[Prism54-devel] queries

[Luis R. Rodriguez]

On Thu, Sep 30, 2004 at 11:56:59AM -0700, Rafiq Shaikh wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> What is Softmac? Is it same as the "Single Source Driver" from Conexant?

No, AFAICT SoftMAC is a technology approach many chipset companies are
taking to design chipsets. The idea, I believe, is to offload the MAC
work to the OS, allowin you to design more "cost effective" hardware.

Single Source Driver form Conexant is the name of a directory in
Conexant's beta driver source for SoftMAC chipsets available from:

http://www.dse.co.nz/isroot/dse/support/XH8196-linux.zip

> Is Frisbee a chipset from Conexant? 

Yes, indeed. It is not SoftMAC, however, it is FullMAC. In fact, I
believe most FullMAC chipset-based cards out there are Frisbee based.

> Is it 802.11g compliant? 

It's supposed to be.

> If yes, 
> then how is it different than PrismGT?

I believe it just has cheaper Zero IF:

http://www.analog.com/Analog_Root/static/productSelection/signalChains/communications/comms_14.html
http://itpapers.zdnet.com/abstract.aspx?scid=39&sortby=titled&docid=72655

I'm still not sure exactly what a Zero IF is :)

> I could not find any info on Softmac and Frisbee on the Conexant web site.

Me neither.

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