I'm looking into what it would take to get proper TCP/IP support on Linux for the AT86RF231-based ATBEN/ATUSB cards we're developing in the qi-hardware project.
It seems that the best bet are currently the driver and MAC layers from linux-zigbee, with 6LoWPAN on top. After a quick look at the mailing list and some the code, this is my impression of where things stand: - IEEE 802.15.4 driver API Implemented and partially in mainline. Doesn't support common hardware features like CRC, auto-ack, and auto-retransmit. (Should it ?) Drivers are not in mainline. - IEEE 802.15.4 MAC (with coordinator) Implemented but not in mainline. Seems to lack functionality, e.g., I've observed that unanswered association requests don't seem to get repeated. - ZigBee Didn't look at the code for this. Wikipedia claims that the specification's licensing terms are incompatible with the GPL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zigbee#Licensing Is this assessment correct ? - 6LoWPAN Two partial implementations exist (an older one by Mariano Alvira, a more recent one by Jon Smirl), but the code is incomplete and its design considered unsuitable for mainline. This seems to be the area most in need of work. I saw on the list that the best way forward would be to port the code from the Contiki OS. Contiki is licensed under the 3-clause BSD license, which should be acceptable for inclusion into the Linux kernel. Maybe also bringing the existing implementations into a more-or-less working state could also yield quick if dirty results. Did I get this overview more or less right ? I also have the impression that activity on linux-zigbee is rather quiet for a project that covers an area that's considered "hot". Is this because there is simply not much interest in using IEEE 802.15.4 with Linux at the moment, or is the Linux-related action happening elsewhere ? Thanks, - Werner ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Create and publish websites with WebMatrix Use the most popular FREE web apps or write code yourself; WebMatrix provides all the features you need to develop and publish your website. http://p.sf.net/sfu/ms-webmatrix-sf _______________________________________________ Linux-zigbee-devel mailing list Linux-zigbee-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linux-zigbee-devel
