Linux and OpenBSD: The state of wireless

[n0cmonkey]

madwifi and various URLs are support for those chipsets in Linux. Over all, I'd say this is a great list, for both systems.

Corrections and additions welcome and appreciated!

arionet 4500/4800 OpenBSD Linux
Atheros OpenBSD (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212) madwifi (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, AR5213)
Atmel AT76C50x OpenBSD Linux
ADMtek ADM8211 OpenBSD
BayStack 650 OpenBSD
Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 OpenBSD
Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/2225BG/2915ABG OpenBSD ipw2200.sf.net
Ralink Technology RT25x0 OpenBSD rt2400.sf.net/rt2x00.serialmonkey.com
Raytheon Raylink OpenBSD Linux
Proxim RangeLAN2 OpenBSD
Realtek 8180 OpenBSD
WaveLAN/IEEE OpenBSD Linux
Prism 2/Orinoco(?) OpenBSD Linux
Prism 3 OpenBSD
PrismGT Prism54.org
Spectrum24 OpenBSD
Planet WL 3501 Linux
Netwave Airsurfer Linux (Experimental)
TI ACX100 acx100.sf.net

EDIT: Free and Net BSD information appreciated too! :beer:

 

[Kilrsat]

Using ndiswrapper I've gotten a Microsoft MN-720 (802.11g) adapter working in Fedora Core 2. Its a broadcom chipset based device. I also have full WPA support working with it.

I know this isn't a "native" solution, but it is a functional one nonetheless.

 

[bersl2]

I know the Ralink chips have out-of-kernel drivers.

 

[uOpt]

FreeBSD supports the Intel 2100/2200BG/2225BG/2915ABG chips. It is committed to 6-current, for 5-stable you have to get it here:
http://damien.bergamini.free.fr/ipw/

Also check the forums on there if you have trouble. Same driver works on all BSDs.

It was actually much easier to make my R40 wireless work under FreeBSD than Linux. I could power up the card under Linux, it had to have the right sequence of commands in the right timing, I had to place some sleep()s in my scripts.

 

[drag]

This made my jaw drop:, from prism54.org..:

Conexant is working on providing our development team with specifications, a new source base and a firmware license. Native Linux driver support for Prism Javelin / Xbow chipset based cards may soon be added because of this.

You see the original manufacturer released GPL drivers for their chipsets. But it was taken over by broadcom/conextent thru a series of corporate take-overs.

For a long time these were my favorite wifi cards of all time.. fast, supported ALL of the modes of operation, and had excelent and stable drivers... The only thing that sucked was that you had to load a propriatory firmware via hotplug, but it was a small issue in the sceme of things.

Well they originally had their own little proccessor, but like other companies, they changed the chipset to run with software emulation. The sucky part was that they didn't change the PCI id (what the system uses to identify the type of card) and didn't change the name. Manufacturers bought the newer/cheaper versions and used the same versioning numbers and names.

Basicly made it hell to find a compatable older-type chipset. The manufacturer even lied about making changes to the firmware, even though it was obvious that they had to make modifications to it and the windows drivers in order to get the newer cards to work.

so maybe they are turning over a new leaf and pressure for good linux support from people like Intel and friends (OBSD) is making them a little bit friendlier.

Here is a listing of compatable cards:
http://prism54.org/supported_cards.php

That used to be 2-3 pages long and full of cards.. but not no more. Even the cards listed are questionable. (check with the prism54 forums before buying, I guess.)

My next prospect on favorite 802.11g cards is the ones being supported by the rt2x00 project. I would like to buy a USB version of that as soon as support matures a bit. The company that makes the chipsets have a fairly decent attitude from what I can tell.


NEVERMIND:
from http://prism54.org/pipermail/prism54-devel/2004-October/thread.html

> Conexant is working on providing our development team with
> specifications, a new source base and a firmware license. Native Linux
> driver support for Prism Javelin / Xbow chipset based cards may soon be
> added because of this.
>
> Has Conexant finally made up its mind? Are there any hints, when
> Conexant will finally help the prism54 project? I'm curious to know,
> when the "reverse engeneering hell" will end.

This is outdated. AFAIK Conexant hast stopped supported this project and
doesn't give any information for the softmac chip. Jean-Baptiste Note is
working on reverse engeneering these chips. There is already a limited
but working driver for USB devices and hopefully a PCI driver will be
added soon. His site can be found here:
http://jbnote.free.fr/prism54usb/

Maxi

conextent sucks

 

[bersl2]

Originally posted by: drag
conextent sucks

Conexant and Broadcom suck the big one!

