Manpages

WI(4) BSD Kernel Interfaces Manual WI(4)

NAME

wi — Lucent Hermes, and Intersil PRISM IEEE 802.11 driver

SYNOPSIS

To compile this driver into the kernel, place the following lines in your kernel configuration file:

device wi
device wlan

Alternatively, to load the driver as a module at boot time, place the following line in loader.conf(5):

if_wi_load="YES"

DESCRIPTION

The wi driver provides support for 802.11b wireless network adapters based around the Lucent Hermes, Intersil PRISM-II, Intersil PRISM-2.5, and Intersil Prism-3 chipsets. All chipsets provide a similar interface to the driver. Only the Intersil chipsets support access point operation or WPA. Very old versions of firmware are not supported at all. Older versions of the firmware that are supported may severely limit the ability to use these cards in newer networks. Only relatively recent versions of Intersil firmware supports WPA. See CAVEATS for details. All host/device interaction is via programmed I/O, even on those cards that support a DMA interface.

For more information on configuring this device, see ifconfig(8).

wi supports station, adhoc, adhoc-demo, hostap, and monitor mode operation. Only one virtual interface may be configured at a time. For more information on configuring this device, see ifconfig(8).

Cards supported by the wi driver come in a variety of packages, though the most common are of the PCMCIA type. In many cases, the PCI version of a wireless card is simply a PCMCIA card bundled with a PCI adapter. The PCI adapters come in two flavors: true PCMCIA bridges and dumb PCMCIA bridges. A true PCMCIA bridge (such as those sold by Lucent) will attach as a real PCMCIA controller. The wireless card will then attach to the PCMCIA bus. Wireless cards in PCMCIA slots may be inserted and ejected on the fly.

A dumb bridge, on the other hand, does not show up as a true PCMCIA bus. The wireless card will simply appear to the host as a normal PCI device and will not require any PCMCIA support. Cards in this type of adapter should only be removed when the machine is powered down.

The following cards are among those supported by the wi driver:

Card Chip Bus

3Com AirConnect 3CRWE777A

Prism-II

PCI

Accton airDirect WN3301

PCMCIA

ACTIONTEC HWC01170

Prism-2.5

PCMCIA

Adaptech ANW-8030

Prism-3

PCMCIA

Addtron AWP-100

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Adtec Adlink/340C

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Airvast WN 100

Prism-3

PCMCIA

Airway 802.11 Adapter

PCMCIA

Agere Orinoco

Hermes

PCMCIA

Allied Telesis WR211PCM

Prism-II

PCMCIA

ArTem OnAir

Prism?

PCMCIA

Asus WL100

Prism-2.5

PCMCIA

Avaya Wireless

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Bay eMobility 11B

Prism-2.5?

PCMCIA

Blue Concentric Circle WL-379F

Prism-II

CF

BreezeNet Wireless

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Buffalo WLI-PCM-S11

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Buffalo WLI-PCM-L11G

Hermes

PCMCIA

Buffalo WLI-CF-S11G

Prism-II

CF

Buffalo WLI2-CF-S11G

Prism 2.5

CF

Cabletron RoamAbout

Hermes

PCMCIA

Compaq Agency NC5004

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Compaq WL100

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Compaq WL110

Hermes

PCMCIA

Compaq WL200

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Contec FLEXLAN/FX-DS110-PCC

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Corega PCC-11

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Corega PCCA-11

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Corega PCCB-11

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Corega CGWLPCIA11

Prism-II

PCI

Dell TrueMobile 1150

Hermes

PCMCIA

Dlink Air 660

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Dlink DWL520

Prism-2.5

PCI

Dlink DWL650

Prism-2.5

PCMCIA

ELECOM Air@Hawk/LD-WL11/PCC

PCMCIA

ELSA MC-11

PCMCIA

ELSA XI300

Prism-II

PCMCIA

ELSA XI325

Prism-2.5

PCMCIA

ELSA APDL325

Prism-2.5

PCMCIA

ELSA XI330

Prism-3

PCMCIA

ELSA XI800

Prism-II

CF

EMTAC A2424i

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Farallon Skyline

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Gemtek WL-311

Prism-2.5

PCMCIA

Hawking Technology WE110P

Prism-2.5

PCMCIA

Home Wireless Networks

Prism-II

PCMCIA

IBM High Rate Wireless

Hermes

PCMCIA

ICOM SL-1100

Prism-II

PCMCIA

I-O DATA WN-B11/PCM

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Intersil Prism II

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Intersil Mini-PCI

Prism-2.5

PCI

Intersil ISL37100P

Prism-3

PCMCIA

Intersil ISL37110P

Prism-3

PCMCIA

Intersil ISL37300P

Prism-3

PCMCIA

Laneed Wireless

PCMCIA

Linksys Instant Wireless WPC11

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Linksys Instant Wireless WPC11 2.5

Prism-2.5

PCMCIA

Linksys Instant Wireless WPC11 3.0

Prism-3

PCMCIA

Linksys WCF11

Prism-3

PCMCIA

Linksys WCF12

Prism-3

CF

Lucent WaveLAN

Hermes

PCMCIA

Melco Airconnect

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Microsoft MN-520 WLAN

Prism-II

PCMCIA

NANOSPEED ROOT-RZ2000

Prism-II

PCMCIA

NCR WaveLAN/IEEE 802.11

PCMCIA

NDC/Sohoware NCP130

Prism-II

PCI

NEC CMZ-RT-WP

Prism-II

PCMCIA

NEC PK-WL001

Lucent

PCMCIA

NEC PC-WL/11C

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Netgear MA311

Prism-2.5

PCI

Netgear MA401

Prism-II/2.5

PCMCIA

Netgear MA401RA

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Netgear MA701

Prism-II

CF

NOKIA C020 WLAN

Prism-II

PCMCIA

NOKIA C110 WLAN

Prism-2.5

PCMCIA

NTT-ME 11Mbps Wireless LAN

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Planex GeoWave/GW-NS110

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Planex GW-NS11H

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Proxim Harmony

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Proxim RangeLAN-DS

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Samsung MagicLAN SWL-2000N

Prism-II

PCMCIA

SENAO SL-2511CD

Prism-3

PCMCIA

Siemens SpeedStream SS1021

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Siemens SpeedStream SS1021

Prism-3

PCMCIA

SMC 2532W-B

Prism-II

PCMCIA

SMC 2602 EZ Connect (3.3V)

