[ltp] Re: Thinkpad T60 Wireless LED on Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex)

[Stefan Monnier]

>> I'm using iwl3945 with Debian's kernel 2.6.26 and the wireless led
>> "works", but I wonder if we all agree on the term "works": it does turn
>> ON and OFF and sometimes flashes as well, but I find that I don't really
>> know what ON and flashing means and it overall doesn't really give me
>> the information I want.  E.g. it basically never turns OFF.

> At least with iwl4965 it turns on when wifi is active (antena is on)
> and turns of when antena is disabled.  flashing usually
> means transmission.

That kind of what it looks like, indeed.  Except that its notion of
"antenna on" is different from my notion of "wifi on".  E.g. it's always
lit when I "turn off wifi" (which basically means that it's not
associated).  If I flip the rfkill switch, then it turns itself off, but
otherwise it's always lit (or flashing).

In ipw3945, the led was a lot more useful since it indicated
association status.  I'd expect a behavior along the lines of:
- led OFF = no communication can take place (whether the antenna is ON
  or not doesn't really matter: it's a question of power-management).
- led blinking slowly = trying to associate.
- led ON = associated.
- maybe the led could blink quickly when there's transmission, trying to
  reproduce a typical HDD led behavior (where the blinking is *very* quick).


        Stefan