[OLPC Networking] Testing the Wireless driver changes

[Dan Williams]

On Thu, 2008-01-17 at 17:06 -0200, Ricardo Carrano wrote:
> Indeed we had this airplane mode discussion two weeks ago:
> Why don't we?
> -----------

This is the correct sledgehammer approach as mbletsas has consistently
pointed out.

For a more user-friendly solution, (short of a hardware rfkill switch)
put a toggle somewhere in the control panel for "Don't turn the radio on
automatically" that is _UN_checked by default, and a wireless
enabled/disabled button there too.  Then (see my other mail in this
thread) ensure that the driver starts with the radio off, and that the
first time the mesh or eth device is brought up that it turns the radio
on.  Then ensure that NetworkManager is clued into the preference value
above, and that NM sets it's initial wireless-enabled state coherently
with the preference value above as well.

Were these things done, by default the behavior would be the same as it
is now, but those people who wish insane amounts of control over the TX
power state can have their fluffy white cake and eat it too.  The trick
is to prioritize this feature request relative to the other important
bugs that must be fixed, since it affects multiple items from the bottom
to the top of the stack.

Dan

> To completely silence the radio:
> 
> #!/bin/bash
> rmmod usb8xxx
> mv /lib/firmaware/usb8883.bin /lib/firmaware/usb8883.bin.quiet 
> 
> It will survive reboots.
> 
> -----------
> 
> To bring it back:
> 
> #!/bin/bash
> mv /lib/firmaware/usb8883.bin.quiet /lib/firmaware/usb8883.bin
> rmmod usb8xxx; sleep1; modprobe usb8xxx
> 
> No reboot necessary. 
> 
> -----------
> Tested in build 684,
> Do I miss something?
> 
> On Jan 17, 2008 4:30 PM, Michail Bletsas <mbletsas at laptop.org> wrote:
>         Hal Murray <hmurray at megapathdsl.net> wrote on 01/17/2008
>         12:55:47 PM:
>         
>         >
>         > > When it comes to our radio - we *designed it* to start
>         forward frames 
>         > > soon after you initialize it and keep doing it regardless
>         of what the
>         > > host interface does.
>         >
>         > In the context of making the radio safe to use on
>         airplanes...
>         >
>         > Does the firmware turn the radio on at boot time? 
>         >
>         > Does your "initialize" above mean firmware level or OS
>         level?
>         >
>         >
>         >
>         
>         Initialize means loading the wireless firmware on the radio's
>         ARM core and
>         start running it. 
>         
>         If you want to make sure that the radio never transmits a
>         single bit, then
>         preventing that (loading the wireless firmware) is what you
>         need right
>         now. There is explicit  mesh start/stop in the plans (already
>         implemented 
>         in the firmware but not in place yet since the driver people
>         didn't like
>         it).
>         
>         
>         M.
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