From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Jason Lunz Subject: Re: Hardware button support for Wireless cards Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 15:27:54 +0000 (UTC) Message-ID: References: Return-path: Received: from main.gmane.org ([80.91.229.2]:27554 "EHLO ciao.gmane.org") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1750976AbWEOP2X (ORCPT ); Mon, 15 May 2006 11:28:23 -0400 Received: from list by ciao.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.43) id 1FfezJ-0005WA-Hd for netdev@vger.kernel.org; Mon, 15 May 2006 17:28:01 +0200 Received: from jameson.reflexsecurity.com ([72.54.64.66]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Mon, 15 May 2006 17:28:01 +0200 Received: from lunz by jameson.reflexsecurity.com with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Mon, 15 May 2006 17:28:01 +0200 To: netdev@vger.kernel.org Sender: netdev-owner@vger.kernel.org List-Id: netdev.vger.kernel.org mwallis@serialmonkey.com said: > Some people are saying that instead of throwing and ACPI event we should be > either use hotplug or internally just disable the radio and somehow inform > the dscape stack that the radio has been disabled. > > What are peoples thoughts here, should we > > A. be handling this within our drivers and doing "what the user expects" and > disabling the hardware radio, or On my HP laptop with bcm43xx wireless, the button disables the radio in HARDWARE, and afaict the driver has no idea about it. The driver notices that it's not connected and happily starts scanning again, unaware that anything is wrong. This is actually quite nice for testing roaming setups. You can "roam" in and out of range by toggling the button. The other laptop in the house has a physical _switch_, which implies that it too cuts off the radio in hardware (though I haven't investigated this, so I'm only speculating). So if there's any desire for consistency of wireless button support, then I think the software-controlled ones should always shut off the radio, and optionally inform userspace or the wireless stack using some event mechanism. What is the purpose of these switches anyway? Power saving? Or is it for situations like an airplane or hospital where you want to be sure your wireless won't cause any interference? If the latter, than that also argues for always shutting off the radio immediately. Jason