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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
If your WMP11 uses an x86, sure.
According to Intel the real drivers are "in development" for the wireless chipset. Rumored release is in the first half of 2004.
Intel doesn't even provide the Centrino PRO/Wireless drivers for Windows for download. It's up to the Centrino manufacturers to provider the drivers.
-rick
There's a solution to that if you're using the Cisco VPN3000 client: this mailing list posting by a friend of mine explains how to make it work.
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.
So what. There are about 6 version of Windows. There are countless versions of Linux kernels in different distros or custom ones.
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).
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.
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
Its definately an FCC problem. The newest a/b/g chipset drivers are what's called "software defined radios". SDR is a major regulartory nightmare for the FCC because they can be reprogrammed by the user (more or less). Hence, the FCC wants to see infrastructure on the card to authenticate the code that runs there [kernel discussion]. Annoyingly.
The madwifi project is developing drivers for the Atheros a/b/g chipset. I've been using them and they appear to be reasonably good, for the moment. But, the distribute with a uuencoded binary blob that unpacks into a kernel module... I hear there are access points on the market that are basically Atheros a/b/g mini-PCI cards inside a plastic casing.
On the flip side, at least Intel sees the need to convince the FCC to open spectrums [quote]:
A third major challenge facing SDR technology is convincing the FCC to open the radio spectrum. In the past, the FCC has regulated specific radio bands for different types of communications. A radio device is then licensed for use in only a specific frequency range. Intel and other industry leaders would like to see devices licensed for multiple radio spectra, rather than for only one communications band. This would allow manufacturers to make a single device that could broadcast and/or receive at any appropriate frequency. The frequency used for a specific type of communication could then depend on the device or user identification, such as for National Guard, police, fire, Air-Sea Rescue, animal control, border patrol, road construction, clean-water works, and so on.
"He wrested the world's whereabouts from the heavens And locked the secret in a pocketwatch." - Dava Sobel
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