Jean Tourrilhes On Linux Wireless LAN 143
mcleodnine writes "Jean Tourrilhes of the Linux Wireless LAN Howto project took some time to answer a few questions from members at LinuxQuestions.org. Among some of the more interesting commments was his pick of best and worst Open Source friendly vendors ('Some of those TI engineers even sent me e-mails criticising some features of the Wireless Extensions'), an opinion or two about the Next Big Thing in wireless (MIMO), and a poke in the eye for OS zealots of any religion."
wireless viop (Score:3, Interesting)
On zealotry (Score:5, Interesting)
Kill em all I say.
Better Business Bureau vs Texas Instruments (Score:5, Interesting)
Our company was considering going with Ti's TX100 802.11b chipset about a year ago, to build our product around. Then we did our homework.
Seems a bunch of people signed onto a petition to get Ti to release the specs for their TX100 chipset, so they could develop the drivers Ti was refusing to release. When Ti ignored it, they called the BBB on their ass, citing false advertisement (they claim the chipset is supported in Linux)...And they STILL ignored it.
With that being said, put your money where your mouth is. Buh-bye Ti, Helloooooo, Intersil.
Get a wireless bridge and be [g,d]one! (Score:2, Interesting)
Now if only Linksys/Netgear/D-Link could (and I don't see why they can't) make an affordable wireless bridge+hub/gateway that costs in the same ballpark as a wireless router. (A Netgear bridge costs almost 2x as much a wireless router/gateway)
And while at it, they shoult also put out some clear specs so the CompUsa/BB salespeople know the difference between a bridge and an access point.
Expert wireless Recommendations please? (Score:3, Interesting)
What are some no-headache brands of wireless gear for Linux? What brands should be avoided? Are some distros better for wireless than others?
(I realize that some of this may be in the linked article, but the article appears to contain a complete list that requires a lot of time and effort to sort through).
thanks in advance,
dbc
Re:Better Business Bureau vs Texas Instruments (Score:4, Interesting)
I got my card working with slackware... though I think I am gonna ditch it, works like crap anyways..
In General (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:On zealotry (Score:4, Interesting)
there was once a long list comedically stepping through the progression of a linux user from newbie to guru. i tried finding it, but failed. i must be using the wrong keywords. google has failed me, and I have failed it.
Re:In General (Score:0, Interesting)
What we all *really* want to know: (Score:5, Interesting)
The one question most people want to know is what manufacturer/models are compatible, where to buy them, and what drivers to use. When you go to your retail store of choice they often will not list what chipsets they use in their wireless cards. Knowing which chipsets are compatible isn't that helpful if you can't match it definitively with a product.
I ended up going the safe route and ordering some aeronets because I didn't want to play roulette, and I couldn't find a new orinocco-based card for sale anywhere quickly.
Has someone out there discovered this business opportunity and created a web store specifically geared to linux-friendly hardware? Buy their card,download some linked drivers, and you're good to go. That would be easy. Last time I looked the regular linux suppliers let me down.
IPSec (Score:3, Interesting)
Why hasn't IPSec taken off more (or some other similar setup)? I don't know enough to know what the tough bits might be.
WLAN limited? (Score:4, Interesting)
If you don't have problems 'stealing' other peoples bandwidth, there is an open AP on almost every residental street corner.
I can get to 4 open networks from my house in Aurora!
People are buying WAP enabled routers for their DSL/Cable modems and I'd say about 70% (if not more) run with the defaults, maybe changing the admin password...maybe.
The problem is people are not educated on wireless security, and why bother? They refuse to believe that someone is going to hijack their network and release a virus, break into another network or some other criminal task...it's like AIDS, it won't happen to ME.
Re:On zealotry (Score:2, Interesting)
I think I know where excessive zeal about a choice like this comes from. Everyone here wants to be thought of as intelligent and discerning. The choice of OS/editor/IDE/browser/whatever confirms and announces these qualities to others. When someone criticizes his choice or praises another, his intelligence is being insulted. Not only is the user of something else stupid, he is boorish and ignorant as well.
The Windows zealot has something else to offend him as well. The Windows market is saturated. Anything else that grows in mind or marketshare is an economic threat to him if his job or business relies on Windows' marketability. I think a lot of the commie trolls against FOSS come from this economic defensiveness.
Re:WLAN limited? (Score:3, Interesting)
You know, you can get your own cable modem for $25/mo and hack into all the systems you possibly can from the comfort of your own couch. Anonyminity is easy enough. If you really do want to hide behind a wireless AP, you're going to drive to the local universtiy and get many mbit/sec. I highly doubt you're going to park outside my house and use my tiny stream.
But if you do, I'll be watching you. I look forward to learning new tricks. Come on by!
Re:In General (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't care if you can program the Frob Industries Mk. III wireless radio to broadcast on the KA satellite bands. It's going to be driving a 2.4GHz bandpass filter and a seriously detuned antenna, meaning its emissions will amount to jack shit.
Now, having said all that, there was a chipset, the Atheros "madwifi" chipset, which allowed its power level (in-band) to be increased in excess of the level allowed by any regulator agency on this planet, and also allowed its center frequence to be set out of the ISM band. Naughty. The combination of power level and frequence control allows you to radiate serious power near the ISM band. In my view this is a defective piece of hardware which the FCC should simply have banned. Radios without hardware filters and slew rate control should not be approved.
But, this situation does not apply to all the other manufacturers for which this FCC story is generally pitched (which is to say, any manufacturer who doesn't support Linux). Note this was initially an argument for why Intel couldn't support Linux with their Centrino radio, but lo and behold eventually they did support it. Did Congress pass a law? Was an official bribed? Did they rev the hardware? No, none of these things. The real answer is the story was fiction to begin with. Don't spread it and don't allow manufacturers to hide behind it.
Re:Better Business Bureau vs Texas Instruments (Score:3, Interesting)
The TI ACX100 802.11b+ chipset is my favourite example when non-technical people claim that reverse engineering is impossible, because the project has shown that it is indeed possible:
http://acx100.sourceforge.net/ -- for Linux
http://wlan.kewl.org/ -- for FreeBSD
But had I known before I made the purchase, I would have bought another manufacturers product - unfortunately I was stuck between a hard place: 802.11b itself (11mbps) too slow, 802.11b+ (22mbps & 44mbps under TI "x4" mode) just right, 802.11g (54mbps & 108mbps) perfect, but was too expensive, and it also has drive problems (ath binary driver).
If manufacturers are reading this: let me tell you that in the future, I now do my research properly, and I won't buy your product if you are not open source friendly.
Re:Who says the French are arrogant? (Score:2, Interesting)
Anyone Remember Diamond (Score:3, Interesting)
Thus to the point, I wonder if there is a Mathematical Function that can be plotted about a company's success, not quite directly related to Linux support but some hardware layer support, owing to its success?
Re:Who says the French are arrogant? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:On zealotry (Score:1, Interesting)
Don't talk about "OS zealotry" while what you exactly mean is "not wanting to run Microsoft Windows"