[opensuse] Recent kernel update....wifi improvement?
This adventure started earlier tonight when I received a long distance call from a developer I consult for. He's been frustrated with wifi and Linux for a long time, as many have been and still are. He was about ready to dump 10.3 and put 'Bloze back on it his new IBM laptop, even though he hated the idea of doing that! He has an Intel Pro chipset on the MOB and native drivers, but as he travels from site to site, he just hasn't been able to get consistent connects. He called all excited because he thinks 10.3 is going to stay on that box! The kernel upgrade, and new drivers that were upgraded with it APPEAR to have solved some real issues on that new IBM. He used to not be able to easily switch between wifi and ethernet without rebooting......just wouldn't work....now it does. Connects to a site that has been off and on with low signal strength is NOW exceptionally strong. Reboots of the system, physically moving around the building and even outside the building can't kill the connection. So, says I - I wonder if that new kernel would help my wifi problem(s). I hadn't upgraded yet on my laptop. I did the upgrade, and reinstalled an NT driver under the Linuxant loader.....all compiled and ready to test. I was only able to test here, but will test tomorrow night at a site where I can only get a 3% signal strength and NO connection. Here I went from 23% to 82%!! I've NEVER had that on this box at any site! Now, my question is, has anyone else noticed any improvement? What was done in the new kernel to bring about all this joy and glad tidings near Christmas? ;) Thanks, Fred -- This message originated from a Linux computer using Open Source software: openSuSE Linux 10.3. No Gates, no Windows....just Linux - STABLE & SECURE! -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Fred A. Miller wrote:
Now, my question is, has anyone else noticed any improvement? What was done in the new kernel to bring about all this joy and glad tidings near Christmas? ;)
Thanks,
Fred
Fred, far be it for me to play the role of Ebenezer Scrooge this time of year, but I learned earlier with 10.3 that the connection strength meter is basically an arbitrary computation of signal strength. With my Atheros card the meter did just the opposite. Through kernel and driver updates the meter went from showing full strength all the time to showing 1/2 or 3/4 strength 2 feet away from the AP. All connections still worked flawlessly. Digging into the update, one of the changes I was made aware of was a change in signal strength computation that caused the difference in signal strength display. Nothing regarding the actual physical signal strength changed, just the calculation for defining it. Connection behavior have improved with a more extensive connection caching feature that allows your box to remember more of the wireless connections it has previously been connected to. This is a real plus and has made life much easier. Once you have entered all connection authentication parameters once, it is usually just a matter of right-clicking knetworkmanager and selecting the site if knetworkmanager doesn't do it automatically. You case may be different with real milestones being made, but the new found connection strength may be numerical only as well. Bah humbug..... -- David C. Rankin, J.D., P.E. Rankin Law Firm, PLLC 510 Ochiltree Street Nacogdoches, Texas 75961 Telephone: (936) 715-9333 Facsimile: (936) 715-9339 www.rankinlawfirm.com -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Mon, 2007-12-10 at 03:02 -0500, Fred A. Miller wrote:
This adventure started earlier tonight when I received a long distance call from a developer I consult for. He's been frustrated with wifi and Linux for a long time, as many have been and still are. He was about ready to dump 10.3 and put 'Bloze back on it his new IBM laptop, even though he hated the idea of doing that! He has an Intel Pro chipset on the MOB and native drivers, but as he travels from site to site, he just hasn't been able to get consistent connects.
He called all excited because he thinks 10.3 is going to stay on that box! The kernel upgrade, and new drivers that were upgraded with it APPEAR to have solved some real issues on that new IBM. He used to not be able to easily switch between wifi and ethernet without rebooting......just wouldn't work....now it does. Connects to a site that has been off and on with low signal strength is NOW exceptionally strong. Reboots of the system, physically moving around the building and even outside the building can't kill the connection.
So, says I - I wonder if that new kernel would help my wifi problem(s). I hadn't upgraded yet on my laptop. I did the upgrade, and reinstalled an NT driver under the Linuxant loader.....all compiled and ready to test. I was only able to test here, but will test tomorrow night at a site where I can only get a 3% signal strength and NO connection. Here I went from 23% to 82%!! I've NEVER had that on this box at any site!
Now, my question is, has anyone else noticed any improvement? What was done in the new kernel to bring about all this joy and glad tidings near Christmas? ;)
As mentioned in another mail, the signal strength may or may not reflect
reality. However the kernel wireless stack has been improving, you can
see Joachim Gleissner's (realjoe) description of what changed at:
http://en.opensuse.org/GNOME/Meetings/20071115/transcript#Networking_Guest_S...
-JP
--
JP Rosevear
participants (3)
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David C. Rankin
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Fred A. Miller
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JP Rosevear