Return-path: Received: from mx0a-0016f401.pphosted.com ([67.231.148.174]:46402 "EHLO mx0a-0016f401.pphosted.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1423011AbbFEPKD convert rfc822-to-8bit (ORCPT ); Fri, 5 Jun 2015 11:10:03 -0400 From: David Lin To: Ben Greear CC: "linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org" , "Pete Hsieh" , Chor Teck Law Subject: RE: [PATCH] mwlwifi: Initial submission of wireless driver to mainline Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2015 15:09:59 +0000 Message-ID: <30794f68f6374c509f1f98002ff7a7ab@SC-EXCH02.marvell.com> (sfid-20150605_171010_236013_3FD65F9F) References: <141c66f2950e4832a2bd99064db75970@SC-EXCH02.marvell.com> <557073D2.4080704@candelatech.com> <55712547.4010408@candelatech.com> In-Reply-To: <55712547.4010408@candelatech.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" MIME-Version: 1.0 Sender: linux-wireless-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: > On 06/05/2015 12:29 PM, Ben Greear wrote: > On 06/04/2015 07:41 PM, David Lin wrote: > >> On 06/03/2015 09:55 PM, David Lin wrote: > >>> Hi all, > >>> > >>> Herewith, I am submitting the Linux driver for WRT1900AC. The > work > >>> was initially developed as part of openwrt effort and maintained on > >>> https://github.com/kaloz/mwlwifi, thanks to the host where it is > >>> nurtured. > >>> > >>> Recently, I have also patched it to pass checkpatch.pl so that it > >>> can be qualified for mainline. > >>> > >>> This is still work in progress, with 8864 chipset more mature and > >>> tested, while 8897 for the similar use case is added recently. We > >>> will continue to maintain and enhance it. > >>> > >>> We hope the community will welcome this initial submission! > >> > >> Do you have any notes on what features this driver/NIC provides? > >> > >> Does it require firmware, and if so, is source available? > >> > > Support both 11b/g/a/n/ac AP mode, and STA mode (though the primary use > > case is AP). Driver matches most features in mac80211 and > > hostapd/supplicant. All basic securities mode have been validated. > > > > Yes, it will require firmware microcode. Matching "binary" is reprovided as a > > separate .bin file(s) for each chip. Source codes of chip-dependent microcode > > will not be provided. > > Can it do multiple virtual stations (and other virtual device combinations)? > > With ath10k, for instance, there is a complex firmware between the host and > the NIC hardware, so any bugs and limitations in the firmware make it almost > impossible to add interesting features or fix bugs w/out being able to modify > the firmware source. > > Any comments on how 'thick' the marvell firmware is? > Yes, the partitioning technically allows multiple logical interfaces. However, this open source driver is not yet developed for many combinations, yet. It is hard to comment about "thickness" of the firmware :) All (most?) 802.11 mgmt packets are handled in host driver. Think of microcode as part of hardware or controlling/abstracting the hardware. Thanks, David > > -- > Ben Greear > Candela Technologies Inc http://www.candelatech.com