ath10k: qca6174 firmware: difference between hw2.1/firmware-5 and hw3.0/firmware-4

[Michal Kazior]

On 24 August 2016 at 05:57, Xuebing Wang <xbing6 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Kalle,
>
> I cloned your ath10k-firmware from your github. Would you please advise what
> are the differences of hw2.1/firmware-5 and hw3.0/firmware-4 for qca6174?
> Does hw3.0/firmware-4 support Monitor Mode?
>
> I have a wlan card with BMI version (QCA6174_HW_2_1_VERSION 0x05010000) and
> Monitor Mode works no problem with latest kernel v4.8-rc2.
>
> I have another wlan card with (QCA6174_HW_3_2_VERSION 0x05030000). I am
> trying to back-port ath10k from v4.8-rc2 to 3.10.73 for this HW_3_2 QCA6174
> wlan card. Virtual interface (mon0) can be added and brought-up, but tcpdump
> can not capture any packets. I am wondering if it could be related to
> (hw2.1/firmware-5 vs hw3.0/firmware-4)?

Official hw3.x's firmware supports full rx offload. Rx event used to
deliver frames is very specialized effectively preventing sniffing /
monitor operation.

I don't know if there's any way around it without getting your hands
on firmware build that doesn't have the full rx offload compiled in
(assuming such a build even exists).


Michał