Hi,

I have some problem with my rtl8187b device. It is included in my laptop 
running Ubuntu linux 2.6.28. I've tested several compat-wireless 
releases including 2.6.30 and 2.6.31-rc7.

The problem is that the network adapter looses the connection to the 
access point at very low distances. It seems to be as if the driver is 
too optimistic about tx power. I monitored the singnal strength on the 
access point (Buffalo running DD-WRT). When I associate the laptop with 
it the recieved signal strength starts full and drops rapidly in the 
first seconds. At the end it is about 0 at a distance of 4m. At this 
moment no ping will arrive the destination. Tests with other access 
points show similar results.

After several attempts to get different drivers working I used an Ubuntu 
8.04 boot CD this morning which seems to work out of the box. It has 
kernel 2.6.24 using a module called r8187. I compared these two drivers 
and got much better signal strengths, at least more stable connections. 
Maybe it's interesting that the two drivers report different signal 
strength (compat-wireless reports about 10dBm higher values than the old 
driver) also in signal quality the compat wireless driver seems to be 
more optimistic.

Interestingly iwconfig always reports TX power of 20dBm, regardless of 
the actual tx power, but always a TX rate of 1M. Setting the latter to a 
higher value results in packet loss.

As I leave for holidays on Tuesday I can give further information only 
tomorrow and in two weeks.

Tobias