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LinuxAnt's DriverLoader Loads Centrino Drivers
cRueLio writes "The latest release of Linuxant's DriverLoader can now load Centrino drivers. This is very useful, because Intel has been resisting the release of Linux Centrino drivers. For those of you who don't know, DriverLoader is practically a wrapper for Windows wireless drivers."
Mirror just in case that server (which seems piddly) gets /.'ed:
LINUXANT RELEASES NEW DRIVERLOADER(TM) FOR INTEL CENTRINO, INTERSIL, BROADCOM, ATHEROS, AND OTHER WIRELESS LAN DEVICES
MONTREAL, QC Oct. 27, 2003 - Linuxant inc., a world-class supplier of consulting, software development and professional support services is announcing the immediate availability of DriverLoader(TM) 1.2, a revolutionary compatibility-wrapper allowing standard Windows NDIS (Network Driver Interface Specification) drivers shipped by hardware vendors to be used as-is on Linux x86 systems.
The main highlight of this new release is significant compatibility improvements with simultaneous support for multiple Windows drivers. DriverLoader 1.2 now supports Intel PRO/Wireless (Centrino), Intersil Prism GT/Duette/Indigo, Broadcom, Atheros, and other Wireless LAN drivers for Windows.
Linuxant is committed to continue improving DriverLoader so that it becomes a fully compatible generic solution capable of running the majority of Windows NDIS drivers.
DriverLoader technology is the ideal Linux solution to support devices for which no adequate native open-source drivers are available. It also allows vendors to drastically reduce time to market or eliminate the need to support multiple drivers for Windows and Linux. By using the same NDIS driver on both platforms, significant resources can be saved. All Linux-specific code in DriverLoader remains open-source, allowing it to be used under any supported version of the kernel.
Thanks to DriverLoader, owners of Wireless LAN devices (CardBus and PCI) with compatible Windows drivers can now use their devices under Linux, enjoying the full speed of the latest Wireless LAN technology with the freedom of the renowned open-source operating-system.
DriverLoader packages can be downloaded from Linuxant's web site at no cost*. The software is easy to install on standard Linux distributions (RedHat, SuSE, Mandrake, Debian, and derivatives) with any recent 2.4 or 2.6 kernel, and includes a user-friendly Web-based configuration system.
Vendors interested in using DriverLoader technology to enable their products under Linux should contact services@linuxant.com.
For more information or to download your copy of DriverLoader, please go to http://www.linuxant.com
About Linuxant Linuxant is a world-class supplier of consulting, software development and professional support services. Linuxant works closely with leading vendors and OEMs of semiconductor, PC, embedded and communication/wireless products, as well as with companies in other industries, providing technological expertise and solutions to maximize the potential of Linux and open-source. Additionally, Linuxant develops and distributes specialized system software, such as device drivers for specific applications.
* Linuxant is happy to provide free trial DriverLoader licenses, while discussions are under way with hardware vendors to finance development costs. Linuxant hopes that DriverLoader will remain free for end-users.
Sig & Below
Sig & Below
Yuck Fou
What is Intel thinking?
Why would it be in their interest to do so?
Intel should just be happy selling as many chips as possible.
Is Microsoft strong arming Intel yet again?
Very clever, thank you.
So I can finally use my Linksys WMP11 with the crazy Broadcom chipset in Linux?
Please let it be so.
1. Yeah I'm not seeing pictures either.
2. Use this (if you're under Windows or use Wine) and you won't see any ads. (Just a friendly suggestion.)
awesome. now linux too can have buggy drivers!
gotta wonder, did they implement the bluescreen feature?
then it would be -1 troll..
Why do hardware manufacturers not release drivers for Linux (or for that matter any other non-Windows/Macintosh platform)? It would seem that the idea would be, more supported plaforms = wider customer base = more profit. I can understand how development might be an issue... but considering OS'es like Linux are open source, it would seem that development would be at least marginally easier and cheaper. Has anyone written/emailed/asked a HW maker this question? What was their reply?
DriverLoader packages can be downloaded from Linuxant's web site at no cost*.
* Linuxant is happy to provide free trial DriverLoader licenses, while discussions are under way with hardware vendors to finance development costs. Linuxant hopes that DriverLoader will remain free for end-users.
Interesting. I'd hope that they get some money so that we can keep enjoying this, but at the same time, the words 'trial' and 'licenses' worry me a little. Been spending too much time GNU!
Sig & Below
Yuck Fou
Now hardware vendors can blow off developing drivers for Linux. "Just download the wrapper and use the Win32 driver."
One CPU cycle wasted on digital restrictions management is ONE TOO MANY.
I've been trying to get this working for a day or two without too much luck, but others on the mailing list are reporting success.
One good and important point.. yes, its using binary windows drivers, but they are trying to keep the whole project open source. They are going to hardware vendors who would otherwise like to support Linux, but don't want to port their code to a new architecture. Its a win/win for those who go along with it.
