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Cross-Platform P2P Wi-Fi: How the EU Killed AWDL

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223 points stusmall | 1 comments | 28 Mar 25 13:13 UTC | HN request time: 0.212s | source

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tambre ◴[28 Mar 25 14:59 UTC] No.43506306[source]▶

>>43505022 (OP) #

I recently wanted to do point-to-point Wi-Fi for transferring some data but apparently support for the ad-hoc IBSS mode wasn't available on my MT7925. Wi-Fi Aware is completely new to me and didn't come up while searching on the topic at all. I can't find anything about using it on Linux now either. Anybody have any references on its support?

There's a single kernel commit referencing Wi-Fi Aware from 2023 [0]. iw supposedly supports a few commands pertaining to it [1].

  [0] https://web.git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?h=v6.14&id=9b89495e479c5fedbf3f2eca4f1c4e9dd481265e
  [1] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/53594406/implementing-a-wifi-aware-application-outside-android

replies(3): >>43506866 #>>43508221 #>>43508818 #

1. Avamander ◴[28 Mar 25 15:47 UTC] No.43506866[source]▶

Any WiFi operation besides STA is in general a crapshoot, especially if the card is not meant for use in an AP. WiFi hardware vendors can't be bothered to provide fully usable stacks for anything else (if even that).

For example Intel's broken Location Aware Regulatory completely breaks any use-cases where your device is not the STA (on anything besides 2.4GHz). Most cards also have no DFS support, meaning you'll be left with a microscopic usable segment. Then there's also the problem with incorrect regulatory information.

All of which in the end makes reliable high-speed point-to-point operation very annoying to achieve. Even if it'd be totally legal. Leaving you with a terribly slow link.