on that
> same card.

Well... I feel obliged to give the whole story of the card now.

I bought it because it was cheap.  Very little information exists about
the card except that it has a Prism II chipset in it.

I began with the wlan-ng drivers.  The first few I tried wouldn't
compile against 2.6.0, so I decided to attempt the in-kernel drivers. 
They recognized the card, but refused to associate with an AP... leading
me to believe something was fishy about this card.

I tried the latest wlan-ng beta, and sure enough, it compiled.  It
worked, I was able to get it associated with my AP and everything was
hunky-dory fine, minus WEP.  I'm not sure if the configuration files
were in flux with the beta I used or what, but changes I made to them
seemed to have no effect on the running of the card.  Oh well, I
thought... I can live without WEP.

Then I became adventurous one day and decided to try the HostAP drivers,
as I knew they had WE support.  They compiled and worked great, they
just wouldn't update their status as other drivers do with 2.6.x.

Then I upgraded to 2.6.2, requiring the use of HostAP CVS drivers. 
They, too, work great.  They just don't seem to be working with WEP
right now, and I'm not really sure why.  No, wait, now they're working
with WEP.  Blech... I wonder if this card is just iffy or what!

No, wait, now the card started flashing like it isn't connected to an
AP.  No, now it is connected, just DHCP isn't working.  Now it says it
is connected, I manually gave it an IP, but packets are coming back.

Fscking wifi card......

> > Really, I wish I hadn't fried my Atmel card... those drivers were nice
> > and simple to understand and get working.  :-)
> 
> But you can't run these as an AP.

But I don't want to.  :-)

> > Unfortunately the users don't necessarily have the skillsets necessary
> > to fix the issues.  Really, I have a choice in the matter.  Do I take
> > the time necessary to learn a little bit of the C language, then learn
> > how to write/hack hardware drivers (I know a little bit of C++, not C),
> > to patch wlan-ng for WE support... do I learn enough C and driver
> > hacking to patch up the in-kernel orinoco drivers, do I make due with
> > what is out there, hoping somebody else has the motivation to fix the
> > drivers, or do I spend $60 on a decent well supported card?
> 
> Obviously, its your choice.

Certainly it is my choice, but hardly a free choice.

> > Ideally yes, free software is all about empowering the users... if they
> > want something, they go and do it.  In the real works, we users don't
> > have the skillset necessary to really do it.  :-(
> 
> But you can hire those that do.

Perhaps in your financial situation you can afford to hire a programmer
to fix drivers for you.  I, unfortunately, do not have the financial
power to do such things.  ;-)

Rob