December 23, 2008

The 2.6.28 kernel is released. About 400 patches related to wireless have been merged and once again this release brings a slew of new wireless features to the kernel:

• regulatory support – the kernel will now attempt to obey local wireless spectrum regulations

• libertas_tf – a thin firmware driver for the XO-1’s wireless

• ath5k gains mesh networking

• the full-mac orinoco driver gains WPA support

• p54 gains 5 GHz support

• mac80211 got mesh portal functionality (bridging a mesh mode interface)

• the minstrel rate control algorithm was added along with rate control API improvements

• nl80211 userspace API improvements for various things As usual, some drivers and mac80211 received cleanups and API changes:

  • Some mac80211 driver operations are no longer required to be atomic which makes drivers simpler

  • mac80211 code was restructured to be easier to read

  • more station information is shared with the driver

  • the rate control API was rewritten and made available to outside mac80211 (due to be updated again in 2.6.29 for better HT control etc.)