[support-gang] switching libertas driver into AP mode in XO-1.75?

[James Cameron]

Anna wrote:
> So unless someone comes out and says, "hey, the XO's wifi does
> support AP mode," it's gonna have to be an external dongle.

No, the XO's wifi does not provide AP mode.

When we say "XO's wifi" it is a large collection of things that must
work together.  There's the radio module, the firmware that runs on
the module, the driver in the kernel, and the application.  Everything
has to be in place to provide AP mode.

The XO-1 radio module called 8388 ... does not provide AP mode,
because it doesn't have enough onboard memory, and what extra it had
is used for the mesh mode.  So there is no firmware for the 8388 that
provides AP mode, and no driver in the kernel.

The XO-1.5, XO-1.75 and XO-4 radio module called 8686 which does
802.11g (2.4 GHz) ... does provide AP mode, using different firmware
to the default, but the kernel in our OLPC OS builds do not have a
driver for this.

The XO-4 module called 8787 which does 802.11an (5 GHz) ... does
support AP mode, but the kernel in our OLPC OS builds do not have a
driver for this.

So:

- for XO-1 it is "can't support" without a tremendous effort, for
  something we probably can't even buy in quantity these days,

- for XO-1.5 and XO-1.75 it "won't support" without a huge effort, and

- for XO-4 it "won't support" without a large effort.  ;-)

I agree, get an external radio module.  After all, you aren't going to
want every child to run an AP, so why would you pay for every laptop
to be able to do it?

-- 
James Cameron
http://quozl.linux.org.au/