Prism-II

PCI or PCMCIA

SMC 2632 EZ Connect

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Socket Low Power WLAN-CF

Prism-II

CF

Sony PCWA-C100

Lucent

PCMCIA

Sony PEGA-WL110

Prism-2.5

PCMCIA

TDK LAK-CD011WL

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Toshiba Wireless LAN Card

Prism-II

PCMCIA

U.S. Robotics Wireless Card 2410

Prism-II

PCMCIA

YIS YWL-11B

Prism-II

PCMCIA

Several vendors sell PCI adapters built around the PLX Technology 9050 or 9052 chip. The following such adapters are supported or expected to work:

3Com AirConnect 3CRWE777A (3.3V)
Belkin F5D6000 (a rebadged WL11000P)
Eumitcom WL11000P
Global Sun Technology GL24110P (untested)
Global Sun Technology GL24110P02
LinkSys WDT11 (a rebadged GL24110P02)
Netgear MA301
US Robotics 2415 (rebadged WL11000P)
Wisecom Wireless LAN PCI Adapter

The following adapters have the same model numbers as those listed above, but might not work if the actual card is after the change away from the Prism family:

DLink DWL520

EXAMPLES

Join an existing BSS network (ie: connect to an access point):

ifconfig wlan create wlandev wi0 inet 192.168.0.20 \
netmask 0xffffff00

Join a specific BSS network with network name ’’my_net’’:

ifconfig wlan create wlandev wi0 inet 192.168.0.20 \
netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net

Join a specific BSS network with WEP encryption:

ifconfig wlan create wlandev wi0 inet 192.168.0.20 \
netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net \
wepmode on wepkey 0x8736639624 weptxkey 1

Join a Lucent legacy demo ad-hoc network with network name ’’my_net’’:

ifconfig wlan create wlandev wi0 wlanmode ahdemo \
inet 192.168.0.20 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net

Join/create an IBSS network with network name ’’my_net’’:

ifconfig wlan create wlandev wi0 wlanmode adhoc wi0 \
inet 192.168.0.22 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net

Create a host-based access point (Prism only):

ifconfig wlan create wlandev wi0 wlanmode hostap \
inet 192.168.0.10 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_ap

Create a host-based access point with WEP enabled (Prism only) and plumb it into bridge to fxp0:

ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev wi0 wlanmode hostap \
inet 192.168.0.10 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_ap \
wepmode on wepkey 0x1234567890 weptxkey 1
ifconfig bridge0 create
ifconfig bridge0 addm wlan0 addm fxp0 up

This will give you the same functionality as an access point.

DIAGNOSTICS

wi%d: init failed  The WaveLAN card failed to become ready after an initialization command was issued.

wi%d: failed to allocate %d bytes on NIC  The driver was unable to allocate memory for transmit frames in the NIC’s on-board RAM. This can also be an indication of an incorrectly configured interrupt.

wi%d: device timeout  The WaveLAN card failed to generate an interrupt to acknowledge a transmit command.

SEE ALSO

intro(4), pccard(4), pccbb(4), pcic(4), wlan(4), wlan_ccmp(4), wlan_tkip(4), wlan_wep(4), wlan_xauth(4), hostapd(8), ifconfig(8), wpa_supplicant(8).

HCF Light programming specification

,

http://web.archive.org/web/20040130141721/http://wavelan.com/ .

HISTORY

The wi device driver first appeared in FreeBSD 3.0.

AUTHORS

The original wi driver was written by Bill Paul <wpaul [AT] ctr.edu>. This man page comes from OpenBSD.

CAVEATS

The driver will reject devices with old firmware to avoid dealing with numerous defects. Unfortunately the driver does not support downloading new firmware to the card so if new firmware is needed users will have to boot a different system to accomplish this.

Intersil Prism cards must have firmware versions 0.8.0 or later and version 1.7.0 or later are required to support functionality such as WPA. Some users of Prism-II and 2.5 based cards report that station firmware version 1.3.4 works better for them in hostap than 1.4.9. Older versions of the Prism station firmware have a number of issues with hostap mode. The IBSS/adhoc mode appears to work well on station firmware 1.3.1 and later. The IBSS/adhoc mode appears to have problems for some people with older versions of station firmware.

Lucent cards prior to firmware version 6.0.6 do not implement IBSS mode and are not supported.

Prior versions of wi supported Symbol firmware. That support has been removed due to persistent problems with this firmware as well as getting proper documentation on this firmware.

Hermes 2 and Hermes 3 chips are not supported by this driver.

Here’s the above requirements in the form of a table

Firmware Minimum WPA Host AP Adhoc/IBSS

Prism II/2.5

0.8.0

1.7.0

1.3.4

1.3.1

Prism 3

0.8.0

1.7.0

1.4.9

1.3.1

Hermes

6.0.6

none

none

6.0.6

Symbol

none

none

none

none

BUGS

Not all the new messages are documented here, and many of them are indications of transient errors that are not indications of serious problems.

BSD July 23, 2011 BSD