I've been working on getting the Intel Pro/Wireless 2100 card in my T40 working without too much luck yet, but I think its my local problem. Others report great success with the same card.
Or, if you use Mozilla or Firebird, use css to block ads.
I want to know when I can use Clippy in native Linux.
New friend/foe graphics! Hey, let's let people make totally fucked up moderations -- as long as they have pretty graphics, they won't notice!
Add an easy point and click way to setup ACPI and I could get rid of Windows on my laptop!
Oh wait, I did anyway. Not because I thought Linux worked better but because I hate Windows.
This guy is way out there
Holy mackerel!
I honestly thought "Anonymous Coward" was a real user until I posted anonymously and saw that as my username!
Jeez, I thought that guy had a lot of time on his hands to be making all those posts!
Taco is rather shy about revealing slashdot problems on the front page, so you have to goto his private journal to read, but can't comment. He doesn't like to hear any criticism that might hurt his precious ego.
Open source at work.
done this themselves, it is still good to see that it is now available on linux. I wish I would have known about this a couple of days ago, because I had someone call in for support to try to set up a redhat box thru a centrino chip. That is outside of the support offered at my call center, but I still didn't like having a linux guy (who are ussually my favorite customers, I use slackware, and linux guys ussually know what they are doing) yell at me cause his new laptop could not connect through a wireless router. It seems like a RH guy would know about compatibility list, but, oh well. Anyways, a big thanks to the guys responsible for this.
And I quote, 2.4 or later.
Can someone actually second the idea that the driver bridge will actually run on a 2.6 kernel? I'm having to reboot back to 2.4 for the Cisco vpn driver, some of my hardware support, et al. I hope this isn't just another of those...
You are checking your backups, aren't you?
Yes, I hate the use of non-free drivers. They are buggy and don't get fixed or ported to new kernels. How Linuxant has managed to deal with the differnces between different versions of Windoze is beyond me. I got suckered into buying a wireless card with "Linux support". It tured out to have a binary module for a particular Red Hat kernel that was not easy to compile with my kernel version. It really sucked and I ended up just giving up.
If you think of this as a short term solution to the Microsoft monopoly problem you can smile. Hardware vendors can slip Linuxant specs on the side to make their card work. Linux ditributors can compile the wrapper to work with the correct kernel. What this means is that Microsoft can't punish hardware vendors for giving out information, because they won't know! The "careful dance" vendors have had to do is over. Wireless card makers won't have to worry about their card having "problems" on windoze platorms from the latest windoze "update". Once that happens, there will be no further need for the nasty windoze binaries. Hardware makers will then be able to compete on the basis of what their hardware does, not what M$ wants to "support".
Congratulations to Linuxant.
Fuck you Microsoft, you are circumvented.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
If not, then is it possible to do this as open source, there-by removing the problem of this going commercial (much like Crossover)?
As I understand it, there is nothing stopping someone from writting a similar product and releasing it under an open source license.
Is there anything in particular that would stop someone from doing this?
I use to have a funny sig, but slash cut it off, and I forgot what the punchline was.
Seems like the only images that work are the new friend/foe/neutral images.. they must have accidently deleted everything else =P
he can't even spell "decimal" correctly... poor bastard
He doesn't like to hear any criticism that might hurt his precious ego.
So, how does he differ from any other open-source developer?
No images here at all at the moment....
----- One piece short of Legoland
No, there is no BSOD. But there are kernel panic messages, so u might wanna look at those if u want some memories of Windows. Also, not all the OEM centrino driers work. The one linked to on the Linuxant website worked just fine on my Dell 300m, but the one on the Dell website caused problems. The "trial" gave me about a month-long licence, but I guess they'll figure something out by then, or maybe I'll make a new hotmail email account and get a new licence or something. Then again, that might not work, since I don't know of any way to chamge the MAC address of one of the Centrino mini-pci cards. Watever, i'll stop typing now because i feel like i'm going into a rant. btw... its cool that they actually posted my story!!! yay!!!
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I still can't believe the bastards are now charging for full Conexant winmodem support... I use an older version, but no 2.6 support really sucks. Damn you Linuxant, you money-corrupted asshats!
</rant>
OK, I'm better now... been having WAAAY too much beer...
I just have a bad feeling that some jackass company is going to make some spurious DMCA claim that the driver were licensed only for use under windows and using them in linux in any form is some kinda non-existent copyright violation.
I vaguely recall in the annals of history of being something similar to this happening but i just cant put my finger on it.
As soon as they release the source, the community maintains it. Try that with windows drivers.
Please, God, don't let these new friend/foe/neutral images be permanent... I was kinda hoping it was just a joke. They are annoying to the point of distraction - the friend and foe are okay, but the neutral is impossible to distinguish from friend without close inspection and they all look fucking goofy. Are you sure Cowboi Kneel didn't just go crazy with the images server?
As someone who has participated in the development of a linux audio driver, and now i'm trying get it ported it to windows, writing drivers for linux is much easier than on windows.
