Atheros AR6K (was Re: Crossroads)

[Imre Kaloz]

On Wed, 14 Mar 2007 16:43:26 +0100, Harald Welte <laforge at openmoko.org>  
wrote:

>> Atheros AR6K - check http://atheros.com/pt/AR6001Bulletins.htm , and for
>> the fully GPL'ed driver and SDIO stack please check
>> http://sourceforge.net/projects/sdio-linux/
>
> This really sounds like a viable chipset.
>
> However, I really trust Imre as probably one of the most competent folks
> in this area, both from the GPL licensing and from the WiFi side.

Thanks ;)

> Imre: Have you looked at the code?  Are there any hidden proprietary
> bits anywhere?  Do you actually have any first-hand usage experience
> with ar6k and/or the drivers?

Yes, I've read throught the code, and I didn't find any propietary bits at  
all. The reason has to be that the device has 512K flash, so the firmware  
is stored there. Every file has GPL headers, except htc_internal.h, but  
that's new-BSD, so it's fine. The code itself is a different question, it  
has a little "BSD style infection", but doesn't seem too bad :)

I don't have first-hand usage experience with this chip yet, but judging  
 from different Atheros products it's probably quite solid. And honestly, I  
doubt there is another (really) low-power chip around there with fully  
GPL'ed drivers.


Cheers,

Imre