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Topic: differences brcm47xx and brcm-2.4

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What differences are between compilations brcm47xx and brcm-2.4, since Backfire 10.3 leaning on kernel 2.6?

Przemwas

brcm-2.4 : kernel 2.4, wl (or wl-mimo) proprietary driver, nas authentificator, wlc control utility
brcm47xx : kernel 2.6, b43 open source (but less stable) driver, wpad (hostapd + wpa_supplicant), standard linux utilites (iw, iwconfig, etc.)

Hi

I am using on a WRT54GL the firmware version OpenWrt Kamikaze 8.09 (Linux 2.4.35.4) downloaded from here: http://downloads.openwrt.org/kamikaze/8.09.1/brcm-2.4/
Question: Which driver do you think it is included there for the Broadcom chipset? The proprietary WL Broadcom driver? Or the BCM43xx? Or are this different names for the same thing?
I need some of your knowledge on this wink

Thanks

PS: I have quoted you in this post http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?pid=108187.

(Last edited by dben on 3 May 2010, 09:46)

dben wrote:

Hi

I am using on a WRT54GL the firmware version OpenWrt Kamikaze 8.09 (Linux 2.4.35.4) downloaded from here: http://downloads.openwrt.org/kamikaze/8.09.1/brcm-2.4/
Question: Which driver do you think it is included there for the Broadcom chipset? The proprietary WL Broadcom driver? Or the BCM43xx? Or are this different names for the same thing?

There are two totally different drivers that support Broadcom Wireless used in OpenWRT:
a) proprietary driver by Broadcom - wl. It is compatible only with 2.4 kernels and included in brcm-2.4 builds.
b) an open source b43 driver. It is included in brcm47xx builds.

The wl driver has still a bit better performance and is claimed to deliver better stability. However, it cannot be linked with 2.6 kernel. Your build uses wl driver.

Are there any benefits from using 2.6 kernel images? Any really important features that are missing in 2.4 kernel?

Check some of the differences between Kernel 2.6.39 and Kernel 3.0 here:  http://kernelnewbies.org/Linux_3.0

Then go back to the year, uh, 2005? and compare all differences from kernel 2.4.x to today.

Then answer you own very intelligent question: Any really important features that are missing in 2.4 kernel?

grogi wrote:
dben wrote:

Hi

I am using on a WRT54GL the firmware version OpenWrt Kamikaze 8.09 (Linux 2.4.35.4) downloaded from here: http://downloads.openwrt.org/kamikaze/8.09.1/brcm-2.4/
Question: Which driver do you think it is included there for the Broadcom chipset? The proprietary WL Broadcom driver? Or the BCM43xx? Or are this different names for the same thing?

There are two totally different drivers that support Broadcom Wireless used in OpenWRT:
a) proprietary driver by Broadcom - wl. It is compatible only with 2.4 kernels and included in brcm-2.4 builds.
b) an open source b43 driver. It is included in brcm47xx builds.

The wl driver has still a bit better performance and is claimed to deliver better stability. However, it cannot be linked with 2.6 kernel. Your build uses wl driver.

At least now, it is possible to build proprietary Broadcom drivers with 2.6 kernel (they are said to hav more features). If your target says  brcm47xx it will alwasy build 2.6 kernel.

Yes, if you build proprietary Broadcom wl it will work because the drivers are for kernel > 2.6.

It’s recommended you do so and 2.4 has been dropped.

snk wrote:

Wifi on brcm47xx is pretty much unusable, at least on backfire:

https://dev.openwrt.org/ticket/7552

Really? I am deployed on my job (University) using WPA/WPA2 Enterprise and on backfire 10.03.1 has been improved a lot. I use on venerable Linksys WRT54GL, for places with little demand, it works fine... is there some advantage to use proprietary driver?

(Last edited by sebelk on 7 May 2012, 23:54)

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