On 04/17/2013 10:42 AM, Joelle wrote:
The driver as distributed with the distros cannot provided AP functionality, this is true. However one only needs to patch in the proper call functions for AP functionality to work, which is what I did with the power functions. The patch is available on the Realtek site but is formatted for kernal ver 2.something and thus most be painstakingly edited in. This means that the driver as provided by the manufacturer, which was also provided as open source, utilized these functions and more. But as this chipset is now considered legacy by the manufacturer they no longer update the driver, thus breaking compatibility with new generations of linux.
Again, you are mixing apples and oranges. The driver on the Realtek web site does not use mac80211; whereas the one in the kernel does.
I see this as a "crime against technology", and the comment that compatibility will 'never' come because the ability is and was available in these prior versions, all be it patched. This means that very little work needs to be done by someone who knows what they are doing. As for myself, I only 'almost' know what I'm doing and can't provide the technical expertise required to build a reliable enough driver to be given to the distros, nor do I have the repute to suggest an integration.
If you do not have the skills to integrate the changes, then you need to find someone that can. I must say that accusing peoples of "crimes against technology" is hardly tghe way to start.
It's also a crime that the windows drivers continue to be updated, at the least a newish win 7 is available, but the linux community does not wish to peruse greater functionality. While I can't substantiate this with any degree of certainty I do recall an Ubuntu mod saying that they will never provider greater support because the primary use for the Alfa adapters, which was the primary purchaser of said chipsets, is for hacking purposes. This is a tragedy as the rtl8187, or any in that series, as well as the Alfa adapters can and do provide an excellent platform for many wifi needs.
If the Ubuntu quote was referring to using the driver with air-crack, then I agree.
I also should address the transmit issue as well if I'm to maintain any credibility. High priority kernal patches can be used to provide one's software router with appropriate timing. In fact there were, perhaps are, a lot of 'very cheep' wifi router which had limited capabilities in their chipsets but made up for those deficiencies with software 'cheats'. At this moment I'm serving my 'very' small town with free wifi internet through a Windows XP Aspire One, with routing provided by my dedicated linux soft router. Despite the slowness of the laptop, idiocies of windows, and other drawbacks with my setup I've had up to 30 people surfing at once with a peek of 50 or so sitting authenticated.
If you have the ability to setup and maintain something like that, then I would think you should be able to port the non-mac80211 driver to modern kernels, or modify the kernel driver. At the moment, I am working on 3 drivers for which there is *NO* Linux driver publicly available. To me, that has a much higher priority. Besides, I am not getting paid to do this, and you are making me want to go fishing.
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