2009/4/28 =E8=8B=8F=E7=99=BD=E9=BE=99 <[email protected]>:
> Dear Luis,
> =C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0 I'm a=C2=A0undergraduate student from China.=
Now I'm doing some work about
> 802.11s and have learned a lot from the =C2=A0web site=C2=A0linuxwire=
less.org.Since
> I'm a beginner, I=C2=A0meet some problems,and hope very much that you=
could
> give=C2=A0me a hand.
> =C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0My question is:"Can all of the wireless=
networking cards=C2=A0run in mesh
> mode?" I think they all can.=C2=A0But =C2=A0why some can not=C2=A0as =
it is described in=C2=A0the
> web page http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers? Please give =C2=A0=
me the
> detailed reasons.
> =C2=A0=C2=A0=C2=A0 Very sorry to trouble you, but I really need your =
help. I'm looking
> forward to your reply and wish you good luck everyday.
No, softmac cards must support mesh in the driver. If you have a
fullmac card (non-mac80211) its up to the driver itself whether or not
mesh is supported.
There is a big column for drivers which support Mesh here:
http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers
Luis
On Tue, Apr 28, 2009 at 8:53 AM, Luis R. Rodriguez
<[email protected]> wrote:
> 2009/4/28 =CB=D5=B0=D7=C1=FA <[email protected]>:
>> My question is:"Can all of the wireless networking cards run in=
mesh
>> mode?" I think they all can. But why some can not as it is describe=
d in the
>> web page http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers? Please give me =
the
>> detailed reasons.
Each driver must support several things as listed on this page under "M=
ESH":
http://wireless.kernel.org/en/developers/Documentation/mac80211/API
in order to support mac80211's draft-802.11s mesh. Basically it must
allow a mesh-mode interface, support mesh beaconing, and support
certain RX filters. So drives do this and have been tested (for
example, ath5k, b43, and zd1211rw). Others do use the mac80211 stack
but either haven't been tested or don't support something that mesh
mode requires. Any mac80211 driver that supports beaconing (at least
for AP or IBSS) should be able to support mesh mode after making the
changes listed in the API document.
--=20
Andrey Yurovsky
cozybit Inc.