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Atheros Releases Free Linux Driver For Its 802.11n Devices

Posted by timothy on from the a-pleasant-present dept.

mcgrof writes "Atheros has released a shiny new Atheros driver for all their 11n devices aimed for inclusion in the Linux kernel. This new driver has no proprietary HAL and is licensed under the ISC license, so the BSD community should be able to benefit as well. Note: no firmware required!"

6 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. Seriously? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    No blob, ISC license, and supporting .11n? That only leaves one question: is there a miniPCI card available containing this chipset that I can plug into a little router board?

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  2. Cool by rrohbeck · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Does anybody know the HW capabilities of the Atheros chipset?
    Thinking of Software Radio...

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  3. Re:Broadcomm next?? by Skinkie · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I think the point is pretty clear. Atheros realises that it might be cheaper, in the long run, to add a memory chip to the chipset that contains a firmware, than actually uploading it everytime or using a wintel solution to control the hardware in a way that the FCC stays happy.

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  4. B and G by phiz187 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How does this affect 802.11 B and G devices? Can I expect greater stability in those products, or does this only help out 802.11n hardware?

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  5. Hired ath5k developer by symbolset · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Atheros hired Luis R. Rodriguez, the developer of the Linux kernel Atheros driver, back in April with the intention of doing just this. Congratulations!

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  6. My wonderful HP Pavilion laptop by Tatsh · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have a dv5030us of the dv5000 series. But this applies to nearly all Pavilion models. If you take out the Broadcom card and replace it with something that is not Broadcom (or does not have its ID in the BIOS), then the BIOS will boot and say "Unsupported hardware detected. Remove and reboot." I wanted official support for wireless. I bought an Atheros card off eBay, installed it, got exactly what everyone was saying it would do. Then, I found this web site: http://www.richud.com/HP-Pavilion-104-Bios-Fix/ . And, I had to hex edit my BIOS and reflash as well. Quite something, HP, doing a hardware lock-in with a vendor who refuses to release specs on their hardware.