On Mon, 22 Jan 2007 21:31:22 -0600 "Sam Fourman Jr." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> hello misc@ > > I was reading FreeBSD news Groups and I found this link > > http://blog.matthewgast.com/2007/01/19/tgn-draft-2-out-for-vote/ > > My question is about future 802.11n support in OpenBSD, are updated > drivers the only work that has to be done. or does the whole 802.11 > networking need to be overhauled like in FreeBSD? > ral(4) The RT2600 chipset consists of two integrated chips, an RT2661 MAC/BBP and an RT2529 radio transceiver. This chipset uses the MIMO (multiple- input multiple-output) technology with multiple antennas to extend the operating range of the adapter and to achieve higher throughput. Hrm... *shrug* looks like it does not currently support data rates beyond 54Mbps though. This could be the hardware or the driver, I don't know. But... who cares!? Everyone knows that wireless is an unreliable link medium prone to security difficulties, stressing TCP, and is just plain slow. If you need speed, go down to the corner sometime past midnight... err I mean hook up your leet boxen with ethernet, yo! Even though wifi is not "speedy" I've found that just a few Megabits are plenty for ssh, POP, web browsing, etc. I'm sure many of you have come to the same conclusions. But if you're just taking a laptop down to the local starschmucks, expect "legacy" radios to be in use. Even if the place upgraded their access point, you're probably going to have to coexist with b/g clients. Then you're back to base one. And I doubt that coffee places invest in really fast connectivity. Plus you have to share it. What I see as the best advantage of MIMO is the increased reliability and range. I don't envision most of Open developers needing more range... Now that you've read all my crap, to answer your question: no, only the drivers will have to be written. I'm pretty sure all the good stuff happens in the driver, all the stuff the drivers have in common--well that's open's software 80.211 stack. Most vendors should probably be especially difficult this time around. There will be only slight modifications to the networking code and ifconfig, such as just adding in new rates. Travers Buda
