[un_dave]

While reading these forums over the last few weeks, I've noticed that many peoples issues with OSX have been related to wifi and bluetooth, and the inability to properly turn these devices on without booting into Windows or Ubuntu.

I was hunting around for a better solution, and stumbled on this:
http://dell-mini.archive.canonical.com/ ... t11.tar.gz
This is the source code for Dell's aircraft-manager utility, which allows you to enable and disable the wireless and bluetooth devices.

I had a bit of a go at getting this to compile/run in some form on OSX, but I'm a bit of a n00b at this sort of thing.

However, from what I could tell, this is the Python code which did all the leg work. (extracted from 'aircraft-manager-util.in')

#!/usr/bin/python

import sys
#import dbus
import os
import portio


def getStatus (radio):
    # acquire permission for I/O
    portio.ioperm(0x68, 1, 1)
    portio.ioperm(0x6C, 1, 1)

    while 1:
        status = portio.inb(0x6c)
        if ((status & 0x80) == 0):
            break

    while 1:
        status = portio.inb(0x6c)
        if ((status & 0x02) == 0):
            break
    portio.outb(0xb0,0x6c)

    while 1:
        status = portio.inb(0x6c)
        if ((status & 0x02) == 0):
            break
    portio.outb(0xbb,0x68)

    while 1:
        status = portio.inb(0x6c)
        if ((status & 0x01) != 0):
            break
    wstatus = portio.inb(0x68)
    print 'status = %x' % (wstatus)
        
    if (radio == 1):
        if (wstatus & 1 << 0):
            print 'Wifi on'
            x = 1
        else:
            print 'Wifi off'
            x = 0
        os.system ("echo " + str(x) + " > /tmp/wifi_status")

    if (radio == 2):
        if (wstatus & 1 << 1):
            print 'BT on'
            x = 1
        else:
            print 'BT off'
            x = 0
        os.system ("echo " + str(x) + " > /tmp/bt_status")

    while 1:
        status = portio.inb(0x6c)
        if ((status & 0x02) == 0):
            break
    portio.outb(0xff,0x6c)


def powerControl (radio):
    # acquire permission for I/O
    portio.ioperm(0x68, 1, 1)
    portio.ioperm(0x6C, 1, 1)

    while 1:
        status = portio.inb(0x6c)
        if ((status & 0x80) == 0):
            break

    while 1:
        status = portio.inb(0x6c)
        if ((status & 0x02) == 0):
            break
    portio.outb(0xb0,0x6c)

    while 1:
        status = portio.inb(0x6c)
        if ((status & 0x02) == 0):
            break
    portio.outb(0xbb,0x68)

    while 1:
        status = portio.inb(0x6c)
        if ((status & 0x01) != 0):
            break
    wstatus = portio.inb(0x68)
    print 'status = %x' % (wstatus)
        
    if (radio == 1):
        if (wstatus & 1 << 0):
            print 'Wifi on'
            x = 1
        else:
            print 'Wifi off'
            x = 3
    
    if (radio == 2):
        if (wstatus & 1 << 1):
            print 'BT on'
            x = 2
        else:
            print 'BT off'
            x = 4
    
    if (radio == 3):
        x = 1
    if (radio == 4):
        x = 2
    if (radio == 5):
        x = 3
    if (radio == 6):
        x = 4

    while 1:
        status = portio.inb(0x6c)
        if ((status & 0x02) == 0):
            break
    portio.outb(0xff,0x6c)

    while 1:
        status = portio.inb(0x6c)
        if ((status & 0x80) == 0):
            break

    while 1:
        status = portio.inb(0x6c)
        if ((status & 0x02) == 0):
            break
    portio.outb(0xb1,0x6c)

    while 1:
        status = portio.inb(0x6c)
        if ((status & 0x02) == 0):
            break
    portio.outb(0xbb,0x68)

