wifi driver + kernel updated - please test

[notaz]

I've spent a week working on the wifi driver again trying to make it act much more like the original TI/Android driver that was used on HTC Dream - the first Android phone, which had the same wifi chip. I've changed my router some months back, and it looks like the wifi firmware didn't like it much - the speed was ok but pandora seemed to fall off the network after a while when not used - the Internet would work from pandora but you couldn't connect to it from network, which is something I need occasionally. While looking at the Android driver, I've noticed it was doing power saving quite differently compared to our (aka mainline or Nokia) driver - TI/Android driver would send "turn on power saving" command and leave the chip alone, while ours makes use of dynamic power saving feature on mac80211 that toggles powersave on/off all the time depending on activity. It seems the firmware blob really hates that, so I switched to TI/Android behavior and things became much better.

The results are now quite good with my router - it keeps steady connection and ping times from network have reduced greatly. What's more surprising is that my CC pandora, which would not do more that ~70K/s now can do at least twice of that or more. The speed of my 1GHz hasn't changed much though.

So go forth, run OS update and see how it works for you.

Other updates that you'll get are:

* c64_tools: fixed system registers incorrectly being cached from DSP side, which allowed to remove unnecessary invalidate between commands (bsp)

* kernel: updated to 3.2.67

* kernel: made DSP shared memory and the framebuffer accessible by debuggers (previously it would fail)

* kernel: wifi driver updated to use different power saving method, as done by TI/Android driver

* kernel: (maybe) fixed the damned charger LED sometimes failing to light up

* kernel: updated aufs to the last 3.2.x release

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

Thanks notaz!  You're one of the top reasons I love the Pandora so much! 

 

[ekianjo]

Tried it but have not checked wifi performance yet.

 

[WizardStan]

Ironically enough my wifi was flaking out on me trying to get the update for the first time in ever on my 1Ghz. Got it after a couple tries, everything seems to be in order. Wifi is definitely a lot more responsive: connecting is almost instantaneous whereas before it used to take upwards of 20 seconds. My actual speed once connected has never been a problem, and before today I've never spontaneously lost the connection, but I have to assume the faster connect speed is somehow related, so much improvements to be had.

 

[bluedeer]

... removed Herobrine

 

[ingoreis]

Wow unfortunaly i have a very long working Day again today.


I will be glad to try it.


My Pandora TV Edition lost often the Wlan connection,maybe it will be better now.


Trying this Evening here

 

[Linux-SWAT]

Thanks notaz !

 

[ekianjo]

Ok this firmware update is MUCH better for my 1 Ghz. I had an everlasting problem that with the internal wifi I could connect on my home router but the connection was always extremely slow (probably dropping lots of packets) while it had no problems whatsoever when tethering from my phone. After the firmware update now the home router wifi connection works fine ! Thanks Notaz, very much appreciated

 

[ZXDunny]

Right, there's an upside and a downside for me.

First, the Pandora no longer blocks the wifi signal to the detriment of all other devices. Previously if I weas downloading in PNDManager, no other devices could get out to the web at all. That's much better now.

BUT the speed has dropped considerably. Where I was getting a solid 70KB/Sec previously, now it fluctuates wildly between 1KB and about 40KB/Sec. That's no biggie though, I usually let the updates happen overnight before I go to bed.

D.

 

[pmprog]

One thing, which I don't know if it's related to the last bunch of changes, but my external WiFi dongle seems to be getting worse. My internal was always ok, but never great, and this seems to be improving. So it's kind of a nett win at the minute, although I still wonder how this will all be affected by the Aluminium case when it arrives.

Either way, thanks for the work

 

[Eight Bit]

 I still wonder how this will all be affected by the Aluminium case IF it arrives.

Fixed it for you.

Thanks Notaz! Great effort as usual.

Big-ups to you!

 

[Willhelm]

One thing, which I don't know if it's related to the last bunch of changes, but my external WiFi dongle seems to be getting worse. My internal was always ok, but never great, and this seems to be improving. So it's kind of a nett win at the minute, although I still wonder how this will all be affected by the Aluminium case when it arrives.


Either way, thanks for the work

could you please tell which usb wifi dongle u used?

 

[ThomasSeban]

Works great. After upgrade i got download speed max 800kb/s, this is 30% more than before.

Thanks.

Thomas

 

[pmprog]

One thing, which I don't know if it's related to the last bunch of changes, but my external WiFi dongle seems to be getting worse. My internal was always ok, but never great, and this seems to be improving. So it's kind of a nett win at the minute, although I still wonder how this will all be affected by the Aluminium case when it arrives.

Either way, thanks for the work

could you please tell which usb wifi dongle u used?

TPLink TL-WN725N.

 

[Farox]

Right, there's an upside and a downside for me.


First, the Pandora no longer blocks the wifi signal to the detriment of all other devices. Previously if I weas downloading in PNDManager, no other devices could get out to the web at all. That's much better now.


BUT the speed has dropped considerably. Where I was getting a solid 70KB/Sec previously, now it fluctuates wildly between 1KB and about 40KB/Sec. That's no biggie though, I usually let the updates happen overnight before I go to bed.


D.

Yeah for me too on my CC pandora.

I tried downloading a 25 Megabyte file...and its failed 2 times before to download completely (speed is 8 - 35KB/sec).

I need to test with disabled powersaving.

 

[notaz]

One thing, which I don't know if it's related to the last bunch of changes, but my external WiFi dongle seems to be getting worse.

It can't be since the code that was changed is not even loaded when you use external dongle.

 

[edgex004]

One thing, which I don't know if it's related to the last bunch of changes, but my external WiFi dongle seems to be getting worse.

It can't be since the code that was changed is not even loaded when you use external dongle.

Would it make a difference if the internal WiFi is on or off while the dongle is plugged in? I know I tend to turn off the internal WiFi when I plug in my dongle.

 

[Stainy]

On mine, when I plug a wifi dongle in and turn on USB host the wifi starts automatically.

 

[ingoreis]

Good News here:

My Wlan Connection on my Pandoras are much more stable and i get Speeds

between 75KB/sec up to 310KB/sec which is enough to view Youtubevideos in 360P with it here.

Used the Software TheTube from Repo for this.

And a wonderfull Side Effect,with your Pandora Android PND i do not lost the Wlan Connection anymore.

Downloading Files/Upgrading Files with PNDManager seem to be much more stable too here ^_^

Thx for that Update

 

[Farox]

Just tested without powersaving using this

sudo iwconfig wlan0 power off rate 54M

and successfully downloaded a 250MB file (naev.pnd).