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Atheros Hardware Abstraction Layer Source Is Released
chrb writes "With the recent discussion here on proprietary blobs in the Linux kernel, it's nice to see that today Sam Leffler has released the source for the Atheros Hardware Abstraction Layer under the ISC license, which is both GPL and BSD compatible. The Atheros chipset is used in many laptops, so this is another important step towards running a completely free distribution."
I have a Macbook from just over a year ago, and it uses a Atheros wireless card, and it's the biggest pain to get running in Linux. Hopefully, with the Source released, it will be easier in the future to get the wireless working on this model of computer.
The argument about BLOBs - binary loadable objects in the kernel - is not new, despite Bruce Byfield's recent report. I guess he just doesn't read the kernel list and other distro internal discussions, where this has been going on for a decade. And FSF did not "redefine" anything, they've always held that opinion.
It would be nice to draw a line at the hardware bus, with all above that Open Source and all below that whatever the hardware manufacturer likes because we don't deal with it. But BLOBs break that, because they are both above and below the bus. If we're going to handle the code, we can't really deny that there's a computer there running closed-source code. And given the degree to which wifi firmware sucks the world would be nicer if it was Free Software. Now, we just have to drive some sense into FCC, etc.
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
I didn't see this coming, although I have to say I don't keep up with MadWifi news anymore since they fixed 64-bit support for the AR5007 chipset...
Does this mean the sleep function will finally work as it should without draining the batteries? I have yet to see a laptop running Linux go into hibernate mode and not bleed off the batteries.
I noticed this on the dd-wrt.com website a couple of months back (dated 8.28.08) We would like to announce the release of a new HAL for Atheros WLAN devices. The new HAL is the result of a collaboration between OpenWrt.org, DD-WRT and MakSat Technologies (P) Ltd. It is the first result of a common effort, and the present collaborators would like to share the product of this work. It is the intention to provide reliable and continued support for other projects using this new HAL for Atheros WLAN devices. The HAL provides a defined API to access and contol Atheros WLAN chipsets, and is an integral part for many drivers such as MadWifi. Comparing it with the HAL that's currently used by MadWifi, the most important changes are: * many known bugs have been fixed * improved noise immunity measures * added support for additional architectures, such as ARM11, MIPS64 and MIPS32r2 * enhanced support for Atheros WiSOC (Wireless System on Chip) * added support for Atheros AR7100 Home of the new HAL will be the website of the madwifi.org project, http://madwifi.org./ Future development will be coordinated here, and the bug tracking facility can be used to report bugs or file feature requests. For commercial requests please contact hal@maksat.deThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . So with the new news maybe things will really get rolling
I wonder if this could be used to help port OpenWRT over to the atheros chipset. Currently the only routers that OpenWRT (and conversely by that DD-WRT) really work well on are the broadcom chipsets. Many routers that use the Atheros chipset have been written off as impossible to port to. Maybe they could be used if this proves any insight to how they operate.
Procrastinating life a way at a rapid rate of speed.
From the article apparaently he had "an agreement with Atheros" to "access to information about their devices". Does that mean he developed the HAL with little help from the company? (And apparaently he'll have no more access since the agreement is "concluded".)
It is nice to have an open source driver released, but it is NOT nice that an individual have to go jump through hoops and write it himself to make it happen.
Erm...What wifi chip are you using?
The good thing about manufacturers opening their drivers is you get a completely free distro and its fully functional.
I was under the impression that the atheros HAL is not a binary blob in the sense the summary refers to, but a program executed on the host CPU. That makes this even better news than if it were a blob. It is debatable whether or not a system that needs to load a bunch of blobs onto its peripherals at startup is free or not(personally, I'm inclined to say it is, as long as the mechanisms for loading the firmware and interacting with the peripheral are open and the firmware is freely redistributable); but a system with a big binary lump running in kernel space definitely isn't.
It is very encouraging to see progress towards removing one of the most common causes of tainted kernels(probably second only to video card drivers); but it isn't really related to the blob question.
Because those movies are shit? Your local library has a better selection of Hollywood titles than the site you reference. Most of these have never been in circulation, and for a very good reason.
Not to mention some of the movies on this site are in formats that are not "free and open" like Linux. AVI, DIVX, MPEG4? Hell, one I looked at was itself a 4 gig ISO file of MPEG2 video. How far must one dig through the site before finding the OGG format videos?
"When you see a unixer brainwashed beyond saving, kick him out of the door." - Xah Lee
In the UK this stuff is patent free because there are no software patents in England. It depends very much on where you live.
If Canonical made a UK distribution which included all the patented free software it would also create prior art in case of any changes in UK patent law.
If you make the customer load up the bits, you don't have to do it in the factory.
If the manufacturers could figure out a way to make the software build the card at install time and still manage to milk the customer of money, they'd do it.
How we know is more important than what we know.
1. If you remove someone else's name and add your own, that's plagiarism, not theft.
2. If you remove someone else's license, and the license doesn't give you permission to do that, that's copyright infringement, not theft.
3. If you add a new license and list yourself as an author, and the old license didn't give you permission to do that, that's copyright infringement, not theft.
4. If you don't enforce your copyright, that's nothing. Copyright gives you the right to sue, if you punt, that's your choice, stop moaning.
How we know is more important than what we know.
I really wish people would stop repeating this myth that the UK (and Europe) are free of software patents. There many, many software patents here - you just have to write the patent in a certain way that gets around the very weak restrictions. See http://eupat.ffii.org/patents/samples/index.en.html for sample of these patents with summaries, from an anti-patent group.
RAM must be cheaper than ROM. Easier to upgrade the firmware, too.
You are confusing blobs with firmware. Firmware is software run by the hardware's processor. It used to be stored in ROM, but ROM is expensive, and if the host has a lot of RAM (which any computer does in comparison to a WiFi card) it's cheaper to just give some of the RAM to the device and let it use that instead. This also has the advantage that it's easier to fix bugs in the firmware - just download a new version, rather than replacing the chip (some old cards had the ROM in a socket for doing this, but it was quite rare for anyone to actually do it).
This is not firmware, however, it is a blob. The kernel module originally just took commands from a userspace driver and passed them over the bus, much like the DRI modules. Unlike the DRI driver, the HAL was binary-only. It was originally claimed that this was required by the FCC, since with the source code anyone could modify the driver to push the card out of regulatory compliance. It was a far from satisfactory solution, however, since it meant that no one could fix the blob, and it was limited to x86-only.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Very good. You can go take the bar exam. Meanwhile, in the real world, English is my fourth language. I'm a simple man using simple words.
So, just to double check with you - do you support or do you not support what the madwifi fuckers did with Reyk's code - specifically the reverse engineered bits?
Note that atheros already release a "legacy" HAL 2 months ago : http://marc.info/?l=linux-wireless&m=122246623707038&w=2
Since Mr. Reyk hasn't filed suit, it's totally academic what the 'madwifi fuckers' did or did not do.
For someone who make such strong claims on being intellectually correct, this is an interesting position to take. So, in your world, as long as no suit is filed, any action taken is just "totally academic"?
If you have an axe to grind, take it up with them.
I don't really have an axe to grind. It's just two people in the madwifi group that did that "totally academic" but unethical thing. And have not apologized for it.
If, alternately, you have a thoughtful and reasoned criticism (and preferably some strong evidence for your allegations), please share it.
Umm... you did not manage to follow the original link that I had originally responded to? Would you like a signed and sealed piece of paper? Go read the link again - note that Theo was talking about the OpenHAL code. http://kerneltrap.org/mailarchive/openbsd-misc/2007/9/13/259448/thread
If you want to look for evidence, you can find it yourself. OpenBSD's CVS is open. I'm sure madwifi's repository is available too. Look at code check in dates. Make up your own mind. *big hint* OpenBSD's OpenHAL is dated a year earlier, according to 3rd party reports. Please do not let this *big hint* color your perception or conclusion. KTHXHAND
I really hope the programmers behind KisMAC are reading this thread.
We MacBook users are really hoping that we can run injections and other advanced features using our built-in network cards now. Until now, all our packets were trash and we couldn't work out the SSID.
Sad days they have been, but now we have reason to be optimistic!