Broadcom Mac80211 driver
This is a driver in progress. It has features still to be implemented well as
bugs in current code.
What's here and not here
=======================
- Completely open source host driver, no binary object files
- Features Broadcom's OneDriver architecture (single source base for
supported chips and architectures)
- On-chip firmware loaded using standard request_firmware()
- Support for BCM43224, BCM43225, BCM4313 (PCIe NIC)
- Framework for supporting new chips, including mac80211-aware embedded chips
- Does not support older PCI/PCIe chips with SSB backplane
- Driver includes BMAC interface for transparent dongle support
- Uses minstrel_ht rate algorithm
- HW based encryption not enabled yet
What's done
==========
- Integration with mac80211 stack
- A-MPDU single & dual stream rates
- BCM43224: Dualband, Dual stream, 20MHz channels
Throughput (in chamber): ~85-90 Mbits/sec (in both 2.4 & 5 GHz bands)
- BCM43225: 2.4 GHz, Dual Stream, 20MHz channels
Throughput (in chamber): ~85-90 Mbits/sec
- BCM4313: 2.4 GHz, Single Stream
Throughput (in chamber): ~40 Mbits/sec
Things To Be Done
=================
See the TODO file
Firmware installation
======================
Firmware is available from the Linux firmware repository at:
git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/dwmw2/linux-firmware.git
http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/dwmw2/linux-firmware.git
https://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/dwmw2/linux-firmware.git
For all chips, copy brcm/bcm43xx-0-610-809-0.fw and
brcm/bcm43xx_hdr-0-610-809-0.fw to /lib/firmware/brcm (or wherever firmware is
normally installed on the system). In the /lib/firmware/brcm directory, then
create the following symlinks:
ln -s bcm43xx-0-610-809-0.fw bcm43xx-0.fw
ln -s bcm43xx_hdr-0-610-809-0.fw bcm43xx_hdr-0.fw
Currently supported chips
==============
PCI
Name Device ID
BCM4313 0x4727
BCM43224 0x4353
BCM43225 0x4357
Bugs/Problems
==============
- Driver can get confused while scanning during high throughput, can cause
burping, hanging, and possible crashing.
- Occasional hangs & burps with BCM43224 on 2.4 GHz with dual stream rates.
- Occasional crashes with BCM43224 on multicore machines.
Note on Regulatory Implementation
================================
This generation of chips contain additional regulatory support independent of
the driver. The devices use a single worldwide regulatory domain, with channels
12-14 (2.4 GHz band) and channels 52-64 and 100-140 (5 GHz band) restricted to
passive operation. Transmission on those channels is suppressed until
appropriate other traffic is observed on those channels.
Within the driver, we use the ficticious country code "X2" to represent this
worldwide regulatory domain. There is currently no interface to configure a
different domain.
The driver reads the SROM country code from the chip and hands it up to
mac80211 as the regulatory hint, however this information is otherwise unused
with the driver.
Contact Info:
=============
Brett Rudley brudley@broadcom.com
Henry Ptasinski henryp@broadcom.com
Dowan Kim dowan@broadcom.com
Roland Vossen rvossen@broadcom.com
Arend van Spriel arend@broadcom.com
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