2 .\" Copyright (c) 2002-2009 Sam Leffler, Errno Consulting
3 .\" All rights reserved.
5 .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
6 .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
8 .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
9 .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer,
10 .\" without modification.
11 .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce at minimum a disclaimer
12 .\" similar to the "NO WARRANTY" disclaimer below ("Disclaimer") and any
13 .\" redistribution must be conditioned upon including a substantially
14 .\" similar Disclaimer requirement for further binary redistribution.
17 .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
18 .\" ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
19 .\" LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF NONINFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTIBILITY
20 .\" AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL
21 .\" THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY,
22 .\" OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF
23 .\" SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
24 .\" INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER
25 .\" IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE)
26 .\" ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF
27 .\" THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
29 .\" $FreeBSD: head/share/man/man4/ath.4 235317 2012-05-12 03:25:46Z gjb $
36 .Nd "Atheros IEEE 802.11 wireless network driver"
38 To compile this driver into the kernel,
39 place the following lines in your
40 kernel configuration file:
41 .Bd -ragged -offset indent
44 .Cd "options AH_SUPPORT_AR5416"
45 .Cd "device ath_rate_sample"
49 Alternatively, to load the driver as a
50 module at boot time, place the following line in
52 .Bd -literal -offset indent
58 driver provides support for wireless network adapters based on
59 the Atheros AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, and AR5416 programming APIs.
60 These APIs are used by a wide variety of chips; most all chips with
61 a PCI and/or CardBus interface are supported.
63 Supported features include 802.11 and 802.3 frames, power management, BSS,
64 IBSS, MBSS, TDMA, and host-based access point operation modes.
65 All host/device interaction is via DMA.
67 .\"Please note that from FreeBSD-9.0, the
69 .\"driver does not include the PCI/PCIe bus glue.
70 .\"The same driver supports multiple underlying bus types, including PCI/PCIe,
71 .\"but also embedded (AHB) and USB in the future.
73 .\"To enable use for PCI/PCIe systems, see the
76 .\"For embedded systems which use the AHB to connect the wireless MAC, see the
82 driver encapsulates all IP and ARP traffic as 802.11 frames, however
83 it can receive either 802.11 or 802.3 frames.
84 Transmit speed and operating mode is selectable
85 and depends on the specific chipset.
86 AR5210-based devices support 802.11a operation with transmit speeds
87 of 6 Mbps, 9 Mbps, 12 Mbps, 18 Mbps, 24 Mbps, 36 Mbps, 48 Mbps, and 54 Mbps.
88 AR5211-based devices support 802.11a and 802.11b operation with transmit
89 speeds as above for 802.11a operation and
90 1Mbps, 2Mbps, 5.5 Mbps and 11Mbps for 802.11b operation.
91 AR5212-based devices support 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g operation
92 with transmit speeds appropriate to each.
93 AR5416-class devices are capable of 802.11n operation
94 but are supported only in legacy modes (802.11a, 11b, 11g).
95 Most chips also support an Atheros Turbo Mode (TM) that operates in
96 the 5GHz frequency range with 2x the transmit speeds.
97 Some chips also support Turbo mode in the 2.4GHz range with 802.11g
98 though this support is not presently available due to regulatory requirements.
99 (Note that Turbo modes are, however,
100 only interoperable with other Atheros-based devices.)
101 AR5212-based devices also support half- (10MHz) and quarter-width (5MHz) channels.
102 The actual transmit speed used is dependent on signal quality and the
104 algorithm employed by the driver.
105 All chips support WEP encryption.
106 AR5212 and AR5416 parts have hardware support for the
107 AES-CCM, TKIP, and Michael cryptographic
108 operations required for WPA.
109 To enable encryption, use
125 virtual interfaces may be configured for simultaneous
126 use on cards that use a 5212 part.
127 When multiple interfaces are configured each may have a separate
128 mac address that is formed by setting the U/L bits in the mac
129 address assigned to the underlying device.
132 virtual interfaces may be configured together with
137 interfaces may be operated together with
139 interfaces to construct a wireless repeater device.
140 The driver also support
142 operation when compiled with
143 .Cd "options IEEE80211_SUPPORT_TDMA"
144 (which also enables the required 802.11 support).
145 For more information on configuring this device, see
148 Devices supported by the
150 driver come in either Cardbus or mini-PCI packages.
151 Wireless cards in Cardbus slots may be inserted and ejected on the fly.
155 driver supports all Atheros Cardbus and PCI cards,
156 except those that are based on the AR5005VL chipset.