-At first, there "are" linux developer competent enough. There are many willing to help, and stuff gets done.
-I still don't know anyone around me who is capable of writing a WDM driver, but i know quite a bunch of people who are writing kernel drivers all the time.
I guess, we linux (or BSD or what you like) developer should better write a Windows linux driver loader, so hardware makers can release linux only drivers.
That is so spot on. Sell out liberal types suck. Go the A revolution.
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Mine are all coming up broken. Have been all day, along with the topic icons. I've been browsing elsewhere with zero problems.
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
A previously unknown software development company in Lower Slobbovia has been issued a patent for a method of placing pictures on web sites. Film, um, text, at 11.
Pete Carr Owner Chatmag.com
Hmmm... Lack of sleep makes you think of strange things:
Just yesterday I was cleaning out my collection of user donated/upgraded software and found an old copy of MS Bob - That's right, Bob!
Should I even consider the blasphemy of trying to see if it will run under Wine? Or just fire up a VMware session and give Clippy's ancestors a new lease on life?
What should I do with this paragon of MS Marketing Nonsense?
DeCSS
Vendors will only supply Linux drivers if there are enough Linux-oriented purchases of their hardware to make the exercise worth their while. It is indeed better to have windows sloppy-seconds drivers than no drivers at all. This will allow the hardware to gain some linux traction where previously there was none. After there is a lage enough following, it becomes economically viable for a vendor to develop linux-specialised drivers. (Particularly if their competators are as well). Remember - vendors don't generally subscribe to out point of view. They want to 'see the money' before they'll move.
At some point, isn't it easier to just run Win2K? As a former Amiga user, I remember what it was like to be a ghetto gang-banger. But, um, then I grew up.
Sometimes the pages here get all screwed up. E.G. my browser sometimes doesn't get a CSS file or something and all the text on slashdot is screwed up. Reloading usually seems to fix things.
Is a microcode loader for the Motorola line of products.
TT
hello i am from romania and i heard from my brother that lunix is the best on comodor 46 but he says no game work on it
can this software make codomore games work on lunix or have i got to restart to visual basic??
Is anyone know existence of or even a rumor of such a thing ?
I know that HP, and Dell are in the same bed with "Redmond"ians, but some company like Intel, whose sole profit is from selling the chip... can't make any sense why they would not like to sell more of it..
__________
The more I know people, the more I love animals
Wow - a story submission that actually ensure we know wtf they're talking about! joy!
"Sanity is not statistical", George Orwell, "1984"
Written by Jello Biafra.
see subject and the 302 redirect
Yes, especially since Mac OS X's support for the Centrino is excellent.
Where did those damn smilies come from? All the links on the main page are broken. Is slashdot hacked?
I don't want to start a holy war here, but what is the deal with you DriverLoader fanatics? I've been sitting here at a cafe close to my freelance gig sipping a latte in front of a centrino Linux laptop running DriverLoader for about 4 hours now while it attempts to download a 17 kilobyte file from the internet. 4 hours. At home, on my Commodore 64 connecting to the Internet using a modem with an acoustic coupler connected using a speakerphone across the room, which by all standards should be a lot slower than this laptop, the same operation would take about 30 minutes. If that.
In addition, during this file transfer, Mozilla won't work. And my latte has gone cold waiting for a ssh session to negotiate. Even ed over a telnet session (unencrypted over wireless! insecure, I know, but I'm desperate) to my C64 running Lunix is straining to keep up as I type this.
I won't bore you with the laundry list of other problems that I've encountered while working on various Centrino laptops running DriverLoader, but suffice it to say there have been many, not the least of which is I've never seen a wirelessly connected centrino laptop that has run faster than its Commodore counterpart with acoustic-coupler speakerphone wireless, despite the Centrino's faster chip architecture. My Atari 2600 with 128 bytes of ram with avian carrier RFC1149 wireless runs faster than this centrino machine at times. From a productivity standpoint, I don't get how people can claim that the LinuxLoader is a superior piece of software.
LinuxAnt addicts, flame me if you'd like, but I'd rather hear some intelligent reasons why anyone would choose to use DriverLoader over other faster, cheaper, more stable systems.
Yea, I had a similar problem with Linksys or D-Link, i cant remember. Both of them seem about as braindead when packaging products with a Linux label.
The driver they released only worked on the 2.2 kernel with some ungodly old version of redhat. That combined with the utter lack of understanding at their call centers of the fact that they wrote "Supports Linux" on the box, all they could do was offer me a new card, which they were also unsure would support linux.
I ended up saving myself a ton of trouble and bought myself a Senao 2511 EXT2 wireless card with the prism chipset. It works beautifully, and has 200mW of power.
I like the card so much that i'd almost consider getting a pci adaptor so i can put one in my desktop. However, I noticed that Ultramesh has some PCI cards for sale that use the prism chipset and have external antenna connectors.
Has anyone messed around with meshAP from locustworld?
The Ro Factor - Jeep/Linux Weblog
Intel can jam it up their crack.
