[ltp] Re: Intel 2100b WiFi Card

[Frank Schaeckermann]

wes schreiner wes-at-infosink.com |Linux on ThinkPads| wrote:
> Martin Gramatke wrote:
> 
>> Frank Schaeckermann wrote:
>>
>>  
>>
>>> [...] really a pitty and shows how far the
>>> Intel commitment to Linux REALLY goes...
>>>   
>>
>>
>> To double the pressure on Intel, I wrote them a similar mail. :-)
>>
>> I don't understand why they keep the technical info under disclosure. A
>> distrustful mind might suspect a microsoft deal.
>>  
>>
> 
> No, the reason is the FCC (the US Federal Communications Commission). 
> The latest generation of wlan cards have the radio controlled directly 
> by software (the driver) not by firmware like the older cards. Since now 
> the code to set frequency and trasmit power is in software, companies 
> can't open-source their drivers (or give out the technical specs) 
> because that would give an easy way to adjust power and frequency, and 
> giving that kind of information away to people not licensed by the FCC 
> violates FCC rules. Companies must abide by FCC rules in order to be 
> certified in the US, and they need certification in order to sell in the 
> US. So blame the FCC.
> 
> The best we are going to see for now are drivers with closed-source 
> binary lumps in them, like in the Atheros and ADMtek drivers. The binary 
> lump is a hardware access layer and controls the frequency and transmit 
> power settings. If you read the Atheros driver source you will see that 
> several unexplained values are passed to this binary lump. Those values 
> might have something to do with frequency or power but there is no easy 
> way to tell.
> 
> Eventually someone will reverse engineer the hardware and we will have 
> entirely open-source drivers for at least one chipset, but I expect that 
> by the time that happens nobody will care much about 802.11[abg].
> 
> wes
> 
Isn't that kind of stupid at the part of the FCC to believe they can 
control that kind of knowledge? First, only the people with some kind of 
hightened curiousity and technical knowledge would really care about 
playing around with the frequencies and power, right? Second, those are 
exactly the people smart enough to pick up the Windows driver, 
disassemble it and find out what they want to know anyway. And third, 
yes this would be outside the legal boundaries, but then... playing with 
the frequencies and power probably is anyway. Go figure.

Frank