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+$Id: //depot/sw/branches/sam_hal/README#2 $
+
+
+Atheros Hardware Access Layer (HAL)
+===================================
+
+* Copyright (c) 2002-2006 Sam Leffler.
+* Copyright (c) 2002-2006 Atheros Communications, Inc.
+* All rights reserved.
+
+Read the file COPYRIGHT for the complete copyright.
+
+This code manages much of the chip-specific operation of the Atheros
+driver.  The HAL is provided in a binary-only form in order to
+comply with local regulatory agency rules.  In the United States
+the FCC requires that a radio transmitter 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 a
+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.pdf
+
+for the specific FCC regulation.  Because the module is provided
+in a binary-only form it is marked "Proprietary" on Linux; this
+means when you load it you will see messages that your system is
+now "tainted".
+
+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 your operating system.
+
+
+Atheros Hardware
+================
+There are many generations of Atheros 802.11 wireless devices that
+are typically referred to by their programming model:
+
+5210	supports 11a only
+5211	supports both 11a and 11b
+5212	supports 11a, 11b, and 11g
+
+These parts have been incorporated in a variety of retail products
+including cardbus cards and mini-pci cards.  In addition many laptop
+vendors use Atheros mini-pci cards for their builtin wireless
+support.
+
+The Atheors PCI vendor id is 0x168c.  The file ah_devid.h lists most
+known PCI device id's but is not exhaustive.  Some vendors program
+their own vendor and/or device id's to aid in BIOS-locking mini-pci
+cards in laptops.
+
+Atheros SoC Hardware
+====================
+In addition to the cardbus/pci devices Atheros makes System on Chip
+(SoC) parts that integrate a MIPS cpu core and one or more MAC and
+radio parts.  Binary support for these parts is necessarily built
+for the embedded MIPS processor where the code is to be run.
+
+Caveats
+=======
+The binary hal builds provided here include no floating point and
+are operating system-independent.  However due to toolchain
+peculiarities the .o files may be wrongly rejected by development
+tools.  If that happens it may be possible to patch the file header
+so that the native toolchain will accept the files.  In particular
+this has been observed for various Linux MIPS installations for the
+SoC parts.  If you have issues consult the associated .inc file in
+the public directory; it explains exactly how the binary file was
+created (e.g. toolchain and compilation options).