hong zhang wrote: > firmware runs on microprocessor on wifi chip and driver runs on main CPU. If > no firmware, how driver utilizes microprocessor on wifi chip? > If driver all runs on main CPU, does it waiste resource of microprocessor of > wifi chip and slow down speed? > The Atheros PCI chips do not have a microprocessor, and thus do not need any firmware.
The MAC (including encryption) is implemented in hardware, doing descriptor-based DMA (just like a PCI ethernet chip), with the help of some timers for beacon transmission etc.. All the higher 802.11 protocol stuff is handled on the host CPU (which does not cost much in terms of CPU cycles - these are just protocol frames), which makes the chips quite flexible. cu Michael _______________________________________________ ath9k-devel mailing list ath9k-devel@lists.ath9k.org https://lists.ath9k.org/mailman/listinfo/ath9k-devel
