From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: with ECARTIS (v1.0.0; list linux-mips); Tue, 09 Jan 2007 14:08:45 +0000 (GMT) Received: from wf1.mips-uk.com ([194.74.144.154]:1245 "EHLO dl5rb.ham-radio-op.net") by ftp.linux-mips.org with ESMTP id S28577554AbXAIOIo (ORCPT ); Tue, 9 Jan 2007 14:08:44 +0000 Received: from denk.linux-mips.net (denk.linux-mips.net [127.0.0.1]) by dl5rb.ham-radio-op.net (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id l09E9XnY018320; Tue, 9 Jan 2007 14:09:33 GMT Received: (from ralf@localhost) by denk.linux-mips.net (8.13.8/8.13.8/Submit) id l09E9VV7018319; Tue, 9 Jan 2007 14:09:31 GMT Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2007 14:09:31 +0000 From: Ralf Baechle To: colin Cc: linux-mips@linux-mips.org, netdev@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: Using 802.11x wireless usb device on MIPS platform Message-ID: <20070109140931.GB6614@linux-mips.org> References: <1cf601c73399$2ab7cd10$106215ac@realtek.com.tw> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <1cf601c73399$2ab7cd10$106215ac@realtek.com.tw> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.2i Return-Path: X-Envelope-To: <"|/home/ecartis/ecartis -s linux-mips"> (uid 0) X-Orcpt: rfc822;linux-mips@linux-mips.org Original-Recipient: rfc822;linux-mips@linux-mips.org X-archive-position: 13567 X-ecartis-version: Ecartis v1.0.0 Sender: linux-mips-bounce@linux-mips.org Errors-to: linux-mips-bounce@linux-mips.org X-original-sender: ralf@linux-mips.org Precedence: bulk X-list: linux-mips 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