Re: [Wirelessdriver-devel] I might add PRISM 2.5 support - a few questions

[Rob M. <ro...@ma...>]

On 18-Nov-03, at 6:50 PM, Java Nut wrote:

> Hi Rob,
>
> Regarding the fact I did not see the system warning when I first 
> inserted my PRISM 2.5 card, but did see it when I (second) inserted my 
> Orinoco card makes me think the driver was not invoked at all for the 
> PRISM 2.5 card. (I just clicked for the system to fix and use when I 
> did get the message and the Orinoco card came up fine in the driver 
> (checked with ifconfig).)

So you and everyone else knows, 10.3 no longer gives you the option to 
fix broken driver permissions.

>  Can you advise, if the following is how I should be setting up my XML 
> in the Info.plist, and if there is something else I should be doing?
>
> The info I obtained from my card is:
>
> /usr/sbin/ioreg -l | grep VersionOneInfo
>    | |             "VersionOneInfo" = ("SMC","SMC2532W-B EliteConnect 
> Wireless Adapter","","")
>
> /usr/sbin/ioreg -l | grep pccard
>    | |       +-o pccardd601,5@0,0  <class IOPCCard16Device>
>    | |             "IOName" = "pccardd601,5"
>
> I tried adding this to the configuration file like this and it did not 
> help:
>
>                <key>everything else</key>
>                <dict>
>                        <key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>
>                        
> <string>org.noncontiguous.WirelessDriver</string>
>                        <key>IOClass</key>
>                        
> <string>org_noncontiguous_WirelessDriver</string>
>                        <key>IONameMatch</key>
>                        <array>
>                                <string>pccard156,2</string>
>                                <string>pccard1eb,807</string>
>                                <string>pccard274,1613</string>
>                                <string>pccard274,1612</string>
>                                <string>pccard138,2</string>
>                                <string>pccardd601,5</string>       
> <------ added line
>                        </array>
>
> I am wondering, if you know a way I can verify that the card I 
> purchased is really PRISM 2.5 and that the manufacturer didn't 
> misspeak?

Hmmm... add extra logging to start() to make sure that the INIT command 
completes and/or check the responses to RID queries?

The changes to the .plist file look good.  That should be enough to get 
it working right.

>
>> Due to demand, I think I'm going to bite the bullet and post >for 
>> core of my new code later today even if I don't manage >to sort out 
>> the bug I'm working on.  Depending on how my day >goes, I likely 
>> won't have the chance to post the PCCard >interface code for this 
>> driver right away.
>
> I look forward to downloading and trying the new version.

...which will be posted as soon as I can get a night's sleep...

I kinda put my foot in my mouth while on the phone with a client the 
other day and promised something in about half the time it should have 
been allocated, so I'm going to be in save-my-ass mode for the next few 
days.  I'll try to get it up during a break.

>
> May I ask a couple more questions about how the code works.
>
>>> 3) I am curious, where in the code is the xml file read and >>the 
>>> card  type checked? And how does the program >>distinguish what 
>>> PRISM level a  card has?
>
>> That is done by IOKit automatically. For information on how this 
>> works, see 
>> ><http://developer.apple.com/documentation/DeviceDrivers/Conceptual/ 
>> IOKitFundamentals/index.html>
>
> So, then, where is the entry point of the driver, and how is the 
> driver told which card was inserted?

I'd recommend going through Apple's IOKit tutorials and reference docs 
for that.  The basics are easy, but some of the complexities can take a 
while to wrap your head around.

Basically, the .plist file specifies the class name for IOKit to load.  
IOKit then probes it to make sure it can load (probe returns a score.  
Higher is better with 0 being this dirver shouldn't try loading), then 
init(), followed by start().  If the best matching driver can't init or 
start properly, then it tries the next best and so on.

>
>>> I noticed that some messages were written to /var/log/system.log 
>>> when I inserted my >>Orinoco (but not for the PRISM 2.5 card):
>
> How are messages written to /var/log/system.log?

Magic! :-)  IOLog handles this.  Look through xnu and/or IOKit for 
details.

I've put code in my new version to log via USBProber and the KLog.kext 
driver.  This makes it much more user-friendly to deal with.  That code 
will be posted shortly.

>
> Thanks for all your help.
>

No problem.  I just wish I had more time to do this stuff right now.

-Rob