Sun is seeking owners of multiple Broadcom wireless adapters interested
in Solaris support.

John
groenveld@acm.org

***

From: Alan DuBoff <aland@softorchestra.com>
To: solarisx86@yahoogroups.com
Message-Id: <E1D1WmW-00078Y-00@volcano.softorchestra.com>
Organization: Software Orchestration
Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 13:32:24 -0800
Subject: [solarisx86] Wireless Broadcom G


I need to get some information for our IHV team who is working with Broadcom.
We're looking for people that have Broadcom wireless adatpers in their
laptops and if those people would find it useful to have Broadcom wireless
drivers for Solaris on x86/x64.

If you have more than one laptop with such devices in it, please give an
aproximate count of those systems so we can provide it back to Broadcom.

Thanks.

--

Alan DuBoff
Software Orchestration
GPG: 1024D/B7A9EBEE 5E00 57CD 5336 5E0B 288B 4126 0D49 0D99 B7A9 EBEE

John D Groenveld wrote:

> Sun is seeking owners of multiple Broadcom wireless adapters interested
> in Solaris support.
>
> John
> groenveld@acm.org

Is there a list of which wireless adapters Sol 10 supports?
What about common PRISMII 802.11b PCI/USB?

gtoomey

Gregory Toomey wrote:
> John D Groenveld wrote:
>
>
>>Sun is seeking owners of multiple Broadcom wireless adapters interested
>>in Solaris support.
>>
>>John
>>groenveld@acm.org
>
>
> Is there a list of which wireless adapters Sol 10 supports?
> What about common PRISMII 802.11b PCI/USB?
>
> gtoomey

I think the current answer is there are NO wireless drivers
provided by Sun. Lynnsoft now supports a few wireless cards
on Solaris 8, 9, and 10. These are commercial drivers for sale
and are not free. I bought a copy of the Cardbus drivers for
Solaris 9 x86 so I could use various Cardbus and PCMCIA cards
with Solaris 9. See:

http://www.lynnsoft.com/solaris.htm

The readme that came with the newest version which supports 10
includes a couple more cards not listed on the web page including
a NetGear Wireless 802.11g PC Card, Model WG511v1 and a Zyxel 802.11b/g
Wireless PC Card, Model ZyAIR G-100. A footnote states that the
WG511v2 is NOT supported. I have used an OLD Linksys WPC11v3, some
modems, and various CF cards in PC Card adapters, and an Intel Cardbus
100 Mbit ethernet card with Solaris 9. I'm testing things with 10 ...

There may be other sources of drivers that I am not familar with.

One other option if you have a supported ethernet card is the
ASUS Wireless AP WL-330g. You plug that into an ethernet port
and it connects to a wireless network. Seems to work with my
IBM notebook (Intel iprb ethernet) and a Linksys AP connected
to a network with a Sun running the Solaris dhcp server. That
network is running WEP. I haven't managed to make it work with
a Linksys 802.11g router running WPA at home (it is supposed to
support that also). My notebook with an IBM (atheros a/b/g chipset)
Cardbus wireless card running Win2000 using WPA and an iMAC with
the Apple AirPort extreme wireless card running WPA work fine at home.
It appears to me that some of this wireless stuff isn't quite
compatible and there are always new firmware/drivers to fix various
"features". For example, the recent OS X (10.3.8) update fixed
some reconnect after sleep trouble I was having with the iMAC
IBM has issued a large number of driver updates for their a/b/g
Cardbus card for Windows. :-)

Seems to me that wireless on Solaris is a bit of an adventure right
now. If Sun actually delivers robust wireless support even for only
a few selected devices, that would be real nice. Hopefully Sun will
provide useful configuration utilities so one can connect to a variety
of networks transparently.

Stuart

In article <37pl76F5fis69U4@individual.net>,
Gregory Toomey <nospam@bigpond.com> wrote:
>Is there a list of which wireless adapters Sol 10 supports?

The rumor mill has it that Atheros support will appear in an upcoming
Software Express for Solaris release.

As wireless support arrives hopefully there will be a corresponding
increase in HCL submissions.

