Linux Deprecating Wireless USB & Ultra Wideband Subsystems

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Linux Deprecating Wireless USB & Ultra Wideband Subsystems

The Linux 5.4 kernel will deprecate and mark as obsolete the Wireless USB (WUSB) and Ultra-wideband (UWB) subsystems within the kernel...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-Obsolete-WUSB-UWB

[gsedej]

I taught they are deprecating usb wlan doungles. Luckly its not the case...

[Guest]

I guess this makes sense. Wireless USB was a curiosity I've read about in magazines back in the day, when paper was still relevant.

[jpegxguy]

I taught they are deprecating usb wlan doungles. Luckly its not the case...

Me too. That's how much more relevant Wi-Fi is compared to this protocol. Enough that the general word "Wireless" is immediately thought of as Wi-Fi in this context.

[edwaleni]

Per Wikipedia:

UWB has been a proposed technology for use in personal area networks, and appeared in the IEEE 802.15.3a draft PAN standard. However, after several years of deadlock, the IEEE 802.15.3a task group^[21] was dissolved^[22] in 2006. The work was completed by the WiMedia Alliance and the USB Implementer Forum. Slow progress in UWB standards development, the cost of initial implementation, and performance significantly lower than initially expected are several reasons for the limited use of UWB in consumer products (which caused several UWB vendors to cease operations in 2008 and 2009)

[some_canuck]

so my wireless rgb keyboard is going to keep working then?

[onicsis]

so my wireless rgb keyboard is going to keep working then?

Usually wireless keyboards use a proprietary standard, not something common, standardized.

[alcalde]

Per Wikipedia:

However, after several years of deadlock, the IEEE 802.15.3a task group^[21] was dissolved^[22] in 2006. The work was completed by the WiMedia Alliance and the USB Implementer Forum. Slow progress in UWB standards development, the cost of initial implementation, and performance significantly lower than initially expected are several reasons for the limited use of UWB in consumer products (which caused several UWB vendors to cease operations in 2008 and 2009)

But the page on UWB makes it sound really cool and useful:

Ultra-wideband is also used in "see-through-the-wall" precision radar-imaging technology,^[12][13][14] precision locating and tracking (using distance measurements between radios), and precision time-of-arrival-based localization approaches.^[

Why wouldn't we want to do all that with Linux?

[starshipeleven]

But the page on UWB makes it sound really cool and useful:



Why wouldn't we want to do all that with Linux?

Most stuff doing these kinds of complex jobs with radio/microwaves (LTE modems and wifi and bluetooth) are microcontrollers running a real-time bare-metal firmware. The "Linus kernel module" for these things is glue code at best, and is working at a different level (i.e. it has no concept of what is going on in the real world of radios and antennas).

[SystemCrasher]

I guess I never seen wireless USB/uwb hardware to begin with...