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Old 17th February 2009
guitarscn guitarscn is offline
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Default Is a Linksys WRT54G wireless card compatible with OBSD?

I couldn't find this particular product on the supported hardware list, but I'm wondering if anyone has any experience taking out the wireless card from a Linksys WRT54G router and putting it inside their computer to use as a wireless card?
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Old 17th February 2009
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If you must ask, it is best asked on misc@. The community here is tiny by comparison.

Don't expect any positive response if you post your question there. My guess is that to reduce production costs, the WiFi chipset is embedded on the mainboard. Else, you could unplug it and try it for yourself.
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Old 17th February 2009
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WRT54G is a series of routers, there are several models with different hardware.. as for it not being on the supported product page, why would it be? it's a piece of hardware inside an embedded device..

The chipset might be something by Broadcom or Atheros.. but you didn't give us a model to work with so how can we possibly know for sure?

Testing for compatibility is simple.. boot OpenBSD.. if it's supported, you'll find out right away.
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Old 18th February 2009
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It was, but the makers switched chipsets for the currently available version 3, and it now isn't. I think you can get it running with the windows drivers and the NDISulator, but I have not tried these things.
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Old 18th February 2009
BSDfan666 BSDfan666 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by robbak View Post
I think you can get it running with the windows drivers and the NDISulator, but I have not tried these things.
That is not an option for OpenBSD.
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Old 19th February 2009
richardpl richardpl is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BSDfan666 View Post
That is not an option for OpenBSD.
Well, on OpenBSD he can still port ndisulator from NetBSD
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Old 19th February 2009
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According to the NdisWrapper Wikipedia entry, it will not be ported to OpenBSD per the Project's anti-blob policy. AFAICT, the statement was a fabricated assumption, produced without clear knowledge of Project policy.

It is true that blobs will never be allowed in the OS itself, /etc/firmware excluded. (Code in /etc/firmware is uploaded into peripheral hardware, and is not part of the executable OS.)

Ports that install binary objects have been available for OpenBSD for a long time. Opera is a prime example.

I know nothing about ndisulator, but a quick look at the major OpenBSD mailing lists and the OpenBSD Journal show no mention of it at all, other than a one-time reference regarding another subject, in misc@.

If someone were to develop and submit a port, it might very well be deemed acceptable and added to the tree. (At least until someone develops and submits one, this is conjecture of course.)

It may or may not be possible to port to the OS. But, if a functional port is crafted, blob acceptability should not be an issue. As it would be 3rd party software that is used to execute other 3rd party software, problems introduced are considered self-inflicted wounds. It doesn't matter if it was due to a blob in userland or a blob in a kernel module. Repairing the problem is the responsibility of the installing user, and perhaps with the voluntary and best-effort assistance of the port maintainer.

Last edited by jggimi; 19th February 2009 at 06:56 PM. Reason: clarity
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Old 24th February 2009
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So I decided to use the OpenBSD website manual pages and Wikipedia to try to answer this question- Wikipedia is not authoritative per se, but likely they are correct on their information in this regard.

The Broadcom chipsets listed on the Wikipedia page are 4700 series and higher. The bwi(4) man page only lists hardware in the 4300 series of chipsets.

The Atheros chipsets listed on the Wikipedia page are the AR2317 and AR5100AP chipsets. The ath(4) man page only lists hardware in the 5200 series of chipsets.

The WRT54GC uses the Marvell Libertas chipset, listed as AR914. The malo(4) man page lists the 88W8335/88W8310/88W8385 based cards. Perhaps the AR914 is one of these in another name. Perhaps not.

Perhaps the information contained on Wikipedia is inaccurate, I cannot vouch for it.
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Last edited by ai-danno; 24th February 2009 at 03:07 AM. Reason: found the Marvell information was missing.
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