Will the wifi chip be changed if there is ever a revision of the boards?

[second exodous]

I know it has been talked about before and the processor will not be updated unless there is a much cheaper one on the market of equal or greater speed or the chip currently in the Pandora ceases production. So this isn't about the processor.


This is a question about the horrible wifi chip that is in it. I've tried turning off services that make the wifi slower while trying to save power but the speed I get still are painfully slow.


I was looking at the dates of when you guys decided which wifi chip would be and when when Broadcom open sourced its drivers for it's wifi chips and it looks like you guys might have made your decision before their landmark decision. If Broadcom would have announced open sourcing their drivers before you guys made the purchase of the wifi chips would you went with one of their chips or would you have still made the same choice?


Also, like the thread title asks if there is any kind of necessary revision of any kind for the Pandora boards will you guys change out the wifi chip to one that has open source drivers?

 

[Aurekana]

I don't know much about pinouts of wifi chips, but is there a chance there might be a broadcom chip that is fairly close to pin-compatible with the existing chip?

 

[second exodous]

I don't know much about pinouts of wifi chips, but is there a chance there might be a broadcom chip that is fairly close to pin-compatible with the existing chip?

That question was asked when the trouble started with the wifi and there isn't a chip that can simply be swapped out, to have a different chip there will have to be a board revision. Or at least that is what I remember from way way back when.

 

[the_marshal]

Isn't the Pandora wifi chip the same as the one in the N900. Does the N900 have problem with wifi ?


I don't believe it's the chipset itself that is at fault here. IF there is really a hardware issue maybe it could be the board design or the interface it uses.


I think the possibility that it's mostly an software issue is the most likely. When we get a new kernel and more upgrade maybe it will turn out for the best.


All of this being said, I don't actually have much issue with my Wifi. Sure it doesn't go past 200kb/s but it does have good range and is perfectly adequate for surfing and downloading reasonable sized file.

 

[Elanzer]

N900's wifi is far better than the Pandora and doesn't have performance problems. Using my N900 I can max my connection (~600kb/s download), where as my Pandora only manages about 30kb/s.


If the Pandora has the same wifi chip, then it has to be a problem with software and/or it's implementation in hardware.

 

[second exodous]

i get 600kB/s with pandora easily, got 1MB/s once, in a hostel,
you should try other settings, routers, channels, encryptions etc

I have but no luck. I've tried different things on my router that helped other devices with no luck. I have a tiny tiny wifi adapter but have been having trouble compiling the drivers for it on the Pandora. I think right now that is the best option for 'just works everywhere'. I've been way too occupied with the PS1 emulator to mess with it though.

 

[Jey123456]

i could easily get 1mb/sec on my internal wifi, but it was everything but usable. after 5-10 mins of usage at max speed, the connection would simply freeze for 2-3min. I personally use a linksys AE1000 now and can enjoy all the network speed i needed =D.