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 -> ​3.130.20.0 ​http://fxr.watson.org/fxr/source/dev/bwi/if_bwi.c?v=FREEBSD8#L382 (BWI_FW_VERSION3)
  

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 ?

Marvell

88w8335

• Requires a ​firmware, which is not publicly available, and therefor cannot be distributed with Haiku.
• The firmware files malo8335-h and malo8335-m must reside in /system/data/firmware/marvell88w8335

-> Distribution method: the same as b43xx

88w8363

• Firmware allows distribution with Haiku. I recommend the way FreeBSD is doing it:
  • The FreeBSD repository contains the uuencoded version of the firmware files combined with the License. ​mw88w8363, ​mwlboot
  • The FreeBSD Distribution contains then the (uudecoded) binary firmware and puts the license in the appropriate license directory.
• The Haiku way could look like this:
  • Haiku's repository contains the uuencoded firmware files mw88W8363fw.uu and mwlboot.uu (both prefixed with the ​license) in data/system/data/firmware/marvell88w8363/.
  • Haiku's repository contains the license file itself in data/system/data/firmware/marvell88w8363, too.
  • Haiku images contain the uudecoded firmware files mw88W8363fw and mwlboot in /system/data/firmware/marvell88w8363/.
  • Haiku images contain the license file in the appropriate license announcing locations.

-> Distribution method: with the image

Ralink Technology

RT2561, RT2561S, RT2661

• Get the firmware from the [www.ralinktech.com Ralink Technology homepage] -> Software -> Linux -> Firmware RT2501(RT2561/RT2661)
• Extract the three firmare binaries, uuencode them, prefix them with the license (contained in the archive) and name them accordingly (rt2561fw.uu, rt2561sfw.uu, rt2661fw.uu).
• Haiku's repository contains the uuencoded firmwares and the license in data/system/data/firmware/ralinkwifi/.
• Haiku images contain the uudecoded firmware files rt2561fw, rt2561sfw and rt2661fw in /system/data/firmware/ralinkwifi/.
• Haiku images contain the license file in theappropriate license announcing locations.

-> Distribution method: with the image