Re: WiFi 802.11/ac PCIe supported adaptor

On Sun, 28 Sep 2014, O. Hartmann wrote:
> Am Sat, 27 Sep 2014 23:44:19 -0700
> Kevin Oberman <rkoberman_at_gmail.com> schrieb:
> 
> > On Sat, Sep 27, 2014 at 11:20 PM, Nathan Whitehorn <nwhitehorn_at_freebsd.org>
> > wrote:
> > 
> > > On 09/27/14 23:06, O. Hartmann wrote:
> > >
> > >> Am Sun, 28 Sep 2014 00:22:09 +0200
> > >> Lars Engels <lars.engels_at_0x20.net> schrieb:
> > >>
> > >>> FreeBSD doensn't support 802.11ac, yet.
> > >>>
> > >> I'm bitter aware of that. This OS doesn't support the chipsets, even if
> > >> they provide also
> > >> 11a/g/n.

As Lars says, we don't yet support anything 11ac, either hardware/driver 
wise, or in the 802.11 stack.

I am aware of people working on support for the 7260, though I suspect a 
working driver will be some time away.  It will also only support a/b/g 
and maybe n to begin with - we are quite a way from having 11ac support in 
the stack.

> > >> We have at our department now a bunch of Lenovo hardware, with Intels
> > >> 7260 chipset. The
> > >> laptops are now runninmg Ubuntu 14.0X something which obviously supports
> > >> the WiFi chip.
> > >> I'm the last man standing with FreeBSD on my private Lenovo :-(
> > >>
> > >
> > > This is a serious problem. I'm about ready to install Linux on my laptop
> > > as well just to get a usable system. Some kind of funding directed to a
> > > willing developer would be hugely valuable for the usability of the
> > > operating system on recent hardware. This is probably more important even
> > > than Haswell graphics since without a driver, Haswell is merely slow,
> > > whereas networking is completely broken.

Unfortunately, funding is just half the problem - we also need to find a 
developer capable of doing the work.  The Intel 3160 and 7260 will likely 
require a whole new driver - almost no code can be shared between it and 
the iwn(4) driver.

Please understand though that getting a driver for the Intel 11ac devices 
is seen as a big priority.

> Some notes from my side.
> 
> I have personally a i3-3220 IvyBridge based server with iGPU HD2500, which doesn't work
> properly on CURRENT and gets messed up with EFI and vt(). The screen is dark after
> loading i915kms and the reason having a highres console is at hand. This is two year old
> hardware! This server is now getting a new XEON CPU (same board, but with a professional

Can you point me to a thread or PR about this?

> Networking wasn't an issue for me for years, but now, sitting on a pile of neat new
> hardware of which FreeBSD can not make any serious use, let me rethink. Luckily, The
> Lenovo laptops have a mini PCIe WiFi NIC - if I'm willing to follow FreeBSDs agony I'm
> able to swap the NIC with a piece of hardware that is supported. But it is additional

Unfortunately, many Lenovo laptops lock the BIOS down in such a way that 
they won't boot without the NIC they were shipped with :(

> I was always told (or even thaught!) that FreeBSD hasn't the fundings or the manpower to
> solve problems like KMS, driver and so on. I guess several Linux distributions face a
> similar problem, but somehow the manufactureres emmit drivers or support. I was aware of
> that guy that was payed by Intel to develop OpenSource NIC drivers, wasn't his name
> Vogel? What happened to him? If FreeBSD is pushed more and more in the background, then

Jack Vogel still supports wired Intel NIC drivers for us, and other Intel 
staff support other hardware such as their new storage controllers.

> it is also due to a bad politics. nVidia, for instance, offers a BLOB for their GPUs.
> Yeah! But no OpenCL support. AMD offers nothing but promises and their efforts regarding
> opensource drivers is a pity. nVidia "just informed Nouveau" (so the headline at
> Phoronix,  if I'm not wrong), that they now make some new restrictions about their
> harware. Well, FreeBSD hasn't this problem, we do not haven even xf86-video-nouveau in
> the ports due to the lack of functionality in the kernel. The fact is: under these
> circumstances, FreeBSD is UNUSABLE on some sort of recent hardware and even opensource
> drivers are not an option anymore.

I'm not hugely knowledgeable on the state of drivers, but:
  - We have new drivers for the Radeon stuff, in head and 10.1.
  - nVidia provide FreeBSD drivers for FreeBSD.  I understand that part of
    the reason we don't have OpenCL support is because they don't know
    there is a demand for it.
  - I have no idea what functionality we lack for Nouveau, is that
    documented anywhere?

Thanks,

Gavin