    new_wstatus = wstatus
    if (x == 1):
        new_wstatus = new_wstatus & 0xfe # turn off wireless
        #os.system("dbus-send --system --type=method_call --dest=org.freedesktop.NetworkManager /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.setWirelessEnabled boolean:false")
    if (x == 2):
        new_wstatus = new_wstatus & 0xfd # turn off bluetooth
    if (x == 3):
        new_wstatus = new_wstatus | 0x01 # turn on wireless
        #os.system("dbus-send --system --type=method_call --dest=org.freedesktop.NetworkManager /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.setWirelessEnabled boolean:true")
    if (x == 4):
        new_wstatus = new_wstatus | 0x02 # turn on bluetooth

    while 1:
        status = portio.inb(0x6c)
        if ((status & 0x02) == 0):
            break
    portio.outb(new_wstatus,0x68)

    while 1:
        status = portio.inb(0x6c)
        if ((status & 0x02) == 0):
            break
    portio.outb(0xff,0x6c)

def ACControl (x):
    # acquire permission for I/O
    portio.ioperm(0x68, 1, 1)
    portio.ioperm(0x6C, 1, 1)

    while 1:
        status = portio.inb(0x6c)
        if ((status & 0x80) == 0):
            break

    while 1:
        status = portio.inb(0x6c)
        if ((status & 0x02) == 0):
            break
    portio.outb(0x59,0x6c)

    if (x == 1):
        new_wstatus = 0xD7 # turn off AC charge
    if (x == 2):
        new_wstatus = 0xD8 # turn on AC charge

    while 1:
        status = portio.inb(0x6c)
        if ((status & 0x02) == 0):
            break
    portio.outb(new_wstatus,0x68)

    while 1:
        status = portio.inb(0x6c)
        if ((status & 0x02) == 0):
            break
    portio.outb(0xff,0x6c)


#print str(sys.argv)
go = True

if len(sys.argv) < 3: 
    print "Too few arguments. Stopping."
    go = False

if go:
    objct = sys.argv[1]
    action = sys.argv[2]

    if objct == "BT": 
        if action == "on":
            print "\tTurning BT ON"
            powerControl(6)
        elif action == "off":
            print "\tTurning BT OFF"
            powerControl(4)
        elif action == "toggle":
            print "\tToggle BT"
            powerControl(2)
        elif action == "status":
            print "\tStatus BT"
            getStatus(2)
    elif objct == "WIFI": 
        if action == "on":
            print "\tTurning WIFI ON"
            powerControl(5)
        elif action == "off":
            print "\tTurning WIFI OFF"
            powerControl(3)
        elif action == "toggle":
            print "\tToggle WIFI"
            powerControl(1)
        elif action == "status":
            print "\tStatus WIFI"
            getStatus(1)
    elif objct == "AC_CHARGING": 
        if action == "on":
            print "\tTurning AC_CHARGING on"
            ACControl(2)
        if action == "off":
            print "\tTurning AC_CHARGING off"
            ACControl(1)
    elif objct == "RADIO": 
        if action == "toggle":
            powerControl(1)
            powerControl(2)

Note I've commented out the dbus calls, as I don't think they'd be needed in OSX, and I was at the point of trying to install PortIO module support for Python when I got stuck, and realized that I was in way over my head.

I had a quick look at coding in Objective C, then decided that it would probably simpler to put this out here on the forums, and someone else might know a better way to go about this.

Cheers, and keep up the good work!

Dave.

[meklort]

Thanks for taking the time to look into this. I'll look into writing a simple kext to toggle bluetooth and possibly wifi (and them mapping it to fn-2). Since I only have wifi, thats what it'll probably be initially.
I wont work on it till after the touchpad driver works better (I just have to fix a few bugs) and after the pref pane is done (I just have to figure out how to make preferences stay after reboot).

[acorral]

meklort,

Are you still thinking of including some way to turn off the special uses for the Fn-X keys (other than volume and brightness)?

I guess using the Fn keys would be good for some people, but turning off WiFi and/or bluetooth by pressing the wrong key by mistake can be a pain, so it would be great if this could be set as a preference somehow.

It would be even better if it was possible to remap the Fn-X keys to more useful/mac like stuff, like expose or dashboard.

Thanks

[bmcclure937]

Originally Posted by acorral

<cut>
It would be even better if it was possible to remap the Fn-X keys to more useful/mac like stuff, like expose or dashboard.

