proxim USB wifi and Ubuntu

[Kelsay, Brian - Kansas City, MO]

 The ath_hal module contains the Atheros Hardware Access Layer (HAL).
	This code manages much of the chip-specific operation of the
driver.
 	The HAL is provided in a binary-only form in order to comply
with FCC
 	regulations.  In particular, a radio transmitter can only be
operated at
 	power levels and on frequency channels for which it is approved.
The
 	FCC requires that a software-defined radio cannot be configured
by the
 	user to operate outside the approved power levels and frequency
 	channels.  This makes it difficult to open-source code that
enforces
 	limits on the power levels, frequency channels and other
parameters of
 	the radio transmitter.  See
 
http://ftp.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Orders/2001/fcc01264.p
df
 	for the specific FCC regulation.  Because the module is provided
in a
 	binary-only form it is marked "Proprietary"; this means when you
load it
 	you will see messages that your system is now "tainted".
 	
 	A detailed discussion of the pros and cons of this design can be
found
 	at http://madwifi.org/wiki/HAL
 	
 	If you wish to use this driver on a platform for which an
ath_hal module
	is not already provided please contact the author.  Note that
this is
 	only necessary for new _architectures_; the HAL is not tied to
any
 	specific version of Linux - in fact the identical HAL binary
code is
 	used unchanged with other operating systems.

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Luke -Jr
>Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 11:30 AM

>On Wednesday 21 February 2007 11:21, Bradley Hook wrote:
>> Luke -Jr wrote:
>> > Warning: 'madwifi' is not GPL-compatible; as such, it is 
>illegal and 
>> > will taint your kernel.
>>
>>  From the COPYRIGHT file in the madwifi tarball:
>>
>>   * Alternatively, this software may be distributed under 
>the terms of the
>>   * GNU General Public License ("GPL") version 2 as 
>published by the Free
>>   * Software Foundation.
>
>Indeed, but that is just a wrapper. This GPL'd wrapper is 
>*distributed along
>with* a binary blob it links to which is *specifically* not GPL.
>madwifi-0.9.2.1/hal/COPYRIGHT:
>	All files contained in this distribution are covered by 
>the following
>	copyright unless explicitly identified otherwise.  Note 
>that this
>	copyright does _NOT_ contain a "or GPL" clause and does 
>_NOT_ permit
>	redistribution with changes.