Re: ipw2100: firmware problem

Tomasz Torcz
2005-06-08T15:26:29Z

On Wed, Jun 08, 2005 at 04:56:53PM +0200, Jirka Bohac wrote:
> I don't think this is true. Loading the firmware on the first
> "ifconfig up" is problematic. Often, people want to rename the
> device from ethX/wlanX/... to something stable. This is usually
> based on the adapter's MAC address, which is not visible until
> the firmware is loaded.

> I agree that drivers should initialize the adapter in the OFF
> state, but the firmware needs to be loaded earlier than the
> first ifconfig up.
>
> How about loading the firmware when the first ioctl touches the
> device? This way, it would get loaded just before the MAC address
> is retrieved.

Best way to rename network adapter is to use udev. So MAC must be
available (and present in /sysfs) when hotplug event for adapter is
generated.

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