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Kilrsat
Using ndiswrapper I've gotten a Microsoft MN-720 (802.11g) adapter working in Fedora Core 2. Its a broadcom chipset based device. I also have full WPA support working with it.

I know this isn't a "native" solution, but it is a functional one nonetheless.

ndiswrapper is junk, and shouldn't be used.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: bersl2
I know the Ralink chips have out-of-kernel drivers.

I believe that's mentioned in my post.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: drag

so maybe they are turning over a new leaf and pressure for good linux support from people like Intel and friends (OBSD) is making them a little bit friendlier.

I wouldn't mention Intel and OpenBSD in the same category. OpenBSD promotes freedom and usefulness, Intel doesn't. Intel isn't a friend of the F/OSS community. They won't allow redistribution on their firmware, and the docs aren't appearing.

The best chipsets are the RAlink stuff. The chipsets coming out of Taiwan are friendly, the US ones suck.

 

[Kilrsat]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: Kilrsat
Using ndiswrapper I've gotten a Microsoft MN-720 (802.11g) adapter working in Fedora Core 2. Its a broadcom chipset based device. I also have full WPA support working with it.

I know this isn't a "native" solution, but it is a functional one nonetheless.

ndiswrapper is junk, and shouldn't be used.

If you'd like to supply me with another $10 ($10.54 is your total budget, so $.54 to cover shipping or WI tax) 802.11g pcmcia card that would work in a n0c-approved solution, go ahead.

The fact that it works even some of the time tells me that there is a way to get your device to work with linix regardless of if the manufacturer cares about linux or not. I see it as a positive step, since its just another way to get more devices people use working. Ideally, yes, it would be great if the manufacturers stepped up and provided documentation or direct support, but that isn't going to happen everywhere.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Kilrsat

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: Kilrsat
Using ndiswrapper I've gotten a Microsoft MN-720 (802.11g) adapter working in Fedora Core 2. Its a broadcom chipset based device. I also have full WPA support working with it.

I know this isn't a "native" solution, but it is a functional one nonetheless.

ndiswrapper is junk, and shouldn't be used.

If you'd like to supply me with another $10 ($10.54 is your total budget, so $.54 to cover shipping or WI tax) 802.11g pcmcia card that would work in a n0c-approved solution, go ahead.

The fact that it works even some of the time tells me that there is a way to get your device to work with linix regardless of if the manufacturer cares about linux or not. I see it as a positive step, since its just another way to get more devices people use working. Ideally, yes, it would be great if the manufacturers stepped up and provided documentation or direct support, but that isn't going to happen everywhere.

There are plenty of solutions out there. If you sell your worthless card you can easily support a company that supports F/OSS. ndiswrapper isn't a solution, it's crap.

 

[Kilrsat]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: Kilrsat

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: Kilrsat
Using ndiswrapper I've gotten a Microsoft MN-720 (802.11g) adapter working in Fedora Core 2. Its a broadcom chipset based device. I also have full WPA support working with it.

I know this isn't a "native" solution, but it is a functional one nonetheless.

ndiswrapper is junk, and shouldn't be used.

If you'd like to supply me with another $10 ($10.54 is your total budget, so $.54 to cover shipping or WI tax) 802.11g pcmcia card that would work in a n0c-approved solution, go ahead.

The fact that it works even some of the time tells me that there is a way to get your device to work with linix regardless of if the manufacturer cares about linux or not. I see it as a positive step, since its just another way to get more devices people use working. Ideally, yes, it would be great if the manufacturers stepped up and provided documentation or direct support, but that isn't going to happen everywhere.

There are plenty of solutions out there. If you sell your worthless card you can easily support a company that supports F/OSS. ndiswrapper isn't a solution, it's crap.

Except none of your other solutions fit my $10.54 budget, therefore all of your solutions are crap

It all depends how you look at it.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Kilrsat

Except none of your other solutions fit my $10.54 budget, therefore all of your solutions are crap

It all depends how you look at it.

Yes they do. If you sell that paperweight you have, you'll have more than enough money to get a useful adapter. A viable, non-crap solution.

Instead, you're promoting the act of ignoring F/OSS. You're actively working against F/OSS.

 

[Kilrsat]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: Kilrsat

Except none of your other solutions fit my $10.54 budget, therefore all of your solutions are crap

It all depends how you look at it.

Yes they do. If you sell that paperweight you have, you'll have more than enough money to get a useful adapter. A viable, non-crap solution.

Instead, you're promoting the act of ignoring F/OSS. You're actively working against F/OSS.

My wireless card cost me $9.99+tax, no rebates, no monkeying around. Show me a F/OSS friendly adapter that could be purchased for the same price and I'd buy it. Telling me to sell my current adapter does nothing to change the fact that you still haven't pointed out a F/OSS friendly adapter at that pricepoint that I could have purchased instead.

As for actively working against the F/OSS movement, no one will make a switch to F/OSS software if their hardware doesn't work. That means that the people who scrutinized every piece of hardware for compatibility prior to purchasing don't really matter, they are already sold on the F/OSS idea. More users = more pressure on manufacturers = better support in the future. Right now the effort should be in just getting devices to work.

Right now you have the two major video chipset manufacturers releasing binary only drivers. Does that mean anyone that uses an nvidia or ati based video card is undermining the entire F/OSS effort? No, it means that more machines are capable of running F/OSS software, thus letting the movement grow.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Kilrsat
My wireless card cost me $9.99+tax, no rebates, no monkeying around. Show me a F/OSS friendly adapter that could be purchased for the same price and I'd buy it. Telling me to sell my current adapter does nothing to change the fact that you still haven't pointed out a F/OSS friendly adapter at that pricepoint that I could have purchased instead.

Nice price, I'll continue looking. USB, PCI, or PCMCIA?

As for actively working against the F/OSS movement, no one will make a switch to F/OSS software if their hardware doesn't work. That means that the people who scrutinized every piece of hardware for compatibility prior to purchasing don't really matter, they are already sold on the F/OSS idea. More users = more pressure on manufacturers = better support in the future. Right now the effort should be in just getting devices to work.

The devices do work, the important ones anyhow.

Supported RAlink adapter:

The following PCI adapters should work:

A-Link WL54H. Amigo AWI-926W. AMIT WL531P. AOpen AOI-831. ASUS
WL-130g. ASUS WIFI-G-AAY. Atlantis Land A02-PCI-W54. Belkin F5D7000
v3. Canyon CN-WF511. CNet CWP-854. Compex WLP54G. Conceptronic C54Ri.
Corega CG-WLPCI54GL. Digitus DN-7006G-RA. Dynalink WLG25PCI. E-Tech
WGPI02. Edimax EW-7128g. Eminent EM3037. Encore ENLWI-G-RLAM. Eusso
UGL2454-VPR. Fiberline WL-400P. Foxconn WLL-3350. Gigabyte GN-WPKG.
Hawking HWP54GR. Hercules HWGPCI-54. iNexQ CR054g-009 (R03). JAHT
WN-4054PCI. KCORP LifeStyle KLS-660. LevelOne WNC-0301 v2. Linksys
WMP54G v4. Micronet SP906GK. Minitar MN54GPC-R. MSI MS-6834. MSI
PC54G2. OvisLink EVO-W54PCI. PheeNet HWL-PCIG/RA. Pro-Nets PC80211G.
Repotec RP-WP0854. SATech SN-54P. Signamax 065-1798. Sitecom WL-115.
SparkLAN WL-660R. Surecom EP-9321-g. Sweex LC700030. TekComm
NE-9321-g. Tonze PC-6200C. Unex CR054g-R02. Zinwell ZWX-G361. Zonet
ZEW1600.

The following CardBus adapters should work:

A-Link WL54PC. Alfa AWPC036. Amigo AWI-914W. AMIT WL531C. ASUS
WL-107G. Atlantis Land A02-PCM-W54. Belkin F5D7010 v2. Canyon CN-
WF513. CC&C WL-2102. CNet CWC-854. Conceptronic C54RC. Corega CG-WL-
CB54GL. Digitus DN-7001G-RA. Dynalink WLG25CARDBUS. E-Tech WGPC02. E-
Tech WGPC03. Edimax EW-7108PCg. Eminent EM3036. Encore ENPWI-G-RLAM.
Eusso UGL2454-01R. Fiberline WL-400X. Gigabyte GN-WMKG. Hawking
HWC54GR. Hercules HWGPCMCIA-54. JAHT WN-4054P. KCORP LifeStyle
KLS-611. LevelOne WPC-0301 v2. Micronet SP908GK V3. Minitar MN54GCB-R.
MSI CB54G2. MSI MS-6835. Pro-Nets CB80211G. Repotec RP-WB7108. SATech
SN-54C. Sitecom WL-112. SparkLAN WL-611R. Surecom EP-9428-g. Sweex
LC500050. TekComm NE-9428-g. Tonze PW-6200C. Unex MR054g-R02. Zinwell
ZWX-G160. Zonet ZEW1500.

