Re: [support-gang] switching libertas driver into AP mode in XO-1.75?
On Thu, Mar 21, 2013 at 12:57 AM, James Cameron qu...@laptop.org wrote: Anna wrote: So unless someone comes out and says, hey, the XO's wifi does support AP mode, it's gonna have to be an external dongle. No, the XO's wifi does not provide AP mode. Thanks, quozl, I was hoping someone would reply with an answer exactly like yours. And to clarify the situation for everyone, as this is a common question. There's a need to plug in a USB wifi dongle for hostapd for the eth1 schoolserver wifi, as that makes the schoolserver XSCE XO totally independent from wires. No ethernet cables, external wifi APs that need external power. And operating within the constraints of the XO's internal battery. Sit it on a table, no wires at all, you have an XS that'll run as long as the internal battery powers it. Not sure how it's going to go with all the various wifi dongles out there, because even with regular Linux it's always a crapshoot when you buy something. I just happened to hit the wifi dongle lottery with my few odd, cheap purchases. Anna Schoolfield Birmingham ___ Devel mailing list Devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
Re: [support-gang] switching libertas driver into AP mode in XO-1.75?
On Thu, Mar 21, 2013 at 01:48:43AM -0500, Anna wrote: Not sure how it's going to go with all the various wifi dongles out there, because even with regular Linux it's always a crapshoot when you buy something. I just happened to hit the wifi dongle lottery with my few odd, cheap purchases. Indeed. A USB wifi dongle and Wi-Fi in general is of sufficient complexity that creating interoperating firmware and software requires a major investment in engineering time, and to then keep that combination alive in the face of regular changes by others to underlying mechanisms (the kernel USB driver, the kernel networking stack, the kernel memory management) ... means that support for such a dongle will last only for as long as people can still buy one for a price that is consistent with value. If a cheaper, faster, or more functional dongle becomes available, this threatens the value of the original dongle. I think the best approach is to publish your crapshoot results early and often, along with hardware and software configurations. -- James Cameron http://quozl.linux.org.au/ ___ Devel mailing list Devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
Re: [support-gang] switching libertas driver into AP mode in XO-1.75?
Thanks James for the complete picture. I'll try to make sure that we preserve the essentials of your information about the libertas driver in a wiki somewhere. It does seem reasonable to avoid support headaches whenever possible, especially when the interface to an external AP is so well defined. The Australian team has been looking at a tp-link AP which is available on Amazon for $37. http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-MR3020-Wireless-Portable-150Mpbs/dp/B006DEBXD0/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8qid=1363858688sr=8-4keywords=tplink+ap George On Thu, Mar 21, 2013 at 3:58 AM, James Cameron qu...@laptop.org wrote: On Thu, Mar 21, 2013 at 01:48:43AM -0500, Anna wrote: Not sure how it's going to go with all the various wifi dongles out there, because even with regular Linux it's always a crapshoot when you buy something. I just happened to hit the wifi dongle lottery with my few odd, cheap purchases. Indeed. A USB wifi dongle and Wi-Fi in general is of sufficient complexity that creating interoperating firmware and software requires a major investment in engineering time, and to then keep that combination alive in the face of regular changes by others to underlying mechanisms (the kernel USB driver, the kernel networking stack, the kernel memory management) ... means that support for such a dongle will last only for as long as people can still buy one for a price that is consistent with value. If a cheaper, faster, or more functional dongle becomes available, this threatens the value of the original dongle. I think the best approach is to publish your crapshoot results early and often, along with hardware and software configurations. -- James Cameron http://quozl.linux.org.au/ ___ Devel mailing list Devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
Re: [support-gang] switching libertas driver into AP mode in XO-1.75?
Anna wrote: So unless someone comes out and says, hey, the XO's wifi does support AP mode, it's gonna have to be an external dongle. No, the XO's wifi does not provide AP mode. When we say XO's wifi it is a large collection of things that must work together. There's the radio module, the firmware that runs on the module, the driver in the kernel, and the application. Everything has to be in place to provide AP mode. The XO-1 radio module called 8388 ... does not provide AP mode, because it doesn't have enough onboard memory, and what extra it had is used for the mesh mode. So there is no firmware for the 8388 that provides AP mode, and no driver in the kernel. The XO-1.5, XO-1.75 and XO-4 radio module called 8686 which does 802.11g (2.4 GHz) ... does provide AP mode, using different firmware to the default, but the kernel in our OLPC OS builds do not have a driver for this. The XO-4 module called 8787 which does 802.11an (5 GHz) ... does support AP mode, but the kernel in our OLPC OS builds do not have a driver for this. So: - for XO-1 it is can't support without a tremendous effort, for something we probably can't even buy in quantity these days, - for XO-1.5 and XO-1.75 it won't support without a huge effort, and - for XO-4 it won't support without a large effort. ;-) I agree, get an external radio module. After all, you aren't going to want every child to run an AP, so why would you pay for every laptop to be able to do it? -- James Cameron http://quozl.linux.org.au/ ___ Devel mailing list Devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel
