OpenWrt Forum Archive

Topic: wl-500w 802.11n support: any update?

The content of this topic has been archived between 1 Jan 2018 and 8 Feb 2018. There are no obvious gaps in this topic, but there may still be some posts missing at the end.

Hi

Is there any update on 802.11n support on the Asus WL-500w?

From what I understand there are three drivers: brcm-wl, wl-mimo and b43. Which one is the best?

(Last edited by zorxd on 21 Feb 2011, 22:26)

zorxd wrote:

Hi

Is there any update on 802.11n support on the Asus WL-500w?

From what I understand there are three drivers: brcm-wl, wl-mimo and b43. Which one is the best?

Currently, when you build trunk with kernel 2.6 your only option is wl.ko (brcm-wl I believe).

There’s work going on to improve support for the NPHY chip (14e4:4329) in b43 by a guy called Rafa? Mi?ecki. He blogs at http://zajec.net/. Last patch posted today here: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kerne … ss.general

I’m not sure how far this work extends into AP mode, which is most crucial for us.

(Last edited by towolf on 21 Feb 2011, 23:33)

Yeah I currently have 8.09.1 with the old 2.4 kernel and wl-mimo driver. Works fine but 802.11g only I think. I wondered if there was any improvement in trunk

zorxd wrote:

Yeah I currently have 8.09.1 with the old 2.4 kernel and wl-mimo driver. Works fine but 802.11g only I think. I wondered if there was any improvement in trunk

Well, I run trunk from a couple months ago on WL-500W using wl.ko.

The funny thing is it displays IEEE 802.11bgn mode in iwconfig but any connections are only 54M.
I’m not sure if it’s possible to configure anything more using wl or wlc tools.

For example, it shows:

$ wl -a wl0 mimo_txbw  
wl: Unsupported

I tried yesterday with trunk/brcm47xx, but I didn't get wireless to work. What did you do to make it happen?

towolf wrote:
zorxd wrote:

Yeah I currently have 8.09.1 with the old 2.4 kernel and wl-mimo driver. Works fine but 802.11g only I think. I wondered if there was any improvement in trunk

Well, I run trunk from a couple months ago on WL-500W using wl.ko.

The funny thing is it displays IEEE 802.11bgn mode in iwconfig but any connections are only 54M.
I’m not sure if it’s possible to configure anything more using wl or wlc tools.

For example, it shows:

$ wl -a wl0 mimo_txbw  
wl: Unsupported

Are you using kernel 2.6?

zorxd wrote:

Are you using kernel 2.6?

Yes, of course.

BTW, there are new blog posts, and it looks like it’s still way too early.

How can 802.11n work on DD-WRT then?

zorxd wrote:

How can 802.11n work on DD-WRT then?

I think they are in bed with the devil.

Haha
You mean broadcom gives them a special driver?

I think so. And they are under NDA or something.

Not sure.

The wl_apsta.o they have in there contains the string "5.10.56.27". And in my trunk build I have 

wl0: Broadcom BCM4329 802.11 Wireless Controller 5.10.56.27

in the dmesg.

But if they are one and the same drivers is unclear to me.

so one year later any update?

zorxd wrote:

so one year later any update?

brcmfmac was developed by Broadcom and went into kernel mainline. Until they got merged they held off on implementing some features. Among thos AP mode I believe.

thanks

So what is the best current option in OpenWRT for the WL-500W?

proprietary, 2.4-only mimo driver?
b43?
brcmfmac?
proprietary 2.6 driver?

Aren't only the first two in backfire?

tou can also use proprietary 2.6 driver - build fw from source

isn't the proprietary 2.6 in trunk only?

Your best (only) choice is brcm47xx trunk with proprietary driver. Enable wmm to get 11n support (wmm used to be off by default, its now on).

Thanks I will try that. Altough if this solution is not considered stable enough I will probably fall back again to 802.11g only on brcm-2.4

zorxd wrote:

Thanks I will try that. Altough if this solution is not considered stable enough I will probably fall back again to 802.11g only on brcm-2.4

It’s still G-only with wl.ko.

yes that's what I have been using for years (wl-mimo.ko actually)

towolf: wl.ko (the 2.6 binary) is *not* G-only. It does support 11n, it just used to be off by default due to disabled wmm.

jow wrote:

towolf: wl.ko (the 2.6 binary) is *not* G-only. It does support 11n, it just used to be off by default due to disabled wmm.

Interesting, indeed.

[s]So, can we enable wmm and by the law of transitivity N-mode?[/s] How? I’ve looked up and down the wlc and wl programs, but it was too cryptic for me. No docs.

EDIT: missed your first post and was not up-to-date, sorry.

(Last edited by towolf on 3 Mar 2012, 19:46)