LWN.net Logo

Why is the USRP FCC-legal, but wifi cards have closed source drivers?

Why is the USRP FCC-legal, but wifi cards have closed source drivers?

Posted Sep 6, 2007 18:59 UTC (Thu) by proski (subscriber, #104)
In reply to: Why is the USRP FCC-legal, but wifi cards have closed source drivers? by shapr
Parent article: RF hacking with GNU Radio

I believe SDR certification takes more time and money. As for the open source drivers, I think chipset vendors just being too risk averse, and SDR certification won't change that.


(Log in to post comments)

Why is the USRP FCC-legal, but wifi cards have closed source drivers?

Posted Sep 7, 2007 22:49 UTC (Fri) by shapr (subscriber, #9077) [Link]

What's the risk?

Why is the USRP FCC-legal, but wifi cards have closed source drivers?

Posted Sep 8, 2007 14:30 UTC (Sat) by proski (subscriber, #104) [Link]

The risk is that FCC or another regulatory agency would consider the device non-compliant if there are drivers that make it easy to use the device beyond the allowed frequencies and power limits, especially if the device maker contributed any code or documentation to the driver.

Copyright © 2012, Eklektix, Inc.
Comments and public postings are copyrighted by their creators.
Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds