Using 802.11x wireless usb device on MIPS platform

Using 802.11x wireless usb device on MIPS platform

[colin]

Hi all,
I have used two 802.11x wireless usb devices successfully on MIPS platform.
One is realtek 8187 and the other one is ralink 2571.
I would like to put them into kernel tree and then I found that there are
not many 802.11x devices supported in Linux. Moreover, there is no any
wireless usb device supported.
It is also very strange that 8187 and 2571 both have their own ieee802.11x
stack and crypt drivers. It seems that Linux doesn't offer them.
I am wondering why Linux is so complex in 802.11x.

Regards,
Colin

Using 802.11x wireless usb device on MIPS platform

[colin]

Hi all,
I have used two 802.11x wireless usb devices successfully on MIPS platform.
One is realtek 8187 and the other one is ralink 2571.
I would like to put them into kernel tree and then I found that there are
not many 802.11x devices supported in Linux. Moreover, there is no any
wireless usb device supported.
It is also very strange that 8187 and 2571 both have their own ieee802.11x
stack and crypt drivers. It seems that Linux doesn't offer them.
I am wondering why Linux is so complex in 802.11x.

Regards,
Colin

Re: Using 802.11x wireless usb device on MIPS platform

[Ralf Baechle]

On Tue, Jan 09, 2007 at 10:52:14AM +0800, colin wrote:

> I have used two 802.11x wireless usb devices successfully on MIPS platform.
> One is realtek 8187 and the other one is ralink 2571.
> I would like to put them into kernel tree and then I found that there are
> not many 802.11x devices supported in Linux.

If you want to submit a driver to the kernel, please post it to
netdev@vger.kernel.org.  Don't expect a driver to be just accepted; it
will go through a thorough review and after all the issues have been
resolved it will be accepted.

> Moreover, there is no any wireless usb device supported.

Wireless support under Linux is suffering from several problems:

 o some core require microcode to be loaded but the vendor does not
   give such permission.
 o lack of documentation, sometimes for paranoid or bogus legal reasons or
   "intellectual property" concerns.

At times it really seems vendors are working to maximize pain for the user ...

> It is also very strange that 8187 and 2571 both have their own ieee802.11x
> stack and crypt drivers. It seems that Linux doesn't offer them.
> I am wondering why Linux is so complex in 802.11x.

Well, for one thing because 802.11 is complex.  The Linux wireless support
has gone through several generations; some of the wireless work was for
one or the other reason never integrated in the kernel.org kernel.

  Ralf

Re: Using 802.11x wireless usb device on MIPS platform

[Michael Wu]

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On Tuesday 09 January 2007 09:09, Ralf Baechle wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 09, 2007 at 10:52:14AM +0800, colin wrote:
> > I have used two 802.11x wireless usb devices successfully on MIPS
> > platform. One is realtek 8187 and the other one is ralink 2571.
> > I would like to put them into kernel tree and then I found that there are
> > not many 802.11x devices supported in Linux.
>
Please see the wireless-dev tree. There is a driver for the ralink 2571 in 
there which will be merged along with a number of other wireless drivers when 
the devicescape 802.11 (d80211) wireless stack is sufficiently polished. New 
softmac wireless drivers should be based on that stack if possible. I am 
working on a d80211 version of the rtl8187/rtl8185 driver right now, which is 
I think is the last linux 802.11g driver which needs to be ported.

-Michael Wu

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