[Prism54-devel] [Prism54 on Knoppix?] Re: Kontaktformular [QK]

[Luis R. Rodriguez]

Dan and Sir Knopper,

On Mon, 19 Jan 2004, Dan Allen wrote:

> Klaus Knopper (knopper@knopper.net) wrote:
>
> > On Mon, Jan 19, 2004 at 09:33:22PM +0100, Dan Allen wrote:
> > >
> > > KONTAKTFORMULAR V1.1
> > > ===========================================================================
> > >
> > > Host= XX.XX.XX.XX
> > > Name= Dan Allen
> > > Email= dan@mojavelinux.com
> > > KNOPPIX= V3.3-2003-11-19
> > > Category= question the solution for wlan in linux/knoppix
> > > Comment=
> > > I know you are super busy, so right to the point.  There has been
> > > discussion on the forums about wlan drivers, linuxant,
> > > ndiswrapper, etc.  I believe the best way to go is to integrate
> > > the prism54 kernel module into the distro
> > > (http://www.prism54.org).  On the list of supported devices page
> > > (LOOK AT THAT SUPPORT LIST, INCREDIBLE!) there is a whole page of
> > > cards which work right out the the box and I can atest to it
> > > after using them in Linux Mandrake 9.2, esp the Netgear WG511 for
> > > laptops.  These cards can be found for under $50 bucks and are a
> > > joy to work with.
> > >
> > > The instructions on the prism54 website are super easy to follow
> > > and I believe that integrating this into knoppix will allow the
> > > distro to take a big step foward in wlan support and laptop
> > > support for that matter.  After a long introduction, my question
> > > is, will you add the prism54 module to knoppix?
> >
> > Looks promising. But more important is that the license must be
> > OSI-compliant, and no proprietary/patented code must be used.
> >
> > Where is the license statement? What about the stated "firmware"?
> >
> > Regards
> > -Klaus Knopper
> >
>
> You make an interesting point, during the install I didn't realize
> the significance of that firmware file.  According to one of the
> maintainers it is somehow loosely tied to a GPL licence:
>
> http://prism54.org/firmware/
>
> I am more than certain that the project itself is GPL'd based on the
> statments that mcgrof makes there, but you are correct in pointing
> out that they are missing license files in the CVS repository.
> Perhaps this e-mail will draw attention to that oversight.
> Hopefully it can all still work out, it is the closest project to
> free I have seen for many of the wlan devices.

Prism54 drivers source code is 100% GPL. We just recently completed that
aspect of the licence. There is an exception and that is of the firmware.
The license agreements for the firmware are the same ones you get for the
equivalent windows driver. We provide the firmware on our website and
not as part of our package. The firmware is available on our website as a
means of making things easier for Linux users.

"Then this driver may not even make it to the Linux kernel", perhaps you
are saying? Wrong. "Maybe it's not clean GPL?" Wrong. The Linux kernel now
has in both stable (2.6) and the old 2.4 series a completed firmware
request ioctl which drivers like ours can use which allows their
inclusion in the Linux kernel by remaining GPL-compliant. The 2.4 kernel
included this as of 2.4.23. Previous to that it was in 2.4.22 rc patches
and before that just plain patches by its author, Manuel Estrada Sainz.
2.6 has it too now in its stable releases.

The latest linux-hotplug package is required since it has firmare.agent.
Currently Debian unstable has it and most distributions are picking it up
(a lot of them, thanks to us ;).

Our inclusion to the Linux Kernel is just a matter of time. Should you
choose to include the driver in a Knoppix release we'll push so we get a
test release out that is decent for usage. Currently we rely on daily CVS
snapshots.

	Luis