Thanks

You can use the Fn keys to do these things... F11 and F12 (the Z and X key)

Back on topic : I think this would be a useful utility for those who have been wondering about turning off these features quickly when boarding a plane, etc.

[tastewar]

Originally Posted by un_dave

...from what I could tell, this is the Python code which did all the leg work. (extracted from 'aircraft-manager-util.in')

Dude, you are awesome.

[DaoFerret]

Originally Posted by un_dave

...
I had a bit of a go at getting this to compile/run in some form on OSX, but I'm a bit of a n00b at this sort of thing.

However, from what I could tell, this is the Python code which did all the leg work. (extracted from 'aircraft-manager-util.in')

import portio

...

Yeah ... I noticed that and was looking at it for the same reason.

I'm mostly a Perl programmer, so Python is "new", but once you've worked with them enough you can get to a "understand how its working and cut and paste" level in a language very quickly.

Basically the thing that keeps it from being a portio module which does the "heavy lifting" providing direct access to the IO ports (its in one of the usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/ dir in the package if anyone is interested).
from the .egg-info of the module:

Metadata-Version: 1.0
Name: portio
Version: 0.1
Summary:  PortIO, low level port I/O for Linux x86

Home-page: http://portio.iriti.cnr.it
Author: Fabrizio Pollastri
Author-email: pollastri@iriti.cnr.it
License: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.txt
Description: PortIO is a Python front end to the low level functions provided by the
        C library on Linux 386 platforms for the hardware input and output ports:
        outb, outw, outl, outsb, outsw, outsl, outb_p, outw_p, outl_p, inb, inw,
        inl, insb, insw, insl, inb_p, inw_p, inl_p, ioperm, iopl.
        
        Before doing port I/O, it is mandatory to acquire proper privileges by
        calling ioperm or iopl. Otherwise you will get a segmentation fault.

Without porting THAT module to OSX, (and its a pre-compiles library that I haven't seen the course code for) the Python script won't work, so don't worry that you weren't able to make too much progress.

I was looking at trying to get the hang of Objective-C, since it seems like there are a number of "utilities" that could be bundled into an App to make lives easier (WiFi enable/disable, Bluetooth enable/disable, GPS on/off, a more advanced version of the Res Changer), but I'm afraid that learning, XCode, Objective-C and the OSX platform at once is one heck of a mouthful to try to swallow. :shock:

[meklort]

The kernel mode drivers in mac os x has access to inb and outb. It's jsut a ams call anyways. I don't know if usermode apps can use inb and outb. You cannot use objective c to write drivers (as far as I know, but I'm probably wrong). You can however write in objective c to make a program that talks to the kext and toggles it.

It's actually really easy to write a kext, so unless if someone else finds a better way / codes something first, I'll write one after I get the touchpad working better.

Copied form the PS2Controller kext...

#warning FIXME: use inb and outb from the kernel framework (2688371)
typedef unsigned short i386_ioport_t;
inline unsigned char inb(i386_ioport_t port)
{
    unsigned char datum;
    asm volatile("inb %1, %0" : "=a" (datum) : "d" (port));
    return(datum);
}

inline void outb(i386_ioport_t port, unsigned char datum)
{
    asm volatile("outb %0, %1" : : "a" (datum), "d" (port));
}

Oh, and its not that hard to learn osx, objective c and XCode in one swallow...

[un_dave]

I'm glad this has been of interest to more people than just me!

It sounds like development in this area is moving quickly, and unless I find myself with some free time, I'll leave this in the capable hands of meklort and the team.

[meklort]

I probably wont start working on it untill next week at the earliest.
and since I don't have bluetooth, it may by iffy as to getting it working (atleast easily).

[un_dave]

I'm very happy with my current solution of always on bluetooth and wireless, I'm just happy that it works, so I'm in no rush to see this implemented! I was just curious about this to help all those who frequent airports, it could be very useful for them, plus it makes the dell mini 9 osx solution more 'feature complete'.

Also, to to someone who's used to dealing with big businesses, and normal major software release cycles, week(s) is very fast!

If you need testers for the bluetooth, I'm sure you should have plenty of support here, or even, I bet, a few people who are willing to donate towards getting you a bluetooth module. I know I would be!