Who the hell do they think they are Dell or HP with this MS only support crap?
I'll take a heavy power hungry AMD over the Centrino because of this.
How hard would it have been to release the data sheets in this processor and write example drivers? Using MS binaries isn't the way to do it right.
Blarg!
If you don't like what I write don't be a CS and mod it down. Refute it.
Yea I can't spell. So what is your point?
ok i taek your challenge
did i mis-spell lunix incorrectly in my post?
For those of us who want only Free Software, what wireless hardware works with Free Software drivers?
Digital Citizen
I have to say, that although binary, these drivers are very good. I am using them on my notebook and they just work. I had a little problem with 1.03 version, but since 1.20 they work very good. These people know what they are doing, they have download for every current kernel used in major versions of major distributions. And they want to provide that for free if the manufacturers chip in for their effort. I welcome that my internal wireless card is working NOW and not in 2004. Thank you, Linuxant.
If programs would be read like poetry, most programmers would be Vogons.
ya... if you're really romanian you'll understand this: dute in pula mea, imputitul dracului ce esti!
Investing forum
This is a Good Thing. Running the Windows driver in a wrapper on Linux makes it much easier to reverse-engineer. Anything discovered that way is free of vendors' non-disclosure agreements. This applies to lots of drivers, and lots of manufacturers, not just Intel and Centrino.
Amateur OS ? You surely never have used Linux :D
About faster CPU, what can i say... I thought the same as you until i benchmarket a Apple XServer against a DELL PowerEdge 1650. The Apple... no chance. The i386 ruled at everything, even if i disliked very much the idea. How should i explain to my boss that those expensive XServer where crap ??. The only exciting stuff about th MAC: the user interface, but who cares about that in a Rack mount server ? Go advertising elsewhere.
No more comments.
Where we say: ty ses curak.
Yep, this version was written by Biafra. The original was Phil Ochs. Oh, by the way, Biafra for Prez in 2004! who cares if he's not running.
A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with. - Tennessee Williams
i think you are mean and i think you should not be telling me to go in your dick. also i do not stink.
also u r wrong, lunix exists and is an operating system for teh comodore 64 (sory! i was wrong last post it is 46)
anyway i think yhou are mean and will send my brother to teach you a lesson
in teh meantime, pupa-ma-n cur!
...In other news today...thousands of self-proclaimed 'slashdotters' heads exploded today, when one of their own (or a 'Microshaft' plant, as some call it) asked when the little Microsoft assistant would work under this 'Leeenux' thing.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
ok fine. i wont kiss ur ass. but lets end this shit, its already out of hand.
Investing forum
How is Biafra not a hairdresser what that voice of his? What a flamer!
oh ya btw, r u really romanian? because while it does mean "go in my dick" literally, if you knew romanian, you would now this is an idiom.
Investing forum
I'm his brother. I apologise about the way he has acted in this thread, I have re-installed Contiki on that thing he calls a computer and that should keep him busy for a while -- now he has to learn how to go on the web again.
However, I still think that you could have acted in a more exemplary manner, especially as the submitter of the said story to Slashdot -- I thought this community was more intelligent than that.
In closing, I can only say: YHBT. YHL. HAND.
NVidia has the right idea. It links a static lib against the interface code (which builds against the installed kernel) during the installer.
That should become standard practice.
Consider DKMS.
It's possible to achieve widespread compatibility, if the developers are paying attention, that is.
Yes, my brother really is Romanian, although I haven't taught him to swear in English yet -- he hasn't yet understood that different sequences of words in different languages have different meanings.
I guess it won't take long before he finds the Alternative Dictionary though, in which you can learn to swear in any language.
n/t
Although the DriverLoader apparently supports these cards, please support these companies in either helping develop Linux driver support or releasing specifications (both of which Intel and Broadcom adamantly refuse to do) by
a) purchasing their products when you have a choice (e.g. buy Pentium-M instead of Centrino and add on a third-party wireless card, and don't buy 802.11g products from Linksys or Dell which use Broadcom), and
b) Use the open-source drivers rather than emulating windows drivers, let the chip (Atheros and Globespan/Virata nee Intersil) and the card companies know that you appreciate their linux support. Report bugs and feedback to the open source projects, too.
It's nice to have something like this around as a stopgap way to load drivers for hardware made by manufacturers with poor linux support, and even as a way for manufacturers to ship initial drivers for linux inexpensively for them (and claim "linux support out of the box"), but it is no substitute for published specs and real drivers (which, with published specs, the companies don't even have to develop themselves).
Remember when WineX said they would totally open-source all of their work, but only when they got enough "donations"? Well they started getting money and decided, "Well, gee, we really like getting paid for what we do. Forget about the whole open-souncing thing."
To be fair, the issue is slightly more complex than that, but this looks to me like another WineX. Don't ever expect Linuxant's product to be totally open-source. Furthermore, just as WineX only works for the most simple or popular of games, don't expect Linuxant's product to work but for the simplest or most popular drivers.
yes, i could've acted better. but then again, i was putting my karma on the line to share my beliefs, and you're an anonymous coward. so let's just leave it at that.
