Date: Thu, 15 May 2008 19:05:00 +0200 From: Roland Smith <rsmith@xs4all.nl> To: Walter <walterk1@earthlink.net> Cc: Questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Does FBSD 7 support 802.11N cards? G suggestions? Message-ID: <20080515170459.GA33172@slackbox.xs4all.nl> In-Reply-To: <482C248D.9030708@earthlink.net> References: <482B2020.4030706@earthlink.net> <20080514181828.GA56648@slackbox.xs4all.nl> <482C248D.9030708@earthlink.net>
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--x+6KMIRAuhnl3hBn Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-15 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Thu, May 15, 2008 at 06:54:53AM -0500, Walter wrote: > (Sorry Roland; re-sending after I noticed my reply went directly > to you rather than the List.) >=20 > Roland Smith wrote: >=20 >> On Wed, May 14, 2008 at 12:23:44PM -0500, Walter wrote: >> =20 >>> <>I'm trying to get a Broadcom-based wireless-N card running >>> under FBSD 7. ... >>=20 > > See Chapter 20 of the FreeBSD handbook, especially =A720.2. >=20 > 20 is The Vinum Volume Manager=20 > <http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/vinum-vinum.ht= ml>. I'm talking about "The Cutting Edge"=20 http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/cutting-edge.html >> The problem is that a lot of wireless manufacturers have the habit of >> changing wireless chipsets without changing model numbers. So a revision >> X might work while revision Y won't. >>=20 >> Try and look at the card. Sometimes the chipset is visible and you can >> look for it in the manual pages. But often it is enclosed in a metal cov= er. >>=20 >> In my experience, asking shop clerks which chipset a card uses only >> produces puzzled looks. >>=20 >> Second best thing is to download the driver for the revision of the card >> that you want to buy. Unpack the driver and read the .inf files. That >> will probably yield the chipset type. If not, use strings(1) on the >> drivers themselves. > It's a crap shoot? =20 That's about the size of it. > Yikes.=20 Indeed. > I guess I'll just pick one and take > my chances, but - no fault to FBSD - it appears to be a sorry > state of affairs in the computer driver arena.=20 More and more chipsets are being supported on BSD, with OpenBSD leading the way. But it remains difficult to see which chipset is used in a card. Manufacturers hardly ever list it in their docs. > I can guess > the latest rev listed on the support web site is what I'll get > when I buy the box?? (Maybe not, as I got a rev A router > last December when the latest was rev B.)=20 Usually there is a sticker on the packaging that says "model FOO rev. X". or something like that. > Later I'll work > on getting the driver downloaded and unpacked on my > Windows machine (as my Mac won't process those .exe > files). You could try unzip. Some of those exe files are self-extracting ZIP ziles. > Did I read that there's a way to use Windows drivers in FBSD 7? Yes. It's called ndis(4). Only works on i386 architecture though, not amd64. Do realize that you're sticking a piece of windows software of unknown quality in your _kernel_. Roland --=20 R.F.Smith http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/ [plain text _non-HTML_ PGP/GnuPG encrypted/signed email much appreciated] pgp: 1A2B 477F 9970 BA3C 2914 B7CE 1277 EFB0 C321 A725 (KeyID: C321A725) --x+6KMIRAuhnl3hBn Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.9 (FreeBSD) iEYEARECAAYFAkgsbTsACgkQEnfvsMMhpyVbcwCeLMH12LmeNZK7T+IzgpKCvAPp Uy4An07zx6aVjXP6SnudjuFv9CWOOVGg =GGBH -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --x+6KMIRAuhnl3hBn--
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