Return-path: Received: from fg-out-1718.google.com ([72.14.220.158]:23772 "EHLO fg-out-1718.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751014AbZHaVS0 (ORCPT ); Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:18:26 -0400 Received: by fg-out-1718.google.com with SMTP id 22so584691fge.1 for ; Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:18:28 -0700 (PDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <4A9C3C59.5010305@lwfinger.net> References: <3ace41890908311055s5c49a25fjf69ca48024579d44@mail.gmail.com> <43e72e890908311102q2ed9e8b3q8f1f15d45a29b2f1@mail.gmail.com> <3ace41890908311132g16783b68y2d1771ce1d2780d@mail.gmail.com> <43e72e890908311141k6bcf5edbl6bce2b88670fb5f8@mail.gmail.com> <3ace41890908311157v4fbc9829j6db9c91ef6fff3c7@mail.gmail.com> <4A9C3C59.5010305@lwfinger.net> From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?G=E1bor_Stefanik?= Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:18:08 +0200 Message-ID: <69e28c910908311418l7f033b5bp7a9b443cd253304@mail.gmail.com> Subject: Re: rtl8187b Problem with tx level To: Larry Finger Cc: Hin-Tak Leung , "Luis R. Rodriguez" , Tobias Schlemmer , linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Sender: linux-wireless-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: On Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 11:10 PM, Larry Finger wrote: > Hin-Tak Leung wrote: >> >> I just took a look at the history - there aren't obvious bug fixes, a >> bunch of work queue-related changes from you & Johannes; feature-wise, >> Larry added LED blinking after 2.6.30, and Herton added rfkill support >> quite recently after 2.6.31-rc7 . But no, there isn't any change that >> would affect tx level beyond 2.6.31-rc7, I think. > > Your analysis matches my recollection. > > Apparently RealTek is supplying a closed-source driver for RTL8187B > these days. There are no sources for the B on their web site. In > addition, the one that Tobias loaded tainted his kernel. > > Larry The driver is not actually closed-source; they just don't provide any drivers on their site anymore, instead they send their reference drivers to OEMs, expecting the OEMs to release their own versions (with sources - most vendors who do release Linux drivers in fact only release sources, without binaries). The reason for this appears to be that Realtek now encourages vendors to sell RTL81xx wireless chips with modified USB IDs. (Or are you seeing a binary-only driver on realtek.com.tw? That would definitely be a GPL violation, given that they use a modified version of the GPLed libipw stack.) -- Vista: [V]iruses, [I]ntruders, [S]pyware, [T]rojans and [A]dware. :-)