Re:Qualcomm Buys Atheros For $3.1 Billion
by calloc on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @12:06PM
(#2071547)
The real question is, what is this going to do for future Atheros chipsets and open source drivers? Atheros has always been the chipset to use for Wifi on open source operating systems because it was generally well supported, and provided features the competition couldn't.
I really hope that Qualcomm doesn't change anything in that regard.
Re:Qualcomm Buys Atheros For $3.1 Billion
by adestefan on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @01:00PM
(#2071726)
Atheros never supported the development of the open source drivers until ath9k/802.11n. The reason they are so robust is because Atheros chipsets are one of, if not the, most common WiFi chipset in use. Atheros was also one of the first to market with 802.11G chips and madwifi was one of the first to support 802.11G on Linux.
Re:Qualcomm Buys Atheros For $3.1 Billion
by calloc on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @03:53PM
(#2072436)
But they could also make it immensely harder to do so, look at prism 54, which require binary blobs to work right, and even then have random failures, or the ralink stuff. It is nowhere near as good as the Atheros stuff.
Re:Qualcomm Buys Atheros For $3.1 Billion
by anonymous246 on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @12:17PM
(#2071587)
I thought Wifi was a commodity market now. So I'm a little surprised to see Qualcomm buying into a commodity market. What does Atheros have that Qualcomm can't license cheaply from elsewhere and use it's own relationships to sell? This seems like Atheros quitting when they're at the top (smart move by them).
Is Qualcomm really interested in supplying to the smallish market for $30 wifi routers and network cards? I haven't ever seen an Atheros-powered laptop, which is a much larger market.
I used always looked for Atheros-powered wifi desktop cards because of their Linux support, but nowadays it seems like several chipsets are well-supported.
Re:Qualcomm Buys Atheros For $3.1 Billion
by blinkingled on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @01:19PM
(#2071802)
I am not certain it is more beneficial to buy/license IP in all cases. Plus they are getting IP/Human Resources/Revenues from Atheros perpetually - they do sell fair amount.
Re:Qualcomm Buys Atheros For $3.1 Billion
by anonymous246 on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @01:30PM
(#2071865)
Your Thinkpad has an internal Wifi chip powered by Atheros? Is this an Intel-powered laptop? Or did you buy a 3rd party card and plug it in? Do you remember if you chose this as an extra-cost option when you bought the laptop? I vaguely remember that in the past one of the flavors of wifi used to available in built-in wifi only with Atheros (for extra cost).
I know Atheros own the (smallish) 3rd party card market. I thought Intel owned the (huge) built-in Wifi market for Intel-powered PCs.
[*] Sorry about barrage of questions. I'd just like to know understand what Atheros does better. Thanks.
Re:Qualcomm Buys Atheros For $3.1 Billion
by chronomex on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @01:36PM
(#2071893)
Well, strictly speaking, my Thinkpad (a T30, got it used a year ago from a friend-of-a-friend) came with an Intel card. I changed it out for an Atheros card I pulled from a dead Thinkpad on a pallet a few years before. I have no idea if that was stock or not.
I really hope that Qualcomm doesn't change anything in that regard.
Is Qualcomm really interested in supplying to the smallish market for $30 wifi routers and network cards? I haven't ever seen an Atheros-powered laptop, which is a much larger market.
I used always looked for Atheros-powered wifi desktop cards because of their Linux support, but nowadays it seems like several chipsets are well-supported.
My Asus Eee 1005P has an ath9k chip in it, and my 701 before that had an ath5k. If it's the netbook market they're going for, that would seem smart.
My Thinkpad has an Atheros card in it.
I know Atheros own the (smallish) 3rd party card market. I thought Intel owned the (huge) built-in Wifi market for Intel-powered PCs.
[*] Sorry about barrage of questions. I'd just like to know understand what Atheros does better. Thanks.