Problem with wireless drivers to work with host ap

[Pavel Roskin]

On Sat, 06 Aug 2011 09:35:18 +0200
Tobias Gunkel <Tobias.Gunkel at gmx.de> wrote:

> I took a look into the git repository of the open source driver
> brcmsmac for BCM4313 and it does not have AP support yet
> (mac80211_if.c: /* Just STA for now */).
> 
> But according to the support table
> (http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43) the closed source wl
> driver (http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php) supports
> that card too.
> That one seems to support AP mode so you may give it a try. Note that
> it uses the old Wireless Extensions (wext) interface instead of the
> new mac80211 (brcmsmac has this one) interface.
> 
> I am not sure if hostapd supports AP mode via wext.

It doesn't, and it's a fundamental limitation.  Some functionality
needed for the access point is not provided by the wireless extensions.

One approach would be to try driver_broadcom in hostapd, but it's
unlikely to work as is.  It's for an older proprietary driver, but
Broadcom may have preserved some API.

Another approach would be to add AP mode to brcmsmac.  That would
benefit more people, and it's likely that somebody would help with
the effort.  Most of the AP code should be in the kernel already.  All
that's needed is the hardware specific part.

-- 
Regards,
Pavel Roskin