[LUG.ro Mix] Fwd: [Madwifi-users] MadWifi Feature Usage Survey

[Julio Cesar Puigpinos]

Si son usuarios de MadWiFi les puede interesar participar de esta
encuesta http://www.doodle.ch/fram3wgd4kd97zck.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Velt, R. (Ronald) in 't
Date: 2008/9/23
Subject: [Madwifi-users] MadWifi Feature Usage Survey
To: madwifi-users en lists.sourceforge.net, madwifi-devel en lists.sourceforge.net


Dear MadWifi-user,

As you may have noticed, the MadWifi development team is currently
discussing the future (or lack thereof) of the MadWifi driver [1].
Already one year ago, in September 2007, the MadWifi driver was
declared legacy. It was to be succeeded by the fully open ath5k
driver. As it was foreseen that it would take a while before ath5k
could offer the same level of functionality as MadWifi does, a promise
was made to maintain MadWifi in the mean time. For a number of reasons
(see madwifi-devel mailing list discussion) it has proven difficult to
keep this promise. Now the developers again find themselves at
crossroads: Should MadWifi be completely abandoned and all energy be
concentrated on speeding up the development of ath5k? Or should a
final effort be made to bring back MadWifi from its current state of
(perceived) disarray to the maintainable interim solution that it was
intended to be?

MadWifi is a feature-rich device driver. To better assess where ath5k
currently stands in comparison to MadWifi, it would help to have an
insight in the actual usage of the many modes and functions of the
driver. Knowledge on the relative importance of driver features may
also help determine development priorities for ath[5|9]k. Michael
Renzmann has suggested that a survey among users could be held to
obtain this information [2]. Taking up on his suggestion, I have tried
to compile such a survey. You can find it here:

http://www.doodle.ch/fram3wgd4kd97zck

If you take an interest in the future of MadWifi and/or ath5k
(/ath9k), you are kindly invited to take part in this survey.

Some words of explanation may be in order:

- you can mark any and all of the features of MadWifi that are
currently of importance to you and that you want to see supported in
future drivers for Atheros WLAN devices

- when taking part, you will be asked to provide a name. This can be
any string or nick name you choose: your participation can be as
anonymous as you want it to be. After you hit the 'Participate'
button, I will be notified by means of an email containing your chosen
name. No other participant information will be logged

- the survey will remain open for two weeks, until Tuesday Oct 7, 24:00 CEST
- the first 5 items are on WLAN modes supported in MadWifi, i.e. the
mode you configure with 'wlanconfig athX create wlandev wifiY wlanmode
<mode>'. Managed (STA) mode is assumed to be supported in any WLAN
driver and is therefore excluded from the survey.

- the 6th item is about support for station (client) side bridging. In
MadWifi, this feature is activated through the command 'iwpriv athX
wds 1'. This should not be confused with WDS mode (item 4).

- Items 7 through 10 are hoped to be self-explanatory
- Item 11 is about performance enhancing features, some standards
based, some Atheros-proprietary. (see:
http://madwifi.org/wiki/ChipsetFeatures/SuperAG) Mark if you are using
any of these.

- Item 12 is about support for long distance operation, which requires
adaptation of IEEE 802.11 slot times and Ack and CTS time-out values.
In MadWifi, these values are set by means of the 'athctrl' user
program.

- Item 13 and 14 inquire about the need for support for Atheros WLAN
devices in older Linux kernels.
- Item 15 is on the usage of different rate control algorithms. If
you're using an algorithm different from the default one (i.e.
'sample') or you have made a conscious decision to use 'sample' and/or
you value the option to use alternative rate control algorithms, check
this item.

Thanks for your time!

Ronald in 't Velt

References:
[1] http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.drivers.madwifi.devel/6804
[2] http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.drivers.madwifi.devel/6819




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