[Fwd: Karmic Bug Realtek RTL8187B chip]

[Steve Conklin]

hoping someone else is familiar with this driver - in the last entry for
the bug there is a pointer to a new driver with a different name

Steve

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Karmic Bug Realtek RTL8187B chip
Date: Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:15:35 -0400
From: TJ <onewithnature83 at gmail.com>
To: steve.conklin at canonical.com


Hi Steve,

We met briefly at ALF 09'. Glad to have had you in Atlanta.

We also discussed a bug in the Kernel testing of Karmic (going back to
8.10 even) with the Realtek wifi chip-set RTL8187B.

here is the major bug report:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/254438

There are many other duplicate/similar bugs on launchpad. It would seem
after a year of this bug everyone has turned the other cheek on it.

I am the creator of this Ubuntu wiki in regards to the issue:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Device/RealtekRTL8187b

I have scrubbed the net for some good resources to bring to the table.
Fact is... I haven't really been able to get much. What I have on the
wiki and posted to the bug.

I will say that the user base that is affected by this bug is massive!
Thousands.

Also, a brief review of what we do have to work with as of right now. I
realize this probably wont be fixed for Karmic.. More important is
getting it fixed for Lucid.

After 3 Ubuntu releases, one starts to wonder if it can or will be done.

The symptoms:

reduced speed - windows as well as the drivers mentioned for kernel
2.6.24 in my wiki offer excellent speeds, post 8.04 horrible if even
usable for some.

Reduced Range - some report having to be within inches of the AP!
realistically about 30-40ft is the usable range for moderate traffic,
lighter traffic up to 60ft after that, its hit or miss to just browse
the web and over 80ft, NADA.

Reliability. The network traffic seems to freeze up intermittently for
various frequencies and durations.

Mode switches such as turning on/off the radio with hot-keys or panel
switches do not function.

If you look at the symptoms for the 8.04 solution there is great speed
and range, but no signal strength or WPA encryption.

So what do we have to work with?

Well, we have those nasty hacked/patched up drivers for the 2.6.24
kernel. I expect someone with the ability could look into these and find
the optimal settings for speed and range.

Then we have the current main stream release Kernel module for 2.6.27,
2.6.28 and 2.6.31. I believe the right person could again look into this
kernel module and bring the settings from the other drivers into to make
a useful product.

Sadly, this bug is turning people off of Ubuntu and off Linux in
general. This bug affects all linux distributions.  I would love to hear
how I can help more. I am willing to do whatever I can to help. I just
am not a very skilled Linux person but am constantly trying new things.

So you asked me on Sept 19th @ ALF to get with you on this matter. I
have done so. I hope you can help the community get this resolved. I
have tried in #ubuntu+1 #ubuntu-kernel and nobody seems to have good
input on the topic. I appreciate your attention.

--TJ