[Freedombox-discuss] libertas_tf / sdio / mac80211 driver was: Re: bufferbloat, cerowrt and freedombox

[Jason]

James, Dave,

On Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 08:11:39PM -0500, James Vasile wrote:
> On Fri, 16 Dec 2011 05:44:17 +0100, Dave Taht <dave.taht at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I am curious if the wifi blob problem in the dreamplug has been
> > resolved? It was runnerup #3 for bufferbloat's cerowrt research
> > effort, but that blob knocked it out of the running last year.
> 
> AFAIK, no free replacements for the firmware exists.  On the driver
> side, there is a free version that lacks some functionality (host-ap
> mode, for example).

I admit, I haven't done enough research into buffer bloat to have formed
an opinion on it.  However, I've been digging for more flexible wifi
solutions and found something from the XO laptop project.

They have a driver (usb version in mainline) called libertas_tf [1]
which uses a thin firmware from Marvell (non-open) and the mac80211
stack.  The XO laptop project also has code [2] for the sdio version
[3].  It would need to be brought up to date and ushered in as there's
been no activity on it for over a year.

The nice thing about it, no need for proprietary userspace tools or
kernel drivers.  just use ip, iw, hostapd, etc.

Also, the big road block, I haven't touched the wifi on the dreamplug
yet :-(, so I'm not sure which version of the chipset it has.  Or, if
the libertas_tf solution would be compatible with it.  I hope so,
though.

With this driver and firmware, you can do multi-vap, monitor mode, AP,
sta and ad-hoc.  Using the mac80211 stack should give more flexibility
to find solutions for the bufferbloat problem.  Although, I must admit,
I don't think solving bufferbloat should be a blocker or even high
priority at this point.

hth,

Jason.

[1] http://dev.laptop.org/pub/firmware/libertas/thinfirm/
[2]
http://dev.laptop.org/git/users/derosier/wireless-testing/tree/drivers/net/wireless/libertas_tf
[3] http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Thinfirm_1.5