Le dimanche 29 septembre 2013 à 22:30 +0300, Paul Sokolovsky a écrit : > All in all, I'd be really interested to know if available source code > is enough to reproduce WiFi implementation for a > compatible/new/SDR-like chip.
I don't think (though I may be wrong, I don't know enough there) that the actual implementation of the WiFi protocols down to the firmware has ever been the problem. The problem is about the hardware itself (no proper documentation of how it all works) rather than what we do with it. I've already seen read-only WiFi traces from RTL-SDR, there seems to be no magic in it. Also, I guess some other chips, like ath9k, have their Linux driver to do most of the work, and very little is left to the firmware, so it's nearly there already. Maybe someone already experimented at doing a WiFi and/or bluetooth transceiver with the USRP. > BT is much simpler protocol, there's very > little magic in it, and it's definitely possible to collect existing > code for more or less complete firmware/stack implementation. It's of > course won't allow to release devices with "WiFi" and "Bluetooth" > markings, as that requires certifications and/or licensing, but we talk > possibility of community-developer firmware here. As both these > protocols are ISM 2.4MHz, it won't be exactly easy to enforce > non-allowance of this. Definitely, not easier than prohibit > alternative MP3 codecs. GSM is different story, its strictly licensed > and controlled frequency, so any "intruding" will be prosecuted by > government (that's rather good than bad I'd say), even though some > aspects of GSM exist in FOSS (I don't know how much). Look at OsmocomBB and all the other related projects: it's already there and works, the implementation is no secret, only the hardware-specific parts make it hard for the project to extend to actual phones. > And besides the above, there's always "throw it all and make your own" > approach, just like OGG waved bye-bye to MP3. Achieving competitive > speeds is not trivial, but 1-2Mbit/s are readily achievable with > off-the-shelf dirty cheap modules (like nRF24). Except that this time, we're talking about hardware and infrastructure that we don't have the money or power to replace. Only big companies with big money to invest can afford to create the infrastructure for a network like GSM. That means we have to cope with what they decided the network would be. As for WiFi and friends, again, I doubt the issue is about the protocol implementation, even though there are indeed royalties and patent issues that make it hard for us to actually create and sell Open Hardware that does WiFi and/or Bluetooth. -- Paul Kocialkowski, Replicant developer Replicant is a fully free Android distribution Website: http://www.replicant.us Wiki/Tracker: http://redmine.replicant.us _______________________________________________ Replicant mailing list [email protected] http://lists.osuosl.org/mailman/listinfo/replicant
