wiki:HardwareInfo/WirelessFirmwares

Version 29 (modified by colin, 14 years ago) ( diff )

Status update on Intel contact progress

This page tries to list all the legal and technical implications of distributing the different WiFi firmwares for use on Haiku.
While a nice source of info, it is not intended as a user install guide but for Haiku developers and contributors to bring WiFi on Haiku while fully complying to the various vendor licenses and copyrights.

(author note: 2009-12-5, in construction, please refine/fix/complete)

General

Should we ask vendors for agreements when necessary? (cf. ​Old OSNews Article) todo: find the contact points

Progress on getting Intel contact points:

  • 09/12/05 umccullough: bosii, i just emailed freebsd's "Vendor relations" group to inquire about Intel contacts.
  • 09/12/15 umccullough: bosii, i never heard back from the freebsd guys, so I'll probably try to contact intel directly next

Intel

Official Downloads: ​http://www.intellinuxwireless.org/?n=downloads&f=ucodes_3945
Official License FAQ: ​http://www.intellinuxwireless.org/?n=FAQ&s=license

Recommended firmware versions

This Versions are the minimal required ones. So higher Versions could work, too. These minimal versions are taken from the FreeBSD 8 Makefiles (see links).
2100 -> 1.3 ​http://svn.freebsd.org/viewvc/base/release/8.0.0/sys/modules/ipwfw/ipw_bss/Makefile?revision=199625&view=markup
2200/2945 -> 3.0 ​http://svn.freebsd.org/viewvc/base/release/8.0.0/sys/modules/iwifw/iwi_bss/Makefile?revision=199625&view=markup
3945 -> 2.14.4 ​http://svn.freebsd.org/viewvc/base/release/8.0.0/sys/modules/wpifw/Makefile?revision=199625&view=markup
4965 -> 4.44.17 ​http://svn.freebsd.org/viewvc/base/release/8.0.0/sys/modules/iwnfw/Makefile?revision=199625&view=markup

ipw3945

2.14.4 Download: ​http://www.intellinuxwireless.org/iwlwifi/downloads/iwlwifi-3945-ucode-2.14.4.tgz
2.14.4 Licence: ​http://www.intellinuxwireless.org/tar.php?p=iwlwifi&f=LICENSE.iwlwifi-3945-ucode&a=iwlwifi-3945-ucode-2.14.4.tgz
2.14.4 Readme: ​http://www.intellinuxwireless.org/tar.php?p=iwlwifi&f=README.iwlwifi-3945-ucode&a=iwlwifi-3945-ucode-2.14.4.tgz

-> Distribution method: seems possible with the image.

ipw4965

4.44.17 Download ​http://www.intellinuxwireless.org/iwlwifi/downloads/iwlwifi-4965-ucode-4.44.17.tgz
4.44.17 Licence ​http://www.intellinuxwireless.org/tar.php?p=iwlwifi&f=README.iwlwifi-4965-ucode&a=iwlwifi-4965-ucode-4.44.17.tgz
4.44.17 Readme ​http://www.intellinuxwireless.org/tar.php?p=iwlwifi&f=LICENSE.iwlwifi-4965-ucode&a=iwlwifi-4965-ucode-4.44.17.tgz

-> Distribution method:

ipw2100

License & Download: ​http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/firmware.php?fid=4
The download link is at the bottom, in "I Agree"

-> Distribution method: Distribution method: ipw2xxx firmware ships with Haiku, but gets only installed when user had chance to read license. And then we can argue about how this chance should look like... ? matt: suggests distributing original archive & attached script. to remove all need for an active network connection: the script can have the license embedded, which is then cat'd to a temporary file when the user wants to view the license.

ipw2200/2945

License: ​http://www.intellinuxwireless.org/LICENSE.ipw2200-fw
License & Download: ​http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/firmware.php?fid=7
The download link is at the bottom, in "I Agree"

-> Distribution method: the same as ipw2100

References: ​http://www.intellinuxwireless.org/?n=Info
​http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=iwi&apropos=0&sektion=0&manpath=FreeBSD+8.0-RELEASE&format=html

Broadcom

Recommended firmware versions

The FreeBSD 8 driver only supports firmwares of version 3 (see link below). There is only one version 3 firmware available.

b43xx

  • ​http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#device_firmware
  • from the above link, "Please note that the firmware from the binary drivers is Copyrighted by Broadcom Corporation and must not be redistributed." and "Because the proprietary driver containing the firmware cannot be included in the distribution, you will need a working connection to the Internet."
  • A required tool, 'b43-fwcutter' is GNU GPL V2. HaikuPorts has ported ​b43-fwcutter
  • One of the suggested driver downloads, ​broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2 contains a file 'WHERE_FROM' with the contents "From the Linksys WRT350N v1.03.2 GPL release"
  • At least some distributions explicitly request acknowledgment from the end user.

-> Distribution method: post install unmodified download + post download processing + license warning ?

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