Re: Marvell TopDog Driver Work

[John Daiker <daikerjohn@gmail.com>]

snip
> Definitely, I've looked at marvell.git (topdog) and Luis's code, and
> earlier Marvell GPL code quite extensively.  The firmware interface is
> quite similar between the TopDog (802.11n) parts and the b/g parts, as
> are the TX and RX descriptors.  From my research, I didn't think it
> would be that hard to support both parts in the same driver.
>
> My strategy would be this, assuming you have TopDog hardware.  If you do
> not, I can ship you a CardBus TopDog card:
>
> 1) Use marvell.git and Luis' attempt to get minimal b/g support working
> for the TopDog parts
Don't think I can help with this part, as I don't have TopDog hardware...
>
> 2) Start adding in the support for 8335/8310 parts using mrv8k (and
> possibly BSD's malo(4)) as a guide
But I do have 8335 hardware:

00:0c.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88w8335 
[Libertas] 802.11b/g Wireless (rev 03)

--snip from the old mrv8k driver from a few months ago--
(mrv8k): successfully uploaded firmware
(mrv8k): HW ver. 1, FW ver. 0x3000036, 2 antennas, regulatory domain US 
(FCC)
--snip--

If memory serves, it's a Netgear 311v3 PCI... but the packaging isn't 
around and I'm too lazy to turn my machine off to physically look at the 
card (and stand on my head!).
>
> 3) Add the 802.11n bits of TopDog stuff
>
> The _most_ important thing is first to get a stable b/g driver, then add
> the candy later.  Since we have a full TopDog driver implementation,
> that might be the best thing to get working first.  mrv8k was never able
> to get very far for me when I was poking at it, I couldn't even get
> reliable scan results.
>
>> I don't think there is any question of *whether* TopDog support is
>> possible in mrv8k, only when, and "right now" does not yet appear to be
>> the answer. I really hope to be proven wrong on that, though.
>
> Oh, it's certainly possible in mrv8k.  But obviously you just want to
> get something up and running first, then add the tasty bits like N
> support later.
>
> Dan
I am more than willing to help test and/or debug any driver developments 
that come down the pipeline for the 8335 chip.

JD