158 Join a specific BSS network with WEP encryption:
159 .Bd -literal -offset indent
160 ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0
161 ifconfig wlan0 inet 192.168.0.20 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net \e
162 wepmode on wepkey 0x8736639624
165 Join/create an 802.11b IBSS network with network name
167 .Bd -literal -offset indent
168 ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode adhoc
169 ifconfig wlan0 inet 192.168.0.22 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net \e
173 Create an 802.11g host-based access point:
174 .Bd -literal -offset indent
175 ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode hostap
176 ifconfig wlan0 inet 192.168.0.10 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_ap \e
180 Create an 802.11a mesh station:
181 .Bd -literal -offset indent
182 ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode mesh
183 ifconfig wlan0 meshid my_mesh mode 11a inet 192.168.0.10/24
186 Create two virtual 802.11a host-based access points, one with
187 WEP enabled and one with no security, and bridge them to
188 the fxp0 (wired) device:
189 .Bd -literal -offset indent
190 ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode hostap \e
191 ssid paying-customers wepmode on wepkey 0x1234567890 \e
193 ifconfig wlan1 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode hostap bssid \e
195 ifconfig bridge0 create addm wlan0 addm wlan1 addm fxp0 up
198 Create a master node in a two slot TDMA BSS configured to use
199 2.5 millisecond slots.
200 .Bd -literal -offset indent
201 ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode tdma \e
202 ssid tdma-test tmdaslot 0 tdmaslotlen 2500 \e
207 .It "ath%d: unable to attach hardware; HAL status %u"
208 The Atheros Hardware Access Layer was unable to configure the hardware
210 The status code is explained in the HAL include file
211 .Pa sys/dev/netif/ath/ath_hal/ah.h .
212 .It "ath%d: failed to allocate descriptors: %d"
213 The driver was unable to allocate contiguous memory for the transmit
214 and receive descriptors.
215 This usually indicates system memory is scarce and/or fragmented.
216 .It "ath%d: unable to setup a data xmit queue!"
217 The request to the HAL to set up the transmit queue for normal
219 This should not happen.
220 .It "ath%d: unable to setup a beacon xmit queue!"
221 The request to the HAL to set up the transmit queue for 802.11 beacon frames
223 This should not happen.
224 .It "ath%d: 802.11 address: %s"
225 The MAC address programmed in the EEPROM is displayed.
226 .It "ath%d: hardware error; resetting"
227 An unrecoverable error in the hardware occurred.
228 Errors of this sort include unrecoverable DMA errors.
229 The driver will reset the hardware and continue.
230 .It "ath%d: rx FIFO overrun; resetting"
231 The receive FIFO in the hardware overflowed before the data could be
232 transferred to the host.
233 This typically occurs because the hardware ran short of receive
234 descriptors and had no place to transfer received data.
235 The driver will reset the hardware and continue.
236 .It "ath%d: unable to reset hardware; hal status %u"
237 The Atheros Hardware Access Layer was unable to reset the hardware
239 The status code is explained in the HAL include file
240 .Pa sys/dev/netif/ath/ath_hal/ah.h .
241 This should not happen.
242 .It "ath%d: unable to start recv logic"
243 The driver was unable to restart frame reception.
244 This should not happen.
245 .It "ath%d: device timeout"
246 A frame dispatched to the hardware for transmission did not complete in time.
247 The driver will reset the hardware and continue.
248 This should not happen.
249 .It "ath%d: bogus xmit rate 0x%x"
250 An invalid transmit rate was specified for an outgoing frame.
251 The frame is discarded.
252 This should not happen.
253 .It "ath%d: ath_chan_set: unable to reset channel %u (%u MHz)"
254 The Atheros Hardware Access Layer was unable to reset the hardware
255 when switching channels during scanning.
256 This should not happen.
257 .It "ath%d: failed to enable memory mapping"
258 The driver was unable to enable memory-mapped I/O to the PCI device registers.
259 This should not happen.
260 .It "ath%d: failed to enable bus mastering"
261 The driver was unable to enable the device as a PCI bus master for doing DMA.
262 This should not happen.
263 .It "ath%d: cannot map register space"
264 The driver was unable to map the device registers into the host address space.
265 This should not happen.
266 .It "ath%d: could not map interrupt"
267 The driver was unable to allocate an IRQ for the device interrupt.
268 This should not happen.
269 .It "ath%d: could not establish interrupt"
270 The driver was unable to install the device interrupt handler.
271 This should not happen.
290 device driver first appeared in
292 and was imported into
295 Revision A1 of the D-LINK DWL-G520 and DWL-G650 are based on an
296 Intersil PrismGT chip and are not supported by this driver.
298 There is no software retransmit; only hardware retransmit is used.
300 The driver does not fully enable power-save operation of the chip
301 in station mode; consequently power use is suboptimal (e.g. on a laptop).
303 WPA is not supported for 5210 parts.