IEEE 802.11 WLAN card firmware source code

[lastek]

I want to implement my new MAC layer protocol in real IEEE 802.11 network cards. I think it is not so easy and I should have the WLAN card firmware source code.
Do you know where can I find any WLAN firmware source code (to any card, any MAC processor)?
Maybe you know where to find any other informations that can help to solve my problem. Unfortunately, the informations on the web are very limited.

Regards,

Lastek

 

[techie]

I doubt if you can find anything that specific on the web.

 

[Elvis P.]

Hi!

Linux supports these cards.
The Kernel and driver Modules are pure C (very rarely Inline Assembler).
The documetation of the source code is mostly pretty good.

You should check these sources.

Linux Kernel PAge

regards
Elvis P.

 

[milojames]

There really isn't any publicly available firmware for radios available on the internet. Depending on what you want to do look at http://www.linux-wlan.com/linux-wlan/ or http://hostap.epitest.fi/. These sites give you a starting point. Otherwise your best bet is to use a card with an atheros chipset and look at http://sourceforge.net/projects/madwifi/. Atheros uses a softmac approach so its at least possable to modify the operation.

 

[lastek]

Thanks for all that replies.
The problem is that MAC (Mecium Access Control) protocol is usually implemented in firmware or hardware (it depends on chipset), so to change the MAC protocol I should have firmware source code, then modify it, and flash the oryginal firmware. The drivers (for Linux or other system) are one level higher in protocol stack, so I can only drive with it the exisiting MAC protocol (modify some MAC parameters, have access to drive some brotocol behaviours, etc.). My intension is to change the protocol so I must have the firmware source code in any way :-(.
I know that it is hard to get it, but maybe someone have it...(I promise, it will be used for educational purposes only).

Lastek