7 This document is written by a DragonFlyBSD newbie for other newbies, so there may be a better way to setup the ipw2200 wlan adapter. It was tested on a Asus V6800 notebook, but hopefully it should apply to all notebooks with ipw2200 adapters. WPA encryption is not available now (April 2006), and I wasn't unable to get my wlan adapter to establish a WEP connection, so I have only an unprotected WIFI connection, but that may be a problem with my notebook or my router.
13 You need two things to setup your ipw2200 adapter:
16 * the if_iwi kernel modules for DragonFlyBSD
18 * the firmware for your ipw2200 wlan adapter
22 # Loading the if_iwi kernel module
24 If you've done a fresh install of DragonFlyBSD, the kernel module should already be "ready to use". This is how you can load it:
28 If you don't get an error message, the necessary module is loaded now. If you get this message:
30 kldload: can't load if_iwi: File exists
32 this is ok, too. It means, that the module has already been loaded for you. BTW: you can check, if it's already loaded with this command:
34 # kldstat | grep if_iwi
36 This should return something similar to this, if the module is loaded:
38 6 1 0xc0759000 c2c8 if_iwi.ko
40 If you don't have the kernel module available, you must build a new kernel. You can find the necessary information to do that in the ["DragonFlyBSD Handbook, chapter 9"](http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/~justin/handbook/kernelconfig.htm) : (http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/~justin/handbook/kernelconfig.html) .
42 Later, you can automate loading of the kernel driver by using the /boot/loader.conf file.
44 # Getting the firmware
46 If you've already set up the pkgsrc system on your machine, you can install it by
49 # cd /usr/pkgsrc/sysutils/iwi-firmware
53 and continue reading at the next section ("Loading the firmware").
55 Otherwise, you can ["download it from" ](http://damien.bergamini.free.fr/iwifw/ipw2200-fw-2.3.tgz) (http://damien.bergamini.free.fr/iwifw/ipw2200-fw-2.3.tgz) and extract to a new directory, e. g. /usr/libdata/iwi_firmware:
60 # fetch http://damien.bergamini.free.fr/iwifw/ipw2200-fw-2.3.tgz
61 # tar xvfz ipw2200-fw-2.3.tgz
62 # mkdir /usr/libdata/if_iwi
63 # mv *fw /usr/libdata/if_iwi
68 Unfortunately, you must rename the files:
71 # cd /usr/libdata/if_iwi
72 # mv ipw-2.3-ibss_ucode.fw iwi-ucode-ibss.fw
73 # mv ipw-2.3-sniffer.fw iwi-sniffer.fw
74 # mv ipw-2.3-boot.fw iwi-boot.fw
75 # mv ipw-2.3-bss.fw iwi-bss.fw
76 # mv ipw-2.3-sniffer_ucode.fw iwi-ucode-sniffer.fw
77 # mv ipw-2.3-bss_ucode.fw iwi-ucode-bss.fw
78 # mv ipw-2.3-ibss.fw iwi-ibss.fw
81 # Loading the firmware
83 Now, you can load the firmware:
86 # iwicontrol iwi0 -d /usr/libdata/if_iwi
90 # Configuring the WLAN interface
92 Now, you can configure your ipw2200 adapter.
94 First example: without WPA and WEP
97 # ifconfig iwi0 inet <ip-address> netmask <netmask> ssid <myssid> wepmode off
99 Second example: with WEP
102 # ifconfig iwi0 inet <ip-address> netmask <netmask> ssid <myssid> wepmode on wepkey <mywepkey>
105 (example for a 104/128 bit wepkey hex value: 0xf6fa1c61abc3ca5a3787fdaeae)
107 Check your success (example):
111 iwi0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
112 inet 192.168.2.101 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.2.255
113 inet6 fe80::212:f0ff:fe07:f5c8%iwi0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x3
114 ether 00:12:f0:07:f5:c8
115 media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect (OFDM/54Mbps)
117 ssid catalan 1:catalan
118 channel 6 authmode OPEN powersavemode OFF powersavesleep 100
119 rtsthreshold 2312 protmode CTS txpower 100
120 wepmode OFF weptxkey 1
123 We have the IP-address 192.168.2.101 with netmask 255.255.255.0 (0xffffff00), and are connected ("associated") to an access point with the name "catalan". We don't use WEP (wepmode OFF) here.
126 As said at the beginning, I wasn't able to connect to my router/AP with WEP enabled, but it should work (tm). I was only able to make a connection with enabled SSID broadcast, but may be you'll have more luck ;-)
128 # DragonFlyBSD Host Access Points
130 DragonFlyBSD can act as an Access Point (AP) which eliminates the need to buy a hardware AP or run an ad-hoc network. This can be particularly useful when your DragonFlyBSD machine is acting as a gateway to another network (e.g., the Internet).
132 Before configuring your DragonFlyBSD machine as an AP, the kernel must be configured with the appropriate wireless networking support for your wireless card. You also have to add the support for the security protocols you intend to use.
134 # kldload /boot/kernel/wlan_xauth.ko
136 to add wpa security protocols
138 Once the wireless networking support is loaded, you can check if your wireless device supports the host-based access point mode (also know as hostap mode):
140 # ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0
141 # ifconfig wlan0 list caps
143 drivercaps=6f85edc1<STA,FF,TURBOP,IBSS,HOSTAP,AHDEMO,TXPMGT,SHSLOT,
144 SHPREAMBLE,MONITOR,MBSS,WPA1,WPA2,BURST,WME,WDS,BGSCAN,TXFRAG>
145 cryptocaps=1f<WEP,TKIP,AES,AES_CCM,TKIPMIC>
147 This output displays the card capabilities; the HOSTAP word confirms this wireless card can act as an Access Point. Various supported ciphers are also mentioned: WEP, TKIP, AES, etc., these informations are important to know what security protocols could be set on the Access Point.
149 The wireless device can only be put into hostap mode during the creation of the network pseudo-device, so a previously created device must be destroyed first:
151 # ifconfig wlan0 destroy
153 then regenerated with the correct option before setting the other parameters:
155 # ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode hostap
156 # ifconfig wlan0 inet 192.168.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 ssid dfbsdap mode 11g channel 1
158 Use again ifconfig to see the status of the wlan0 interface:
161 wlan0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
162 ether 00:11:95:c3:0d:ac
163 inet 192.168.0.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.0.255
164 media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect mode 11g <hostap>
166 ssid dfbsdap channel 1 (2412 MHz 11g) bssid 00:11:f5:64:16:62
167 regdomain 100 indoor ecm authmode OPEN privacy OFF txpower 19
168 scanvalid 60 protmode CTS wme burst dtimperiod 1 -dfs
170 The hostap parameter indicates the interface is running in the host-based access point mode.
172 Now you need to configure hostapd and become gateway:
174 # sysctl net.inet.ip.forwarding=1
177 set a NAT, dhclient deamon and the game is done.