Investing forum
heh-heh, gramatica, manca-o-as :-) incearca 'du-te' data viitoare.
Parent says grandparent links to goatse, that is a lie.
Tell me more, tell me more
Please bang my ass because otherwise the goats will do it for you! Sometimes in Romania, it's easier for us to shit in our houses because it's fairly gay outside.
None, but that's okay because none of you ever leave your Mom's basement anyway. Why would you need wireless?
Linuxant has a short and torrid history in the Linux driver scene. They pretty well burst onto the scene after Marc Boucher got the rights from Conexant to develop kernel drivers for their HSF/HCF chipsets. Users enjoyed a couple years of very well supported drivers (apparently with the manufacturer's financial backing) until about two months ago when Linuxant "announced" their new and improved version of the HCF/HSF modem driver.
Guess what? They decided that development costs were too great and thus, they charge for it now. On top of that they removed all prior free releases of the driver (which worked just fine for all but some of the newest cards and/or some of the more esoteric modem features) from their website. There was no warning for this change, and they began sending marketing emails to their driver -announce list.
With this kind of history, I am wary of supporting any kind of use of their windows-driver wrappers for wireless cards. I am wary that I or my users will grow to rely on these drivers and then have the rug pulled from under our feet. I am wary that hardware manufacturers will grow indifferent to providing native Linux drivers while this product is available and works well. When the time comes that you have to fork out an extra $40 to Linuxant.
Please be aware that I am not opposed to Linuxant marketing their products commercially. It has been my experience that they produce very good work and code that does what it says. It's a shame that the hardware manufacturers cannot seem to support their work financially, as I believe it is in the manufacturers' best interests to see that their hardware works with a wide variety of software and operating systems. For Linuxant not to be up front about this matter is pretty low-brow.
The similarities to their namesake are striking... Linuxant: Keeping the business ideals of Conexant alive and well in the Linux community!
~GoRK
You know, you can fuck off if you want. Take your little sandbox on home to your mommy. See if I care. I put lobsters in your sandbox, HAHAHAHA! You will not see it when they pinch your eyeballs out, and they will never forget the taste of your juices. Sandbox bitch! I hope all your sand falls out of your damned sandbox, and I hope that it turns into a dune, then you can't stand on it, like a little bitch. Which is what you are, sandbox bitch.
You fat hairy Romanians are all alike. I'm sure glad Romania lost it's country status in that pyramid scam.
Anyone used these wrappers to say what type of performance they can achieve?
For instance, just putting traffic through a or NAT routine can take up to 10% speed hit if you have no other significant bottlenecks. Yeah, I know, my example isn't apples-to-apples, it's just meant to give an example of a performance hit.
I would imagine a wrapper, even for a completely bug-free alien driver, would have some form of performance degradation and/or extra CPU usage or both.
As a side note, I too am very afraid that this will further stifle linux native device driver support from commercial outfits.
It is more productive to voice thoughtful opinions (reply) than to judge (moderate) others.
Dear Intel,
...(half a page of empty space)...
pwned.
...(half a page of empty space)...
Sincerely,
the Linuxant team.
Bowie J. Poag
But when I see something as useful as this, I have to hand it to the developers.
Now a whole family of contemporary laptops have been rendered fully functional under Linux.
Fully functional DESPITE THE INTENTIONAL NEGLECT BY THE CORE VENDORS.
One must wonder why OEM support for Linux is so fragmented; sometimes superb, sometimes completely absent.
Could it be that the financial aspects of Linux make it less appealing somehow? After all, it would be crazy for Intel et.al. to omit Windows support.
Good work guys!
Just about any 802.11b hardware; it's the a/b/g stuff that doesn't have Linux drivers available (typically due to FCC regs not permitting release of programming specs for software radios which can be programmed to use bands they legally shouldn't be on -- which the a/b/g cards are).
Doesn't this tie in with the gov's case against Billsoft ?
.
The gov's case was half assed and therefore not a real cure to the monopoly. If they would have had a real plan then we would be getting source code from alot of these manufacturers . Believe it or not but these companies helped out the monopoly by only making software for one company and only one. The gov should have told these companies that they must opensource their drivers so other operating systems can use them.
The hardware and even the software companies play a part in helping uncle bill's monopoly
So why shouldn't the gov play a part in breaking up this cozy relationship ?
Well considering the problems I've had (continuing to have) with NVIDIA's binary drivers. I'd say there's plenty to not like. But then historically Windows users (the one's who most think binary's are OK) have demonstrated an unwillingness to face the issues they cause, and learn from them. Aureal anyone? How about Guiellmont? How's those PowerVR drivers coming? At least the hardware is widelly available, for what that's worth.
