Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2003 18:21:23 -0400 From: "Matthew Emmerton" <matt@compar.com> To: "Brad Knowles" <brad.knowles@skynet.be>, "Kevin Oberman" <oberman@es.net> Cc: FreeBSD-CURRENT Mailing List <freebsd-current@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: We have ath, now what about Broadcom? Message-ID: <009e01c35168$c0738270$1200a8c0@gsicomp.on.ca> References: <20030723220757.49A565D07@ptavv.es.net>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> > Folks, > > > > Okay, so now I just figured out what the "ath" driver is. Sigh... > > > > Of course, I find this out through searching for open source > > drivers for the Broadcom chipset as used in the Linksys WPC54G > > cardbus device, which I happen to have just bought. > > > > > > I've already done quite a bit of Googling and searching through > > the archives, and I haven't found anything obviously relevant to the > > issue of drivers for the Broadcom chipset, at least not anything > > recent. > > > > I did find a lot of old references to drivers for this chipset in > > the April timeframe, mostly having to do with people discovering that > > Linksys was shipping access points & routers using this chipset, > > using Linux for MIPS and BusyBox, but not providing the drivers > > themselves under their GPL obligations. > > > > > > Can anyone provide some pointers or links that would bring me > > up-to-date on the current state of affairs on this subject, > > especially as it related to FreeBSD or *BSD in general? > > The folks at Broadcom have not been willing to release any information > on their 800.11g chips for fear of violating FCC regs. The required > NDA would prohibit the release of the source. You can program > both the transmit power and frequency if you have this. (I make no > claim as to whether their concerns have any validity.) > > For that reason there has been no open-source support for these chips. Why would Broadcom be scared? Obviously it's the _driver_ that controls the power/freq output of the chip, so the responsibility of staying within FCC regs is that of the driver authors. Of course, the "no warranty" aspects of open source drivers turns a blind eye to liability, but would things really come back to Broadcom? -- Matt Emmerton
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?009e01c35168$c0738270$1200a8c0>