From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Mats Johannesson Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2008 21:04:39 +0200 Subject: [ath9k-devel] development of the ath9k driver for linux In-Reply-To: <1220288890.11653.18.camel@micha-laptop> References: <1220288890.11653.18.camel@micha-laptop> Message-ID: <20080901210439.28870318@loke.fish.not> List-Id: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit To: ath9k-devel@lists.ath9k.org On Mon, 01 Sep 2008 19:08:10 +0200 micha wrote: [...] > i am a linux greenhorn [...] [...] > it took me about 7 hours [...] finally... i gave up [...] [...] > also the install routine seems to be pretty complicated. > > is it possible to build this beta-driver into an automatic install > routine like many other drivers in ubuntu? Eh, yes... That's what the ubuntu developers are working on ;-) If the upstream 2.6.27 kernel is finalized by October they _might_ have had time to include it in the 08-10 ubuntu distribution (MIGHT). But you should understand that a new kernel driver - like the ath9k - can't just be downloaded as a piece of user program. While the different Windows kernels (pre Vista, from what I understand) chose to be pretty much backwards compatible in regards to drivers, the linux kernel developers have taken a stand to always keep their kernel in an internal flux. They call it "no stable API", which gives them the freedom to aim for the best ideas and technologies without having to restrain their creativity. Read more about it in the kernel source directory Documentation/stable_api_nonsense.txt So the ath9k driver must adapt to changes in the overlaying wireless layer, and that layer must adapt to changes in memory handling etc etc. In my opinion, the easiest way for a normal user to get a bleeding edge kernel driver is to wait... The other option is to spend much more than seven hours to learn about kernel compilation and how to replace the distribution kernel with that new home-brew. The latter option is more fun though :-) Mvh Mats Johannesson