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The FreeCalypso project is working on free baseband firmware with an older TI Chipset. If I recall from their mailing list, which is fairly active, they have v

The FreeCalypso project is working on free baseband firmware with an older TI Chipset. If I recall from their mailing list, which is fairly active, they have voice calls working now. It will of course not be a smartphone, and it'll be GSM only. https://www.freecalypso.org/ https://www.freecalypso.org/

creshal 11y ago
How do they plan to get it FCC certified? Without FCC certification, it may not be legally used outside shielded testing environments.
- Gregordinary 11y ago
  I'm actually not sure, recently joined the mailing list and have been passively monitoring. Would it make a difference if the chipset being used was already used for a cellphone that was FCC certified? If I put DD-WRT on my router, do I need to re-apply for FCC certification? (Wondering)
  - creshal 11y ago
    I'm not sure whether the certification guidelines for wifi and cell devices are the same. For Wifi it's surprisingly strict: • Every antenna+transmitter configuration has to be certified separately (that's why Lenovo and other laptop vendors have Wifi card whitelists and refuse booting with uncertified chips installed). • The software that directly drives the hardware must be certified to conform to the transmission power limits etc. For DD-WRT and others neither is a problem, because the hardware combination has been certified by the router vendor, and DD-WRT uses the wifi chip vendor's firmware blob to drive the hardware, which is certified by the vendor.
    - lmns 11y ago
      >DD-WRT uses the wifi chip vendor's firmware blob to drive the hardware, which is certified by the vendor. At least for many Atheros-based chipsets they use ath9k instead of the vendor blobs.
    - throwaway7767 11y ago
      > Every antenna+transmitter configuration has to be certified separately (that's why Lenovo and other laptop vendors have Wifi card whitelists and refuse booting with uncertified chips installed). Are you sure about that? The fact that not every vendor has such a lock suggests to me that there is no legal requirement for it.

creshal 11y ago

How do they plan to get it FCC certified? Without FCC certification, it may not be legally used outside shielded testing environments.

Gregordinary 11y ago
I'm actually not sure, recently joined the mailing list and have been passively monitoring. Would it make a difference if the chipset being used was already used for a cellphone that was FCC certified? If I put DD-WRT on my router, do I need to re-apply for FCC certification? (Wondering)
- creshal 11y ago
  I'm not sure whether the certification guidelines for wifi and cell devices are the same. For Wifi it's surprisingly strict: • Every antenna+transmitter configuration has to be certified separately (that's why Lenovo and other laptop vendors have Wifi card whitelists and refuse booting with uncertified chips installed). • The software that directly drives the hardware must be certified to conform to the transmission power limits etc. For DD-WRT and others neither is a problem, because the hardware combination has been certified by the router vendor, and DD-WRT uses the wifi chip vendor's firmware blob to drive the hardware, which is certified by the vendor.
  - lmns 11y ago
    >DD-WRT uses the wifi chip vendor's firmware blob to drive the hardware, which is certified by the vendor. At least for many Atheros-based chipsets they use ath9k instead of the vendor blobs.
  - throwaway7767 11y ago
    > Every antenna+transmitter configuration has to be certified separately (that's why Lenovo and other laptop vendors have Wifi card whitelists and refuse booting with uncertified chips installed). Are you sure about that? The fact that not every vendor has such a lock suggests to me that there is no legal requirement for it.