Obviously written by someone living under the rock. Here is a hint. All Linux has the same code base. RedHat, SUSE, Mandrake, Slackware, Debian et. al. all get the Linux OS from the same source tree. THE SAME STUFF! Go go www.kernel.org. The drivers the OS and all the magic live there. If RedHat does kernel changes, they are done at kernel.org. If SUSE does kernel changes, they are done at kernel.org. And things arn't moving *that* fast. If you don't want to write for 2.6, 2.4 has been really really firm with only very minor tweaks for about three years now....!
For 11b, see this page - most of those drivers are open-source.
For 11g, prism54 is the only open source driver I know of (or it will be once a license issue is resolved - there are still two non-GPL header files). There's a non-free firmware file you have to load onto the card, but IMHO that doesn't make the driver non-free - most modern devices contain firmware anyway, whether you upload it or not, and none of that binary code runs on your CPU or taints your kernel. The driver is still portable to other architectures, etc.
The Atheros madwifi drivers are partially open-source, but require you to load some binary code into your kernel. Personally I'd avoid this non-free driver, but many people are happy with it.
Why (potentially) pay LinuxAnt for something when you can be a part of helping the community developing it's own equivalent.
.. Works with the broadcom 4301 chipset (for the moment).
Try ndiswrapper
I want to know when I can use Clippy in native Linux.
Now.
“Wait for Hurd if you want something real” –Linus
Alas, not true. Any prism-based 802.11b hardware maybe, but there's not a lot of that around any more as far as I can tell. Lots of manufacturers are switching to Broadcom and ADMTek chipsets which appear to have no usable drivers.
OTOH, if I'm wrong please let me know. I want a wireless card for my desktop machine. Amazon.co.uk doesn't sell any that are supported, nor can I find any in London.
they got their start making Linux drivers for the Conexant chipset-based HCF and HSF "winmodems".
it's not LinuxAnt. period.
I really loathe OS Nazis.
I think the reality here is that often you have to live in a 5000 square foot luxury mansion to use OSX in the first place. So I'll tell you what, you want me in that mansion. Email me so I can tell you where to send the check.
Sorry, I like OSX, but I like CHOICE in hardware just as much as CHOICE in software. Thanks but no thanks I just got out of one proprietary software platform and I have no interest in one that's got a hold of both hardware and software.
And ummm... you mean the professionals who... I dunno, borrowed Darwin, KHTML, etc? Those guys? I'll stick with the original authors.
And faster CPUs? You mean like AMD64s that are handing you Mac Nazis your asses back to you.
Think self-righteous assholes that are more annoying than Linux Zealots, think Apple!
I recently wrote a nice letter to Intel about the built-in wifi card on my ThinkPad X31, to ask whether Linux (or FreeBSD! Yay!) drivers would ever be available?
I got a very friendly response from them:
Hello John,
Thank you for contacting Intel(R) Technical Support.
In order for Linux to run on Intel(R) Centrino(TM) mobile technology-based systems,
software drivers are needed for the processor, chipset, and 802.11 wireless
components. Currently Linux drivers are available for the Intel(R) Pentium(R) M
processor and Intel(R) 855PM and 855GM chipsets. A Linux driver for the Intel(R)
PRO/Wireless 2100 wireless network connection is currently under development.
You can check back at the following link for the latest information on Linux driver
support for the Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2100 network connection.
http://support.intel.com/support/network/sb/cs-
Sincerely,
Roberto G.
Intel(R) Technical Support
http://support.intel.com
Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the
United States and other countries.
*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
->Hi there,
->
->I recently bought a Thinkpad X31, after great experiences with an X20.
->The only weakness is the lack of Linux/FreeBSD drivers (first thing
->I did was netboot FreeBSD and re-format XP off the drive) for the
->built in WiFi interface. I know there are currently no plans for these,
->but please consider this yet another happy X31 user, who'd love to see
->some nice person write a driver.
->
->Cheers,
->
->-John
Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage
xscreensaver has bluescreens, amiga crashes, sad apples, kernel panics, and more goodies! More importantly, your crashes won't disturb others.
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
Can you imagine a Beowulf cluster of me taking a massive shit on your mother's forehead?
I have a LifeBook P-2120, which has a built-in Prism 2.5 chipset. Works fine with the orinoco_pci kernel module. I would've bought a Centrino notebook, but I didn't want to wait for a Linux driver, and, frankly, I don't see a binary driver wrapper as a good solution that I would trust. The P-2120 works fine for me and gives me five hours with its extended battery (even more with the modular bay battery).
The Centrino is a kit comprised of the Pentium-M, the 855 chipset and the PRO/Wireless 2100 MiniPCI card... My bad ;) ;)
I still think, however, that the statement I commented on sounds "wrong"
Any technology distinguishable from magic, is insufficiently advanced.
I have an Atheros A/B/G PCI card, and I can say that the Madwifi drivers for this card just aren't ready for prime time - go read the various messages about this card if you don't believe me.
The drivers will crash the kernel, will sometimes simply stop working after a while, and when they are working, they do not transfer data anywhere near the theoretical limits of the card.