The following Mini PCI adapters should work:

Amigo AWI-922W. Billionton MIWLGRL. Gigabyte GN-WIKG. MSI MP54G2. MSI
MS-6833. Tonze PC-620C. Zinwell ZWX-G360.

The following USB 2.0 adapters should work:

AMIT WL532U. ASUS WL-167g. Belkin F5D7050. Buffalo WLI-U2-KG54-AI.
CNet CWD-854. Compex WLU54G 2A1100. Conceptronic C54RU. D-Link DWL-
G122 (b1). Dynalink WLG25USB. E-Tech WGUS02. Gigabyte GN-WBKG. Her-
cules HWGUSB2-54. KCORP LifeStyle KLS-685. Linksys WUSB54G v4. Linksys
WUSB54GP v4. MSI MS-6861. MSI MS-6865. MSI MS-6869. Repotec RP-
WU0402. SerComm UB801R. SparkLAN WL-685R. Surecom EP-9001-g. Tonze
UW-6200C. Zonet ZEW2500P.

Broadcom who? Connexant what? There's the future of 802.11g. And it's supported. :light:

Right now you have the two major video chipset manufacturers releasing binary only drivers. Does that mean anyone that uses an nvidia or ati based video card is undermining the entire F/OSS effort? No, it means that more machines are capable of running F/OSS software, thus letting the movement grow.

The binary only drivers aren't necessary, and in the case of at least nVidia plenty of F/OSS support is out there. Look at the sources of the nv driver, they're copyright nVidia, but fall under a decent license. So I don''t need to use closed source anti-F/OSS software to get basic functionality. I don't have to be the enemy of freedom.

 

[bersl2]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: bersl2
I know the Ralink chips have out-of-kernel drivers.

I believe that's mentioned in my post.

Then you have it twice: "Ralink Technology RT25x0 OpenBSD rt2400.sf.net/rt2x00.serialmonkey.com" and "Ralink Technology RT2500 OpenBSD". Or did you just add one of them?

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: bersl2

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: bersl2
I know the Ralink chips have out-of-kernel drivers.

I believe that's mentioned in my post.

Then you have it twice: "Ralink Technology RT25x0 OpenBSD rt2400.sf.net/rt2x00.serialmonkey.com" and "Ralink Technology RT2500 OpenBSD". Or did you just add one of them?

I've got it in there twice.

 

[drag]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: drag

so maybe they are turning over a new leaf and pressure for good linux support from people like Intel and friends (OBSD) is making them a little bit friendlier.

I wouldn't mention Intel and OpenBSD in the same category. OpenBSD promotes freedom and usefulness, Intel doesn't. Intel isn't a friend of the F/OSS community. They won't allow redistribution on their firmware, and the docs aren't appearing.

The best chipsets are the RAlink stuff. The chipsets coming out of Taiwan are friendly, the US ones suck.

The only reason I mention Intel is that they may put some market pressure on other companies because they released/support OSS drivers themselves.

I know they aren't for freedom, otherwise they would release specs to people without forcing NDAs on them (which they do).

OpenBSD on the other hand rocks the house.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: drag

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: drag

so maybe they are turning over a new leaf and pressure for good linux support from people like Intel and friends (OBSD) is making them a little bit friendlier.

I wouldn't mention Intel and OpenBSD in the same category. OpenBSD promotes freedom and usefulness, Intel doesn't. Intel isn't a friend of the F/OSS community. They won't allow redistribution on their firmware, and the docs aren't appearing.

The best chipsets are the RAlink stuff. The chipsets coming out of Taiwan are friendly, the US ones suck.

The only reason I mention Intel is that they may put some market pressure on other companies because they released/support OSS drivers themselves.

I know they aren't for freedom, otherwise they would release specs to people without forcing NDAs on them (which they do).

OpenBSD on the other hand rocks the house.

These companies from Taiwan seem to be all about helping out F/OSS. They're not as big as Intel, but they seem to be more prevelant.

