From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Jouni Malinen Subject: Re: [PATCH] hostap: allow flashing firmware Date: Wed, 4 Jan 2006 21:18:57 -0800 Message-ID: <20060105051857.GO8939@jm.kir.nu> References: <1135984946.17805.21.camel@dv> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: NetDev , hostap Return-path: To: Pavel Roskin Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <1135984946.17805.21.camel@dv> List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: hostap-bounces+gldh-hostap-597=gmane.org@shmoo.com Errors-To: hostap-bounces+gldh-hostap-597=gmane.org@shmoo.com List-Id: netdev.vger.kernel.org On Fri, Dec 30, 2005 at 06:22:26PM -0500, Pavel Roskin wrote: > Host AP driver has code to support writing firmware to non-volatile > memory, a.k.a. flash. This code has been extensively tested when Host > AP was a standalone driver. > > Add a configuration option to the kernel to allow enabling this > functionality. Improve the description of the RAM download option. > Mention cards that require it. Remove obsolete scary comment. I'm not completely against this change, but that scary comment is there on purpose and it is not fully obsolete. It is still possible to get HFA3841 cards into state which require hardware modifications to recover from (i.e., they are as good as dead for most users). Taken into this account, I would prefer that the help text for HOSTAP_FIRMWARE_NVRAM would include a warning about the potential issues of using incorrect firmware images. In most cases, RAM (volatile) download can be used to upgrade the firmware without having to modify the flash contents. This is also what the current Windows drivers are doing. -- Jouni Malinen PGP id EFC895FA