Return-path: Received: from mail-iw0-f204.google.com ([209.85.223.204]:36815 "EHLO mail-iw0-f204.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751962AbZHaX43 convert rfc822-to-8bit (ORCPT ); Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:56:29 -0400 Received: by iwn42 with SMTP id 42so2014802iwn.33 for ; Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:56:31 -0700 (PDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <69e28c910908311646w315bef9eo43d3342c13e38fca@mail.gmail.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> From: "Luis R. Rodriguez" Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:56:11 -0700 Message-ID: <43e72e890908311656o6f4a4157k6f967dc4934e6dd0@mail.gmail.com> Subject: Re: rtl8187b Problem with tx level To: =?UTF-8?Q?G=C3=A1bor_Stefanik?= Cc: "John W. Linville" , Greg KH , Larry Finger , Hin-Tak Leung , Tobias Schlemmer , linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Sender: linux-wireless-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: 2009/8/31 Gábor Stefanik : > On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 1:37 AM, Luis R. Rodriguez wrote: >> 2009/8/31 Gábor 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. Luis