 

[drag]

As for actively working against the F/OSS movement, no one will make a switch to F/OSS software if their hardware doesn't work. That means that the people who scrutinized every piece of hardware for compatibility prior to purchasing don't really matter, they are already sold on the F/OSS idea. More users = more pressure on manufacturers = better support in the future. Right now the effort should be in just getting devices to work.

Oh there are definately lots of people working their @ss off reversing engineering hardware to write drivers for it.

Why do you think that nforce boards work decently in Linux? It's definately not because Nvidia helped out. Nvidia has always had a anti-linux anti-FOSS attitude. Just like conextent/broadcom.

And people argue when I say that if you want to use Linux with a computer don't buy a Nforce board. By a Via, Intel, or better yet AMD board. They all support with code and limited documentation. Hell what AMD does is good enough for FSF even. (FSF still burns on Intel for lack of proper support. They want OpenBioses even. Not until the hardware is "completely free")

The only reason that Nvidia has good Linux drivers is becuase of the unified archatecture they have and high end video card market is dominated by Unix users. And since Irix and Mips are now pretty much history (in terms of new systems) people are moving to Linux. Since differences between high-end and consumer cards are relatively small they were able to make decent linux drivers.
(edit: screenshots and images of Linux used in movie making)

Same thing with ATI. People had to muck around with drivers designed for their FireGL line of high-end cards to get their regular commercial-grade stuff to work. But because fhe lack of ATI's ability to make decent drivers they still suck even after they started trying to support comsumer grade stuff.

People are working very hard on making decent drivers. But people still should only buy hardware from FOSS-friendly companies if they can help it. Except for gaming video cards you have a good selection of FOSS-friendly hardware to choose from.

Now I dont' expect you to run off and sell all your Nvidia or NDIS-only supported wifi cards. That's not what I am saying. Far from it. If it works, it works.

What I am saying is when you buy new hardware check out the linux driver support Trust me. If you get hardware that it's makers support Linux/OBSD/whatever properly it works MUCH better and is easier to use and more stable then even when you run it in Windows.

 

[drag]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: drag

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: drag

so maybe they are turning over a new leaf and pressure for good linux support from people like Intel and friends (OBSD) is making them a little bit friendlier.

I wouldn't mention Intel and OpenBSD in the same category. OpenBSD promotes freedom and usefulness, Intel doesn't. Intel isn't a friend of the F/OSS community. They won't allow redistribution on their firmware, and the docs aren't appearing.

The best chipsets are the RAlink stuff. The chipsets coming out of Taiwan are friendly, the US ones suck.

The only reason I mention Intel is that they may put some market pressure on other companies because they released/support OSS drivers themselves.

I know they aren't for freedom, otherwise they would release specs to people without forcing NDAs on them (which they do).

OpenBSD on the other hand rocks the house.

These companies from Taiwan seem to be all about helping out F/OSS. They're not as big as Intel, but they seem to be more prevelant.

No doubt.

Looks like my next board is probably going to be a Tyan. I would like to play around a bit with LinuxBIOS of FreeBios2


And thanks for the RALink adapters. Were did you find that at.. I couldn't find a list of the products that used their adapters anywere.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: drag

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: drag

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: drag

so maybe they are turning over a new leaf and pressure for good linux support from people like Intel and friends (OBSD) is making them a little bit friendlier.

I wouldn't mention Intel and OpenBSD in the same category. OpenBSD promotes freedom and usefulness, Intel doesn't. Intel isn't a friend of the F/OSS community. They won't allow redistribution on their firmware, and the docs aren't appearing.

The best chipsets are the RAlink stuff. The chipsets coming out of Taiwan are friendly, the US ones suck.

The only reason I mention Intel is that they may put some market pressure on other companies because they released/support OSS drivers themselves.

I know they aren't for freedom, otherwise they would release specs to people without forcing NDAs on them (which they do).

OpenBSD on the other hand rocks the house.

These companies from Taiwan seem to be all about helping out F/OSS. They're not as big as Intel, but they seem to be more prevelant.

No doubt.

Looks like my next board is probably going to be a Tyan. I would like to play around a bit with LinuxBIOS of FreeBios2


And thanks for the RALink adapters. Were did you find that at.. I couldn't find a list of the products that used their adapters anywere.

I like Tyan, but I'm not so worried about the BIOS. Nothing from the bios really runs under <OS of choice>, so it doesn't affect me much. I'd support companies that officially use those types of things though.