The card "sort of" work to access an access point, but if you want to use them to create an access point they just don't work in my experience - I could see the other devices trying to access the system, but the MadWiFi driver was not accepting the connections. This even though I had WEP turned off and had the ESSID's set the same. Furthurmore, the driver's diagnostics simply could not tell me WHY the packets were being dropped.
Yes, the way to improve the native driver is to give feedback, to hack the code, and to try to improve that driver, rather than using the Windows driver, but please do not give people the impression that the Atheros drivers are anything other than extremely pre-alpha and unstable.
The real solution here is to pressure the card drivers to design the cards so that the system driver cannot be made to violate FCC/DTI/... specs - a microcontroller embedded on the card to control the RF adds $.25 to the bill of materials (less if integrated into the ASICs in the card) and would completely remove the problem of open-sourcing the drivers.
www.eFax.com are spammers
It would be nice for the Linux kernel to have a binary interface, even if it was only per kernel-version. That is, assuming all dependencies for a driver were compiled in, a binary module compiled for a 2.4.21 kernel, would work on any 2.4.21 kernel. This would mean kernel updates from vendors wouldn't destroy the Nvidia drivers, etc.
/etc/inittab, change some number), rebooting into the new kernel /sbin/init 5 or "telinit 5".
Upgrading a kernel in Linux is still beyond most average computer users. It requires:
1) Installing the kernel RPM (from RH update, or Mandrake update, or wherever)
2) Setting inittab to default to runlevel 3 (edit
3) Run the Nvidia driver installer as root (compiles a new interface (requires kernel-source rpm as well as GCC etc installed! Why does Grandma need a C compiler?), or downloads one from nvidia.com)
4) change default runlevel to 5, switch to this runlevel now with
With binary interfaces this could be cut down to:
1) install kernel rpm
2) reboot
Check the website before you rant with wrong figures.
Have a good day!
This is a test. This is a test of the emergency sig system. This has been only a test.
I had roughly the same problem with a Lexmark Printer/Concord Digital Camera combo I picked up at Walmart. I was super excited to see linux support on the side of the box.
Turns out, a. the support was binary only and would not be updated for future versions of linux: Redhat 7 or 8 only please b. the support is for the printer only, even though there's nothing on the package to indicate this.
I spent a week sending plaintive emails to Concord asking them to live up to their packaging to no avail. Finally I discovered that there was a USB mass storage driver on the camera that worked fine with Linux. This made me very angry to say the least.
This is why free software is so important. You don't want to be at the mercy of a company any time you want to wipe your ass. Do we really want nvidia-style binary only drivers for every piece of hardware in our computers? Because that's what's starting to happen. You can no longer get modern free software drivers for 3d accelerated video since ATI stopped releasing the specs on their cards after the Radeon 9200 series. If Linux one day wakes up and realizes it depends on proprietary, nonfree Windows drivers to function, guess who wins?
I wouldn't be a bit surprised to learn that Microsoft funded this venture. It would be a keen strategy for them- they can't embrace and extend linux directly, but they can hobble it by making it depend on nonfree software.
microsoftword.mp3 - it doesn't care that they're not words...
...if Intel doesn't want any Linux business, let's just not give them (or their OEMs) any.
I had mentioned this earlier when this topic of binary wrappers came up, and i was told i was nuts..
I guess now that we actually see the ramifications ' why bother makding a driver for OS xyz ' its not so cool afterall...
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Whoa, did you answer because you're a Ned's fan, or is this just some freaky coincidence?
I'm a writer, a poet, a genius, I know it. I don't buy software, I grow it.
Their Linux driver is based on their Windows driver, and shares 90%+ of the same code.
OTOH, that's not to say that you don't have a valid point, distributing binary drivers for Linux could definately be easier. I think that "problem" has been ignored so far because a lot of kernel developers don't want to encourage distribution of binary drivers, which is understandable, IMO.
BTW, you don't have to patch your kernel to add new drivers, there are plenty of drivers distributed as source that will build against the existing kernel.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
I finally ended up with a Microsoft MN-520 Prism card and the WLAN-NG drivers.
I live in a smallish town where the hardware vendor with the largest selection is Office Max. I bought, literally, 5 NICs over the course of a week. All were either unsupported (usually Broadcom chipsets) or required a newer OS than would run comfortably on the little laptop I was using. The Microsoft kit ($70 for a base station and one PCMCIA NIC) just worked out of the box.
I tell you what drove me nuts:
When and if you do your research and decide on a card, be sure to buy that exact model and version. Don't make my mistake and assume that a version bump only probably refers to the Windows drivers or AOL software or whatever else ships with it.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
No, the OP is not wrong. The original free drivers which offered full performance were removed and replaced with crippled drivers. Also, he never said that the full drivers cost $40, he was just illustrating a point about possibly having to pay for these new wireless driver wrappers in the future (he apparantly just made up the $40 figure), however the $40 was not referring to the price of the modem drivers. Besides, I believe that $14.95 is much too high a price for the modem drivers, considring that this is about the price of a brand new PCI 56K winmodem nowadays.
