From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Dec 31 13:23:44 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix, from userid 618) id B425516A4CF; Wed, 31 Dec 2003 13:23:44 -0800 (PST) To: freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2003 13:23:44 -0800 (PST) X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL54 (25)] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: <20031231212344.B425516A4CF@hub.freebsd.org> From: wpaul@FreeBSD.ORG (Bill Paul) Subject: Intel 'Centrino' WLAN and Project Evil: how you can help X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2003 21:23:44 -0000 I'm sure most of you already know what Project Evil is. For those that don't, Project Evil is an NDIS shim layer for FreeBSD which allows people to use Windows(r) network adapter drivers with FreeBSD/x86. Its main purpose is to provide support for adapters for which it is not possible to write a native FreeBSD driver (due to complete lack of chipset programming specs). My original target was unsupported ethernet chips, however it turns out the most desireable unsupported devices these days are 802.11 wireless cards. Currently, Project Evil works with many Broadcom-based wireless NICs (both PCI and cardbus) and has been reported to work with at least one Atheros-based card. However, it's been reported that Intel 'Centrino' wireless cards, i.e. the 2xxx series miniPCI WLAN cards, do not yet work correctly. The reported symptomology is that the driver panics the system on an attempt to send a packet. Unfortunately, my attempts to fix this problem have been thwarted by the fact that I don't actually have one of these cards, or a laptop that has one built in. As far as I can tell, I've implemented all of the necessary NDIS infrastructure correctly, so I'm at a loss to explain the panic without some brute force debugging, and I can't do that without a card. So, I'm asking for help. I really need to get my hand on a system with one of these NICs in order to properly debug this problem, however a) I haven't been able to find one in my local consumer trap computer stores, and b) I've already spent money on two other wireless cards for this project and I really don't want another one, especially since it will likely end up sitting on a shelf gathering dust once I'm done ravaging it. So how can you help? Well, there's a couple of ways: - If you have a system with one of these NICs and know a thing or two about the NDIS spec and BSD networking internals, and would like to take a crack at solving the problem, have at it! If you manage to make it work, send me your patches and know that Centrino owners everywhere will be eternally grateful for your work. Note: please don't expect to be able to ask me loads of questions about how NDIS works or how BSD works. If you need to ask something about a particular aspect of the code in Project Evil, then I suppose I can accomodate you, but I'm not going to spend loads of time teaching people how all this stuff works, especially since my own knowledge of NDIS is newly acquired and almost certainly incomplete (otherwise I wouldn't be asking for help). - Donate hacking time on your machine. If you are local to the SF bay area (San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley), have a Centrino-based laptop with Intel WLAN and are running FreeBSD 5.2mumble on it (i.e. 5-current or a 5.2 release candidate) and wouldn't mind giving me access to it for an hour or two of hacking time, drop me a line. I live in downtown SF and work in Alameda. If I can reach you via public transit without too much difficulty, then Project Evil might be able to come to you. - Donate/loan a card for the cause. My understanding is that the Intel cards are only available in miniPCI form factor. Sadly, my laptop (Sony Picturebook PCG-C1VP) doesn't support miniPCI cards. If it turns out I'm wrong, and there's a desktop/PCI version of the card available, then I would need one of those, otherwise I'd need both an Intel WLAN miniPCI module and a miniPCI-to-PCI adapter card. This would be the ideal solution since it would allow me to work undisturbed in the comfort of Project Evil Laboratories (i.e. my living room). - Offer the use of your bank account to help transfer $43,800,000 (FORTY-THREE MILLION EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS) from Nigeria-- Wait a minute, that goes in another letter. Forget that part. Cards can be donated to the FreeBSD project, or you can loan it directly to me. In the latter case, the address to use is: Attn: Bill Paul Wind River Systems 500 Wind River Way Alameda, CA. 94501 USA Don't forget to include a note containing the exact shipping address where you'd like the card sent upon return. Before anyone asks: no, offering to test patches or giving me remote access to your machine for debugging purposes won't help. I need to have the system in front of me to debug this properly. We at Project Evil Labs would like to thank people in advance for their assistance and cooperation. Remember: when you think evil, think Project Evil. -Bill -- ============================================================================= -Bill Paul (510) 749-2329 | Senior Engineer, Master of Unix-Fu wpaul@windriver.com | Wind River Systems ============================================================================= you're just BEGGING to face the moose =============================================================================