Date: Thu, 05 Jan 2012 09:04:40 +1000 From: Da Rock <freebsd-questions@herveybayaustralia.com.au> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Realtek RTL8191SEvB Linux driver? Message-ID: <4F04DB08.8020100@herveybayaustralia.com.au> In-Reply-To: <904803AA-31CD-41EC-927A-51A9EB49DEB6@googlemail.com> References: <CAFpTYWM3ppJsVo-qZC=OXWHW1U5zAt3y5m==6hFw3JQNH%2B5NAg@mail.gmail.com> <4F02A3CE.7020404@herveybayaustralia.com.au> <20120103071028.4964dd33@scorpio> <4F030E00.5020806@herveybayaustralia.com.au> <Pine.GSO.4.64.1201031101580.7621@age7.nber.org> <4F038F8F.3090701@herveybayaustralia.com.au> <alpine.LFD.2.00.1201031922400.26468@nber4.nber.org> <4F03A678.6050903@herveybayaustralia.com.au> <904803AA-31CD-41EC-927A-51A9EB49DEB6@googlemail.com>
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On 01/05/12 07:01, Peter Harrison wrote: > On 4 Jan 2012, at 01:08, Da Rock wrote: > >> On 01/04/12 10:38, Daniel Feenberg wrote: >>> >>> On Wed, 4 Jan 2012, Da Rock wrote: >>> >>>> On 01/04/12 02:10, Daniel Feenberg wrote: >>>>> >>>>> On Wed, 4 Jan 2012, Da Rock wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> On 01/03/12 22:10, Jerry wrote: >>>>>>> On Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:44:30 +1000 >>>>>>> Da Rock articulated: >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> On 01/03/12 11:15, Jeffrey McFadden wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Don't ndis(4) ndiscvt and ndisgen(8) essentially accomplish what the OP is requesting? See the handbook section 12.8.1.1: >>>>> >>>>> http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/config-network-setup.html >>>>> >>>>> or the man page for ndiscvt: >>>>> >>>>> http://www.gsp.com/cgi-bin/man.cgi?section=8&topic=ndiscvt >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> While doing the conversion looks a bit beyond what we would expect of an end-user, it does seem to offer a path for using hardware whose manufacturer does not support FreeBSD. Is there anything beyond licensing issues preventing such drivers from being included in the distribution, or made downloadable in FreeBSD form? >>>> Oh yes, it is possible, just not probable :) >>> At >>> >>> http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/ndiswrapper/index.php?title=Category:USB >>> >>> almost 800 compatible devices are listed. Not everything, but I have found that a willingness to spend a few dollars on a different card helps immensely in enjoying FreeBSD and Linux. For me at least it is easier to find a compatible card than to write a compatible driver. >> Indeed :) >> >> I did notice that the card in question wasn't on that list. But my own experience with ndiswrapper and wifi cards were far less than satisfactory- the firmware always got in the road. But I may have just been too stupid at the time :) >>> I would also observe that most people involved with computers, whether as users or developers, have little symphathy for people with different needs from the device. This is a great impediment to progress. It is a mistake to assume that because you don't need something, another person's desire for it is illegitimate. In this case, I fully agree that it is an injustice that hardware vendors do not supply FreeBSD drivers, but that does not mean that users requiring such drivers are immoral or of poor character, and therefore to be ignored or insulted. There is little that FreeBSD coders and users can do about that injustice directly, however it is within their power to mitigate it with the NDIS wrapper. If that wrapper allows another user to enter the FOSS world, that will (in the fullness of time) contribute to reforming the vendor. >> No they are absolutely not of poor character, I agree. Some messages can be misconstrued, though, in that the replies can be terse and more logical than sympathetic. Sometimes it is easier to replace with a different card than flog a dead horse, although a user may take offense for emotional or financial reasons more than logical. >> >> Mitigation is a difficult path as I have found personally, although NDIS helps immensely with wired nics (not so much of a problem these days), and I believe Luigi Rizzo's work with the linuxulator and drivers is to be applauded ten fold. It takes a great deal of time though- I put forward the idea when I was still a BSD pup not entirely realising the challenges :) Luigi (and his colleagues) has been working hard ever since to facilitate the more challenging aspects of multimedia drivers (whether or not that had to do with my comments or not, I don't know). > Da Rock, > > I've been using ndis drivers successfully with a Broadcom chip in my Lenovo s10-e since I bought it some years ago - to the extent that I've not yet switched over to the native drivers now available. > > I didn't find using ndisgen too problematic. Just a case of finding the right driver files and following the manpage. I'd strongly recommend trying it in preference to a usb stick (been there, done that) or buying new hardware - although I'd agree that depending on the model changing a mini-PCI card isn't necessarily that difficult (I changed it t an Intel card in my other Dell laptop some time ago - remember to attach the internal aerial cable!). Make no mistake I'm not being facetious. How did you do it? The biggest problem I had was that there are multiple firmware for different scenarios that are loaded. One for base station mode, one for adhoc, and one more I think... They got in the way of using it correctly.
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