On 4 Jan 2012, at 01:08, Da Rock wrote: > On 01/04/12 10:38, Daniel Feenberg wrote: >> >> >> On Wed, 4 Jan 2012, Da Rock wrote: >> >>> On 01/04/12 02:10, Daniel Feenberg wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>> On Wed, 4 Jan 2012, Da Rock wrote: >>>> >>>>> On 01/03/12 22:10, Jerry wrote: >>>>>> On Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:44:30 +1000 >>>>>> Da Rock articulated: >>>>>> >>>>>>> On 01/03/12 11:15, Jeffrey McFadden wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>> Don't ndis(4) ndiscvt and ndisgen(8) essentially accomplish what the OP >>>> is requesting? See the handbook section 12.8.1.1: >>>> >>>> >>>> http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/config-network-setup.html >>>> >>>> or the man page for ndiscvt: >>>> >>>> http://www.gsp.com/cgi-bin/man.cgi?section=8&topic=ndiscvt >>>> >>>> >>>> While doing the conversion looks a bit beyond what we would expect of an >>>> end-user, it does seem to offer a path for using hardware whose >>>> manufacturer does not support FreeBSD. Is there anything beyond licensing >>>> issues preventing such drivers from being included in the distribution, or >>>> made downloadable in FreeBSD form? >> >>> Oh yes, it is possible, just not probable :) >> >> At >> >> >> http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/ndiswrapper/index.php?title=Category:USB >> >> almost 800 compatible devices are listed. Not everything, but I have found >> that a willingness to spend a few dollars on a different card helps >> immensely in enjoying FreeBSD and Linux. For me at least it is easier to >> find a compatible card than to write a compatible driver. > Indeed :) > > I did notice that the card in question wasn't on that list. But my own > experience with ndiswrapper and wifi cards were far less than satisfactory- > the firmware always got in the road. But I may have just been too stupid at > the time :) >> I would also observe that most people involved with computers, whether as >> users or developers, have little symphathy for people with different needs >> from the device. This is a great impediment to progress. It is a mistake to >> assume that because you don't need something, another person's desire for it >> is illegitimate. In this case, I fully agree that it is an injustice that >> hardware vendors do not supply FreeBSD drivers, but that does not mean that >> users requiring such drivers are immoral or of poor character, and therefore >> to be ignored or insulted. There is little that FreeBSD coders and users can >> do about that injustice directly, however it is within their power to >> mitigate it with the NDIS wrapper. If that wrapper allows another user to >> enter the FOSS world, that will (in the fullness of time) contribute to >> reforming the vendor. > No they are absolutely not of poor character, I agree. Some messages can be > misconstrued, though, in that the replies can be terse and more logical than > sympathetic. Sometimes it is easier to replace with a different card than > flog a dead horse, although a user may take offense for emotional or > financial reasons more than logical. > > Mitigation is a difficult path as I have found personally, although NDIS > helps immensely with wired nics (not so much of a problem these days), and I > believe Luigi Rizzo's work with the linuxulator and drivers is to be > applauded ten fold. It takes a great deal of time though- I put forward the > idea when I was still a BSD pup not entirely realising the challenges :) > Luigi (and his colleagues) has been working hard ever since to facilitate the > more challenging aspects of multimedia drivers (whether or not that had to do > with my comments or not, I don't know).
Da Rock, I've been using ndis drivers successfully with a Broadcom chip in my Lenovo s10-e since I bought it some years ago - to the extent that I've not yet switched over to the native drivers now available. I didn't find using ndisgen too problematic. Just a case of finding the right driver files and following the manpage. I'd strongly recommend trying it in preference to a usb stick (been there, done that) or buying new hardware - although I'd agree that depending on the model changing a mini-PCI card isn't necessarily that difficult (I changed it t an Intel card in my other Dell laptop some time ago - remember to attach the internal aerial cable!). Regards, Peter Harrison. > _______________________________________________ > [email protected] mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[email protected]" _______________________________________________ [email protected] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[email protected]"
