Gitweb:
http://git.kernel.org/git/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=commit;h=70a734391a7e12ae177f703b8caf37c7f2014682
Commit: 70a734391a7e12ae177f703b8caf37c7f2014682
Parent: c6710e50f6b976dead878e143c568d4f8b068c7c
Author: Larry Finger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
AuthorDate: Tue Feb 20 10:33:13 2007 -0600
Committer: Jeff Garzik <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
CommitDate: Sat Apr 28 11:00:55 2007 -0400
[PATCH] bcm43xx: Update Documentation/bcm43xx.txt
The in-kernel documentation of the bcm43xx driver is out of date.
Signed-off-by: Larry Finger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Signed-off-by: John W. Linville <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
---
Documentation/networking/bcm43xx.txt | 125 ++++++++++++++++++++++++----------
1 files changed, 89 insertions(+), 36 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/networking/bcm43xx.txt
b/Documentation/networking/bcm43xx.txt
dissimilarity index 90%
index 28541d2..a136721 100644
--- a/Documentation/networking/bcm43xx.txt
+++ b/Documentation/networking/bcm43xx.txt
@@ -1,36 +1,89 @@
-
- BCM43xx Linux Driver Project
- ============================
-
-About this software
--------------------
-
-The goal of this project is to develop a linux driver for Broadcom
-BCM43xx chips, based on the specification at
-http://bcm-specs.sipsolutions.net/
-
-The project page is http://bcm43xx.berlios.de/
-
-
-Requirements
-------------
-
-1) Linux Kernel 2.6.16 or later
- http://www.kernel.org/
-
- You may want to configure your kernel with:
-
- CONFIG_DEBUG_FS (optional):
- -> Kernel hacking
- -> Debug Filesystem
-
-2) SoftMAC IEEE 802.11 Networking Stack extension and patched ieee80211
- modules:
- http://softmac.sipsolutions.net/
-
-3) Firmware Files
-
- Please try fwcutter. Fwcutter can extract the firmware from various
- binary driver files. It supports driver files from Windows, MacOS and
- Linux. You can get fwcutter from http://bcm43xx.berlios.de/.
- Also, fwcutter comes with a README file for further instructions.
+
+ BCM43xx Linux Driver Project
+ ============================
+
+Introduction
+------------
+
+Many of the wireless devices found in modern notebook computers are
+based on the wireless chips produced by Broadcom. These devices have
+been a problem for Linux users as there is no open-source driver
+available. In addition, Broadcom has not released specifications
+for the device, and driver availability has been limited to the
+binary-only form used in the GPL versions of AP hardware such as the
+Linksys WRT54G, and the Windows and OS X drivers. Before this project
+began, the only way to use these devices were to use the Windows or
+OS X drivers with either the Linuxant or ndiswrapper modules. There
+is a strong penalty if this method is used as loading the binary-only
+module "taints" the kernel, and no kernel developer will help diagnose
+any kernel problems.
+
+Development
+-----------
+
+This driver has been developed using
+a clean-room technique that is described at
+http://bcm-specs.sipsolutions.net/ReverseEngineeringProcess. For legal
+reasons, none of the clean-room crew works on the on the Linux driver,
+and none of the Linux developers sees anything but the specifications,
+which are the ultimate product of the reverse-engineering group.
+
+Software
+--------
+
+Since the release of the 2.6.17 kernel, the bcm43xx driver has been
+distributed with the kernel source, and is prebuilt in most, if not
+all, distributions. There is, however, additional software that is
+required. The firmware used by the chip is the intellectual property
+of Broadcom and they have not given the bcm43xx team redistribution
+rights to this firmware. Since we cannot legally redistribute
+the firwmare we cannot include it with the driver. Furthermore, it
+cannot be placed in the downloadable archives of any distributing
+organization; therefore, the user is responsible for obtaining the
+firmware and placing it in the appropriate location so that the driver
+can find it when initializing.
+
+To help with this process, the bcm43xx developers provide a separate
+program named bcm43xx-fwcutter to "cut" the firmware out of a
+Windows or OS X driver and write the extracted files to the proper
+location. This program is usually provided with the distribution;
+however, it may be downloaded from
+
+http://developer.berlios.de/project/showfiles.php?group_id=4547
+
+The firmware is available in two versions. V3 firmware is used with
+the in-kernel bcm43xx driver that uses a software MAC layer called
+SoftMAC, and will have a microcode revision of 0x127 or smaller. The
+V4 firmware is used by an out-of-kernel driver employing a variation of
+the Devicescape MAC layer known as d80211. Once bcm43xx-d80211 reaches
+a satisfactory level of development, it will replace bcm43xx-softmac
+in the kernel as it is much more flexible and powerful.
+
+A source for the latest V3 firmware is
+
+http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o
+
+Once this file is downloaded, the command
+'bcm43xx-fwcutter -w <dir> <filename>'
+will extract the microcode and write it to directory
+<dir>. The correct directory will depend on your distribution;
+however, most use '/lib/firmware'. Once this step is completed,
+the bcm3xx driver should load when the system is booted. To see
+any messages relating to the driver, issue the command 'dmesg |
+grep bcm43xx' from a terminal window. If there are any problems,
+please send that output to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
+
+Although the driver has been in-kernel since 2.6.17, the earliest
+version is quite limited in its capability. Patches that include
+all features of later versions are available for the stable kernel
+versions from 2.6.18. These will be needed if you use a BCM4318,
+or a PCI Express version (BCM4311 and BCM4312). In addition, if you
+have an early BCM4306 and more than 1 GB RAM, your kernel will need
+to be patched. These patches, which are being updated regularly,
+are available at ftp://lwfinger.dynalias.org/patches. Look for
+combined_2.6.YY.patch. Of course you will need kernel source downloaded
+from kernel.org, or the source from your distribution.
+
+If you build your own kernel, please enable CONFIG_BCM43XX_DEBUG
+and CONFIG_IEEE80211_SOFTMAC_DEBUG. The log information provided is
+essential for solving any problems.
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