> >> What do you mean by "outperform"? I can see how drivers can > >> affect throughput. The Windows drivers for my Laptop's WiFi > >> chipset (Intel Pro-something) only get about 1/4 of the > >> bandwidth that the Linux drivers do. > >> > >> But, I don't understand how the driver can affect receiver > >> sensitivity. That's purely a function of the design of the RF > >> frontend. > > > > As modified by the firmware in the device. OK, it's not the > > driver per se, but it's certainly not the hardware either > > Sorry, I don't see how firmware can affect sensitivity. I've > been involved in writing firmware for RF data communications > stuff for a long time, and I've certainly never been able to > affect sensitivity.
I can say that I was really struggling to get a reliable wireless connection with the rt2x00 device and Hawking external antenna anywhere in my garage. I tried the madwifi device attached to the same Hawking antenna and the difference was ridiculous. I got a perfectly reliable signal from the back of the garage, the point furthest from the signal's source. Now that I think about it, I could have enabled outdoor mode for madwifi, but I can't check it right now. Could that account for the difference? - Grant -- gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list