When you lose something irreplaceable, you don't mourn for the thing you lost, you mourn for yourself. - Harpo Marx
So I could mod your sorry arse down. Keep your comments to yourself if you've not got anything good to say; or else post as AC.
:)
Really, trolling/flamebaiting while NOT AC is pretty stupid...
I know I took the bait, but oh well.
Anyway, obligatory:
MOD PARENT DOWN.
i-mi pare rau, dar cite limbi vorbiti dumnea-voastra? eu vorbesc patru.
Investing forum
At some point, isn't it easier to just run Win2K?
No. Windoze simply wastes my time. I've wasted so many months going around the Windoze reinstall loop whenever something goes awry after some trivial hardware or software change that never again.
In Linux or a BSD or any Unix, you just fix what's broken, not perform magical incantations while praying that it'll all start working again. Windoze simply lacks the feedback indicators to allow problems to be identified and fixed, and has far too many interdependencies that cause total loss of function when just a small part breaks.
Maybe there's room for Windoze among those not willing or able to think for themselves, but rich enough to send away a dead box for others to fix. Personally I doubt it though. The way I see it, the lack of user-friendliness of Windoze is just as bad for technically disadvantaged people as for hardcore teccies.
The free drivers are still available but software locked to 14.4kbps
You should be aware that crippling exiting drivers is a very bad PR move. Calling it "software locking" doesn't change that.
If you really must make money from drivers then develop newer and better ones, create special apps to make the most of them, plus driver or link optimization tools etc.. Crippling something that existed previously in an uncrippled stated is a very poor business move, and will rebound on you.
Your mindless pragmatists are the ones who get the work done at the end of the day. While open-source drivers are the best way, I will take a binary-only driver over no driver at all any day.
So how does the programmer recoup his cost of buying a license from Conexant? I too believe in free software, but in this case the programmers have to recoup their cost of the license. What is wrong with that?
This is a test. This is a test of the emergency sig system. This has been only a test.
s/ open-source //;
--
Given enough personal experience, all stereotypes are shallow.
You claim to support choice then refer to "Mac Nazis"?
Fucking hypocrite.
If you really want to use MacOS X that bad, fucking steal the hardware and get the install disks off BitTorrent (I just saw Panther up the other day). Otherwise go back to your PC and be happy that you do, indeed, have choice, and that others do as well.
Oh, another hint - unless this is a separate troll account, I'd advise you to go AC next time, lest your karma get hammered like a cheap whore.
Who wants to be totally dependent on Intel? Anyone? Who likes having a choice? Why do people keep choosing Intel? Centrino, USB. Intel's attempt at defeating the "standards" committee's hard work. Sure, they have hardware that interoperates. For how long? Standards allow everyone to compete. Intel is no better than Microsoft. Intel, Microsoft, and Dell have always been in bed together. Intel uses their power to get most laptop companies to use their wireless chipset. How much choice will the user get? None. Soon, there's no standard. Costs rise, features and service go down due to lack of competition. Users suffer. The best thing that happened in the last 10 years was AMD competing in the CPU market.
> So how does the programmer recoup his cost of
> buying a license from Conexant? I too believe in
> free software, but in this case the programmers
> have to recoup their cost of the license. What is
> wrong with that?
$15 is more than the cost of a NEW MODEM.
There is no business model for selling drivers for commodity hardware.
Suppose microsoft adds some sort of requirement to it's WHQL certification that makes it unable to work with DriverLoader? That would mean Microsoft is screwing us all over again.
If you really are buying $15 modems then you should know you get what you pay for.
Or better yet, take up C++ and contribute to the project.
This is a test. This is a test of the emergency sig system. This has been only a test.
If DriverLoader could incorporate a lightweight x86 emulator, then it could easily support those chipsets on non-x86 platforms, like PowerBooks, for example, or maybe even Zaurus's (Zauri?), etc. I guess that's kind of a small market, but it would be cool.
Don't think that's too whacky, either. XFree86 already uses that trick to execute x86 video card BIOS code on non-x86 platforms.
-73, de n1ywb
www.n1ywb.com
They put in saftey precautions into the driver wrapper so blue screens of death should only occur as little as 1/10th the times it does on a real windows machine.
Modesty is one of life's greatest attributes
I wasn't aware that it was possible to contribute, especially since the actual code that does anything worthwhile (ie, the wrapping) is distributed as binary only.
Or did you refer to ndiswrapper?
The Dell "Truemobile 1150" is supported.
I believe the 1150 is really an orinoco card.
Works like a charm on my Dell Inspiron running RedHat 9
Almost all of the 802.11b cards I run into are Orinoco-based, and work fine with Linux. I've mostly just seen the Broadcom chipsets used on cards supporting a or g, rarely on b-only cards.
Then again, I'm in the states; perhaps, for whatever reason, there are some availability differences.