John
groenveld@acm.org

Stuart Biggar wrote:

> Gregory Toomey wrote:
>> John D Groenveld wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Sun is seeking owners of multiple Broadcom wireless adapters interested
>>>in Solaris support.
>>>
>>>John
>>>groenveld@acm.org
>>
>>
>> Is there a list of which wireless adapters Sol 10 supports?
>> What about common PRISMII 802.11b PCI/USB?
>>
>> gtoomey
>
> I think the current answer is there are NO wireless drivers
> provided by Sun. Lynnsoft now supports a few wireless cards
> on Solaris 8, 9, and 10. These are commercial drivers for sale
> and are not free. I bought a copy of the Cardbus drivers for
> Solaris 9 x86 so I could use various Cardbus and PCMCIA cards
> with Solaris 9. See:
>
> http://www.lynnsoft.com/solaris.htm
>
> The readme that came with the newest version which supports 10
> includes a couple more cards not listed on the web page including
> a NetGear Wireless 802.11g PC Card, Model WG511v1 and a Zyxel 802.11b/g
> Wireless PC Card, Model ZyAIR G-100. A footnote states that the
> WG511v2 is NOT supported. I have used an OLD Linksys WPC11v3, some
> modems, and various CF cards in PC Card adapters, and an Intel Cardbus
> 100 Mbit ethernet card with Solaris 9. I'm testing things with 10 ...
>
> There may be other sources of drivers that I am not familar with.
>
> One other option if you have a supported ethernet card is the
> ASUS Wireless AP WL-330g. You plug that into an ethernet port
> and it connects to a wireless network. Seems to work with my
> IBM notebook (Intel iprb ethernet) and a Linksys AP connected
> to a network with a Sun running the Solaris dhcp server. That
> network is running WEP. I haven't managed to make it work with
> a Linksys 802.11g router running WPA at home (it is supposed to
> support that also). My notebook with an IBM (atheros a/b/g chipset)
> Cardbus wireless card running Win2000 using WPA and an iMAC with
> the Apple AirPort extreme wireless card running WPA work fine at home.
> It appears to me that some of this wireless stuff isn't quite
> compatible and there are always new firmware/drivers to fix various
> "features". For example, the recent OS X (10.3.8) update fixed
> some reconnect after sleep trouble I was having with the iMAC
> IBM has issued a large number of driver updates for their a/b/g
> Cardbus card for Windows. :-)
>
> Seems to me that wireless on Solaris is a bit of an adventure right
> now. If Sun actually delivers robust wireless support even for only
> a few selected devices, that would be real nice. Hopefully Sun will
> provide useful configuration utilities so one can connect to a variety
> of networks transparently.
>
> Stuart

Has Sun been on valium for the past decade? Have they "forgotten" a wireless
networking strategy?

A few days ago I installed openbsd for the first time and I was surprised
when my Netgear MA111 wireless USB device was recognised on bootup. It
configures easily & works perfectly. Sun has a long way to go.

gtoomey

Gregory Toomey <nospam@bigpond.com> writes:

>John D Groenveld wrote:

>> Sun is seeking owners of multiple Broadcom wireless adapters interested
>> in Solaris support.
>>
>> John
>> groenveld@acm.org

>Is there a list of which wireless adapters Sol 10 supports?
>What about common PRISMII 802.11b PCI/USB?

Currently: none; the wireless support in Solaris 10 is
slated for an update release.

The current PRISM II support is limited to PCMCIA;
but there are certainly a number of people with
PRISM II miniPCI cards.

What will be supported initially is not clear;
but Atheros and PRIMS II PCMCIA are probably
the most certain.

The wireless manufacturer keeps specifications
close and require NDAs, sometimes with conditions
that are hard for us to meet. (As we will
make the source code available).

Because of the widespread use of Acer Ferrari's
inside Sun, we're akso interested in Broadcom 4306
802.11g cards; CEntrino and Cisco Aironet are also
on our wishlist.

Casper
--
Expressed in this posting are my opinions. They are in no way related
to opinions held by my employer, Sun Microsystems.
Statements on Sun products included here are not gospel and may
be fiction rather than truth.

