Here is a copy of an email I sent to Ms. Sue Kim. PR/Media Director at Marvell today...I don't really expect a substantive answer but we'll see.
Dear Ms. Kim,
I am writing today as an end user to comment on a situation that exists between Belkin Corp. and Marvell related to the release by Marvell to Belkin of the source code for the wireless driver used in the radio of the Linksys WRT1900AC router. Belkin/Linksys released this router to the marketplace in May 2014, with the promise to consumers that the product would "support open source firmware." Since then Belkin/Linksys has not, according to them, been able to obtain the source code for the Marvell wireless radio driver from your company. The only code they have received thus far, according to them, is a binary version of the driver.
There is growing discontent in the Open Source router community with the unfulfilled marketing promise by Belkin/Linksys about the Linksys WRT1900AC support Open Source development. Belkin/Linksys cites ongoing "legal issues" between them and Marvell which have resulted in no source code being released by Marvell to Belkin/Linksys for the driver for the Marvell wireless radio chip contained in the Linksys WRT1900AC router. By extension this also reflects poorly on Marvell for thus far failing to provide the driver source code to Belkin/Linksys for use by the Open Source community. Development communities such as OpenWRT are being greatly hampered in their attempts to develop working Open Source firmware for the Linksys WRT1900AC. I would sincerely hope that Marvell and Belkin/Linksys can resolve their legal differences and work towards a speedy release of the driver source code. If you have any information related to this situation that you can share publicly, I would be greatly appreciative. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Dear Ms. Kim,
I am writing today as an end user to comment on a situation that exists between Belkin Corp. and Marvell related to the release by Marvell to Belkin of the source code for the wireless driver used in the radio of the Linksys WRT1900AC router. Belkin/Linksys released this router to the marketplace in May 2014, with the promise to consumers that the product would "support open source firmware." Since then Belkin/Linksys has not, according to them, been able to obtain the source code for the Marvell wireless radio driver from your company. The only code they have received thus far, according to them, is a binary version of the driver.
There is growing discontent in the Open Source router community with the unfulfilled marketing promise by Belkin/Linksys about the Linksys WRT1900AC support Open Source development. Belkin/Linksys cites ongoing "legal issues" between them and Marvell which have resulted in no source code being released by Marvell to Belkin/Linksys for the driver for the Marvell wireless radio chip contained in the Linksys WRT1900AC router. By extension this also reflects poorly on Marvell for thus far failing to provide the driver source code to Belkin/Linksys for use by the Open Source community. Development communities such as OpenWRT are being greatly hampered in their attempts to develop working Open Source firmware for the Linksys WRT1900AC. I would sincerely hope that Marvell and Belkin/Linksys can resolve their legal differences and work towards a speedy release of the driver source code. If you have any information related to this situation that you can share publicly, I would be greatly appreciative. Thank you.
Sincerely,