Return-path: Received: from kroah.org ([198.145.64.141]:32950 "EHLO coco.kroah.org" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751556AbZIAAZ3 (ORCPT ); Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:25:29 -0400 Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:21:42 -0700 From: Greg KH To: "Luis R. Rodriguez" Cc: =?iso-8859-1?Q?G=E1bor?= Stefanik , "John W. Linville" , Larry Finger , Hin-Tak Leung , Tobias Schlemmer , linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: rtl8187b Problem with tx level Message-ID: <20090901002142.GA26119@kroah.com> 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> <69e28c910908311418l7f033b5bp7a9b443cd253304@mail.gmail.com> <43e72e890908311637r7b079e9fj2ac6b77f2b59eb79@mail.gmail.com> <69e28c910908311646w315bef9eo43d3342c13e38fca@mail.gmail.com> <43e72e890908311656o6f4a4157k6f967dc4934e6dd0@mail.gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 In-Reply-To: <43e72e890908311656o6f4a4157k6f967dc4934e6dd0@mail.gmail.com> Sender: linux-wireless-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: On Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 04:56:11PM -0700, Luis R. Rodriguez wrote: > 2009/8/31 G?bor Stefanik : > > On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 1:37 AM, Luis R. Rodriguez wrote: > >> 2009/8/31 G?bor Stefanik : > >>> 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.) > >> > >> Gabor, do you speak to RealkTek folks? It seems what may be best for > >> OEMs and RealTek themselves is to post drivers for inclusion into > >> staging first and then for interested parties to port them properly. > >> > >> ?Luis > > > > Not yet, I haven't tried contacting them. I simply based my comments > > on the fact that OEMs are releasing sources. However, contacting them > > about work to include their drivers in the kernel is a good idea - > > apparently there is nothing keeping Realtek from taking community > > contributions (unlike e.g. Zydas - the vendor driver is based on > > Andrea Merello's old r8180-sa2400 driver, and was not developed > > in-house by Realtek). > > If anyone has contacts that does indeed seem reasonable to do, seems > like it could help them and their customers. I do have a few contacts there, and have been trying to work with them to do this, but it is slow going :( thanks, greg k-h