Gregory Toomey wrote:
>
> Stuart Biggar wrote:
>
> > Gregory Toomey wrote:
> >> John D Groenveld wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>>Sun is seeking owners of multiple Broadcom wireless adapters interested
> >>>in Solaris support.
> >>>
> >>>John
> >>>groenveld@acm.org
> >>
> >>
> >> Is there a list of which wireless adapters Sol 10 supports?
> >> What about common PRISMII 802.11b PCI/USB?
> >>
> >> gtoomey
> >
> > I think the current answer is there are NO wireless drivers
> > provided by Sun. Lynnsoft now supports a few wireless cards
> > on Solaris 8, 9, and 10. These are commercial drivers for sale
> > and are not free. I bought a copy of the Cardbus drivers for
> > Solaris 9 x86 so I could use various Cardbus and PCMCIA cards
> > with Solaris 9. See:
> >
> > http://www.lynnsoft.com/solaris.htm
> >
> > The readme that came with the newest version which supports 10
> > includes a couple more cards not listed on the web page including
> > a NetGear Wireless 802.11g PC Card, Model WG511v1 and a Zyxel 802.11b/g
> > Wireless PC Card, Model ZyAIR G-100. A footnote states that the
> > WG511v2 is NOT supported. I have used an OLD Linksys WPC11v3, some
> > modems, and various CF cards in PC Card adapters, and an Intel Cardbus
> > 100 Mbit ethernet card with Solaris 9. I'm testing things with 10 ...
> >
> > There may be other sources of drivers that I am not familar with.
> >
> > One other option if you have a supported ethernet card is the
> > ASUS Wireless AP WL-330g. You plug that into an ethernet port
> > and it connects to a wireless network. Seems to work with my
> > IBM notebook (Intel iprb ethernet) and a Linksys AP connected
> > to a network with a Sun running the Solaris dhcp server. That
> > network is running WEP. I haven't managed to make it work with
> > a Linksys 802.11g router running WPA at home (it is supposed to
> > support that also). My notebook with an IBM (atheros a/b/g chipset)
> > Cardbus wireless card running Win2000 using WPA and an iMAC with
> > the Apple AirPort extreme wireless card running WPA work fine at home.
> > It appears to me that some of this wireless stuff isn't quite
> > compatible and there are always new firmware/drivers to fix various
> > "features". For example, the recent OS X (10.3.8) update fixed
> > some reconnect after sleep trouble I was having with the iMAC
> > IBM has issued a large number of driver updates for their a/b/g
> > Cardbus card for Windows. :-)
> >
> > Seems to me that wireless on Solaris is a bit of an adventure right
> > now. If Sun actually delivers robust wireless support even for only
> > a few selected devices, that would be real nice. Hopefully Sun will
> > provide useful configuration utilities so one can connect to a variety
> > of networks transparently.
> >
> > Stuart
>
> Has Sun been on valium for the past decade? Have they "forgotten" a wireless
> networking strategy?
>
> A few days ago I installed openbsd for the first time and I was surprised
> when my Netgear MA111 wireless USB device was recognised on bootup. It
> configures easily & works perfectly. Sun has a long way to go.
>

I think Sun needs to create another dept. that has
cognizance on writing current drivers for current off the
shelf devices. Otherwise, this will seriously impact them
in the long run.

--
"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as
when they do it from religious conviction."
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), Pense'es, #894.

GreyCloud <cumulus@mist.com> writes in comp.unix.solaris:
|I think Sun needs to create another dept. that has
|cognizance on writing current drivers for current off the
|shelf devices. Otherwise, this will seriously impact them
|in the long run.

They did, and it's hard at work, but they can't do everything at once.
A lot of new support appeared in Solaris 10, and more is coming in
upcoming Solaris 10 update releases.

--
__________________________________________________ ______________________
Alan Coopersmith * alanc@alum.calberkeley.org * Alan.Coopersmith@Sun.COM
http://www.csua.berkeley.edu/~alanc/ * http://blogs.sun.com/alanc/
Working for, but definitely not speaking for, Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Alan Coopersmith <alanc@alum.calberkeley.org> writes:

>GreyCloud <cumulus@mist.com> writes in comp.unix.solaris:
>|I think Sun needs to create another dept. that has
>|cognizance on writing current drivers for current off the
>|shelf devices. Otherwise, this will seriously impact them
>|in the long run.

>They did, and it's hard at work, but they can't do everything at once.
>A lot of new support appeared in Solaris 10, and more is coming in
>upcoming Solaris 10 update releases.

There's quite a bit in the pipeline, indeed; but such a department
takes some ramping up.

Casper
--
Expressed in this posting are my opinions. They are in no way related
to opinions held by my employer, Sun Microsystems.
Statements on Sun products included here are not gospel and may
be fiction rather than truth.

Alan Coopersmith wrote:
>
> GreyCloud <cumulus@mist.com> writes in comp.unix.solaris:
> |I think Sun needs to create another dept. that has
> |cognizance on writing current drivers for current off the
> |shelf devices. Otherwise, this will seriously impact them
> |in the long run.
>
> They did, and it's hard at work, but they can't do everything at once.
> A lot of new support appeared in Solaris 10, and more is coming in
> upcoming Solaris 10 update releases.
>

That will help greatly. Glad that they see this.
What they need now is a simple list of vendor cards that
they support off the shelf. What I've seen so far is hard
to paw thru.

--
"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as
when they do it from religious conviction."
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), Pense'es, #894.