Does the C860 have SDIO?

[suurikikkeli]

I googled around some.

Zaurus C860 runs on PXA255, Intel has documentation available online (see http://www.intel.com/design/pca/prodbref/252780.htm ).  PXA255 has only basic MMC/SPI.

SDcard.org has partial SDIO specifications available online (see http://www.sdcard.org/sdio/index.html )  SDIO has three operating modes, SPI, 1-bit and 4-bit.  I reckon SPI is a backward-compatability mode, which luckily would mean most SDIO cards should work with PXA255.  (I hope zaurus has the interrupt pin connected, as specified in chapter 2.2.1..)

Given this, SPI is the slowest operating mode, and MMC bus has a lower maximum operating frequency (20MHz vs 25MHz).  Running WLAN-SDIO on substandard SPI mode is bound to have poor performance. SDIO devices that aren't that bandwidth-hungry should work nicely though, like GPS, modems and bluetooth.

[ashikase]

Yet another update on the C-guy's SDIO WiFi card:

The support table has been updated again, this time saying that the driver for Cx60 is "under preparation for public release". Supposedly this means the driver is ready, though it almost sounds like they're trying to buy yet more time.

Of course, whether I will still buy it or not now depends on whether or not the new Zaurus has built-in WiFi (or if it's even worth buying). Guess I'll just have to wait a couple of weeks to find out.

- ashikase
  anpachi, gifu, japan

[stbrock]

The support table has been updated again, this time saying that the driver for Cx60 is "under preparation for public release". Supposedly this means the driver is ready, though it almost sounds like they're trying to buy yet more time.

Thanks for keeping and eye on this. I think a good many are awaiting this driver release, and news is slow making it to the English version of the C Guys site.

[ashikase]

I was at CEATEC today, and C-guys had a c860 on display using their WiFi SD card, so I guess the driver really does exist. I didn't get a chance to ask anyone when the driver will actually be released, though (the show doesn't start until tomorrow; today was setup and rehearsal).

Hopefully sometime during or shortly after CEATEC.

- ashikase
  anpachi, gifu, japan

[Foxdie]

*keeps his fingers crossed*

[justinh]

 It works!!.. got a beta version of the driver from C-guys last night, installed it just now and it works like a dream, network access seems to be faster than with my old Buffalo cf card but I haven't run any proper tests yet.

I'm running CACkO Zaurus Qtopia ROM 1.21 1914070404 (SL-C7x0) "Elena", I had to install a driver from C-guys (ipkg), rebooted, noticed a segfault when the sdio module was initialising (haven't looked into it yet) but it all works really well. The UI for the control panel is a little slow refreshing  - it's a beta.. but looks feature complete, it has network descovery, ip configuration etc. I am relieved that it works having bought the card in faith that they were developing somthing!

Well done C-guys, you are the best!

[stupkid]

What about monitor mode?  What does the output of iwpriv look like?

[Bombur]

I wonder if this Wifi SD card will work in a C3K?  Now all we need is a Bluetooth SD card and driver.

j.

[ashikase]

justinh:

I'm curious, how were you able to get ahold of the beta driver? I've tried sending email to C-guys before, but never received a response.

- ashikase
  anpachi, gifu, japan

[stbrock]

I got the beta driver tonight. When I saw justinh's post, a few hours ago, I emailed asking to be a beta tester. Hiroshi Ide wrote right back "You visited us right time."

I have been running pdaXrom RC5 lately. The driver app is Qt and pdaXrom didn't recognize the card in its panel app even after a restart. Something zoomed by at the end of the boot sequence about SD-Link but I don't know if it was the driver looking or the hardware recognized at some level. It came after the end of what's in dmesg, and I can't remember where the rest of the startup sequence messages get stored.

At any rate, I assume it won't work in pdaXrom without some effort by the developers. So I'm going to flash back to Cacko with XQt for a while and try it out, though it may be the weekend before I can put much time into it.

One initial impression is that the card sticks out enough from the back to expose some of the thin part of the card as well as the thicker antenna section. I have the feeling I could snap it off if I'm not fairly careful.

I'll report after I reflash and get it running.

[loopy29]

Hi there, I asked C-Guys on what devices their linux drivers are tested. Here's their answer.

"Jan
 
I have just had a mail confirming that the SD Link 11b module and Linux drivers have been tested with the 860 and 760 but not with the 3000 at this stage.
 
Regards
 
Pete"

BTW, I must say they are a very helpful company. They responded to my mails in the hour, and they keep me informed when driver status changes etc. Apparently they now have a european office. Pete is the contact there.

[stbrock]

I flashed my C860 with the most recent Cacko ROM, installed the driver with no problems, inserted the card, and it was recognized and immediately connected and was working.

But -- it soon dropped the connection. The operation of the driver panel application was erratic. It would sometimes allow settings to be changes, sometimes not. Sometimes changes were accepted by the app but didn't happen. Sometimes all the options greyed out for long periods. I noticed the original Cacko app for mounting and umounting the SD and CF cards wasn't visible, and I couldn't access the CF card anymore. Generally I couldn't hold a connection for more than a minute or two, then I could reconnect a couples of times, then finally I would have to reboot to reconnect.

My sense is that most of the problems are just a conflict with the Cacko drivers or software for the SD and CF slots. With that fixed, the card might work very well. I've reported to C-Guys, asked them if they tested on any ROMs other than the Sharp ROM, since Cacko is supposed to be largely compatible with it, and suggested open sourcing the driver so that pdaXrom or OZ might support it.

Subjectively, the card is set to maximum performace as the default. When it was working, it seemed very fast and ran very hot. There is a low power setting alternative setting, but I couldn't get it to work.

[javab0y]

I also exchanged some emails with Hiroshi (real nice guy by the way).

I asked him A) if there is monitor mode and B) if WPA will be supported in the production release:

He responded:

"NO for both questions.
If someone wants to develop in Linux or public support, we may consider."

I then responded to him:

"I think if you consider releasing your driver as opensource, you would have tremendous support in that area.

I have spoken to a few of my cohorts and they would be very interested in helping to support and write monitor mode and WPA for Linux.  There is significant codebase that can be tapped from the hostap development team.

Please consider this as it will definately popularize your organization and your driver since SD had largely been closed source."

So lets see what happens...

[kfetisov]

Hi all!

Here is a link to Zaurus WiFi drivers:

http://www.c-guys.net/cgi-bin/download/pas...n_arm.ipk&key=1

Good luck,

Konstantin

[stbrock]

The released version appears to be identical to the beta which had stability and conflicts problems on my newly flashed Cacko 1.21b. It would be interesting to know if it works better on the Sharp ROM or if uninstalling some of the Cacko card management apps solves the issue.