Fresh from the field (yesterday afternoon) with the new firmware load.
(v1.10-00-101315, Hermes II, KN-50s) The situation is a customer with not
great S/N ratio...right around 14dB on CH1, about 5dB on CH11. However it
should work on CH1. Problem is that if you put the radio on CH1 it sees
nothing, but if you let it auto select a channel it goes to CH11! I tried
it with two radios that I got back as RMA's to rectify the packet loss
KN-50s. Both behaved the same way. The radios now seem to support 13
channels, but I'm pretty sure they don't work on at least CH1. The CPE is
a 19dB panel/enclosure PoE at 24vdc.
I'm at a loss, and am going to RMA the two KN-50 CPEs for Ubicom devices
that do work, even if the signal and noise readings are off.
Norm
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brad Gass" <bradlists@mnns.com>
To: "Karlnet Mailing List" <karlnet@WISPNotes.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2004 2:57 PM
Subject: [Karlnet] Clarification on KN-50 FW Issues
OK, attempting to get things squared away in my head here.
Anyone (Karlnet) - please feel free to confirm/discuss/debunk the points
below, I'm trying my best to get this straight in my head before
purchasing any equipment here.
1) There exists at least two "Karlnet Lite" hardware platforms - the
Karlnet designed and produced KN-50, and another platform similar to it.
Both use the Ubicom CPU however.
2) There (possibly) exists two basic versions of the "Karlnet Lite"
software load - one supports Prism radios, one supports Hermes/Hermes
II/Ruby radios.
3) The problems being reported with the KN-50 relate to the use of
Hermes/Hermes II/Ruby based radios (Orinoco/Agere/Others) and the firmware
loaded on the card itself. Due to flash space issues on the KN-50, no
tertiary firmware is uploaded to the card on initialization (unlike other
TC software products/loads).
4) There exists a newer revision of the firmware for the KN-50's that
addresses the packet loss issue, and is being shipped with new units.
5) Prism radios do not properly "remotely" report signal quality / stats
with any TC software product or Prism FW load.
6) Any issues with running WEP on the KN-50's that "work"?
Even at the risk of appearing like a doofus and continuing to beat a dead
horse, I'd really like to pin this down. Karlnet has been strangely quiet
on this issue, and I'm trying to zero-in on the technical issues here so I
can avoid them altogether, and/or help others out with the info as well.
A couple questions (some general) I have are:
1) Will Karlnet release software updates to the KN-50? <OBSERVATION> It
seems really odd to me that Karlnet expends an *incredible* amount of time
and effort protecting their code, and seemingly (on the surface anyway) a
lot less time getting some real basic problems resolved that affect the
overall saleability of the product, hence reducing income. Seems oddly
counter-intuitive and counter-productive. I know protecting the software
is important, but you couldn't have possibly anticipated zero issues with
a new product. New products need firmware updates. Firmware updates need
to be user installable. Surely this was discussed before product launch?
We've been hearing about upcoming upgrades for KN-50's for awhile now - is
that going to be a reality soon, as in days or weeks? </OBSERVATION>
2) Will the TC software ever be able to properly report, or extract/coax
Prism radios into reporting wireless quality stats? This is less of an
issue, but it seems to be a longstanding one that just keeps getting
brushed aside.
3) Is the KN-50 compatible with Prism radios as-is? Or is it crafted for
Hermes/Hermes II/Ruby radios only?
Anything I missed here? Karlnet - comments?
Like I said before, I love the Karlnet gear I have now, and want to deploy
more - real soon actually. But, I refuse to deploy anything that has
publically known bugs without real-life effective workarounds or deploy a
solution that will cause me nothing but headaches with promises of future
firmware upgrades that will "fix" it - and they never come. Been there,
done that (anyone ever used Ariel dial gear? I sincerely hope not.)
And, in the upcoming deployment, cost dictates that for it to be Karlnet
based, it's got to be a KN-50 (or similar) based solution. Otherwise, I
will have to consider other options.
Brad
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