1 .\" Copyright (c) 1997, 1998, 1999
2 .\" Bill Paul <wpaul@ctr.columbia.edu>. All rights reserved.
4 .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
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31 .\" $FreeBSD: src/share/man/man4/wi.4,v 1.9.4.12 2003/03/03 18:59:15 trhodes Exp $
32 .\" $DragonFly: src/share/man/man4/wi.4,v 1.12 2008/07/26 15:52:39 swildner Exp $
33 .\" $OpenBSD: wi.4tbl,v 1.14 2002/04/29 19:53:50 jsyn Exp $
40 .Nd "WaveLAN/IEEE, PRISM-II and Spectrum24 802.11DS wireless network driver"
47 driver provides support for wireless network adapters based around
48 the Lucent Hermes, Intersil PRISM-II, Intersil PRISM-2.5, and Symbol
50 All four chipsets provide a similar interface to the driver.
52 All host/device interaction is via programmed I/O.
53 Supported features include 802.11 and 802.3 frames, power management, BSS,
54 IBSS, WDS and old-style Lucent ad-hoc operation modes.
55 Cards based on the Intersil PRISM-II and PRISM-2.5 chips also support a
56 host-based access point mode which allows a card to act as a normal access
57 point (with some assistance from the
60 The Lucent Hermes and Symbol Spectrum24 chipsets do not contain this
62 PRISM-II and PRISM-2.5 chips do not support the WDS functionality.
66 driver encapsulates all IP and ARP traffic as 802.11 frames, however
67 it can receive either 802.11 or 802.3 frames.
68 Transmit speed is selectable between 1Mbps fixed, 2Mbps fixed, 2Mbps
69 with auto fallback, 5.5Mbps, 8Mbps, or 11Mbps depending on your hardware.
70 The Lucent WaveLAN/IEEE Silver and Gold cards as well as the Intersil
71 and Symbol cards have support for WEP encryption.
72 The WaveLAN Gold as well as newer Intersil and Symbol cards support
73 104bit keys, the others only accept 40bit keys.
74 The Lucent WaveLAN/IEEE Bronze cards do not support WEP at all.
75 To enable encryption, use
81 driver configures the card for BSS operation (aka infrastructure
83 This mode requires the use of an access point (base station).
87 driver also supports a point-to-point mode where the ssid is
88 ignored and stations can communicate amongst themselves without the
89 aid of an access point.
90 Note that there are two possible point-to-point modes.
91 One mode, referred to as
92 .Dq "ad-hoc demo mode" ,
94 .Dq "legacy Lucent ad-hoc mode" ,
95 predates the IEEE 802.11 specification and so may not interoperate
96 with cards from different vendors.
97 The standardized point-to-point mode, is called IBSS (or confusingly
98 just ad-hoc mode), but is not supported by cards with very old
100 If your cards supports IBSS mode, it is recommended that you use it in
102 .Dq "ad-hoc demo mode"
103 in new installations.
105 Cards based on the Intersil PRISM-II and PRISM-2.5 chips also
106 have a host-based access point mode which allows the card to
107 act as an access point (base station).
108 Access points are different than operating in IBSS mode.
109 They operate in BSS mode.
110 They allow for easier roaming and bridge all ethernet traffic such
111 that machines connected via an access point appear to be on the local
114 For more information on configuring this device, see
121 Cards supported by the
123 driver come in a variety of packages, though the most common
124 are of the PCMCIA type.
125 In many cases, the PCI version of a wireless card is simply
126 a PCMCIA card bundled with a PCI adapter.
127 The PCI adapters come in two flavors: true PCMCIA bridges and
129 A true PCMCIA bridge (such as those sold by Lucent) will attach
130 as a real PCMCIA controller.
131 The wireless card will then attach to the PCMCIA bus.
132 Wireless cards in PCMCIA slots may be inserted and ejected on the fly.
134 A dumb bridge, on the other hand, does not show up as a true PCMCIA bus.
135 The wireless card will simply appear to the host as a normal PCI
136 device and will not require any PCMCIA support.
137 Cards in this type of adapter should only be removed when the
138 machine is powered down.
140 The following cards are among those supported by the
144 .Bl -column -compact "Linksys Instant Wireless WPC11 2.5" "Spectrum24" "PCI or PCMCIA"
146 3Com AirConnect 3CRWE737A Spectrum24 PCMCIA
147 3Com AirConnect 3CRWE777A Prism-II PCI
148 ACTIONTEC HWC01170 Prism-2.5 PCMCIA
149 Addtron AWP-100 Prism-II PCMCIA
150 Adtec Adlink/340C Prism-II PCMCIA
151 Agere Orinoco Hermes PCMCIA
152 Avaya Wireless Prism-II PCMCIA
153 Blue Concentric Circle WL-379F PRISM-II CF
154 BreezeNet Wireless Prism-II PCMCIA
155 Buffalo WLI-PCM-S11 Prism-II PCMCIA
156 Buffalo WLI-PCM-L11G Hermes PCMCIA
157 Buffalo WLI-CF-S11G Prism-II CF
158 Cabletron RoamAbout Hermes PCMCIA
159 Compaq Agency NC5004 Prism-II PCMCIA
160 Compaq WL100 Prism-II PCMCIA
161 Compaq WL110 Prism-II PCMCIA
162 Compaq WL200 Prism-II PCMCIA
163 Contec FLEXLAN/FX-DS110-PCC Prism-II PCMCIA
164 Corega PCC-11 Prism-II PCMCIA
165 Corega PCCA-11 Prism-II PCMCIA
166 Corega PCCB-11 Prism-II PCMCIA
167 Corega CGWLPCIA11 Prism-II PCI
168 Dell TrueMobile 1150 Hermes PCMCIA
169 Dlink DWL520 Prism-2.5 PCI
170 Dlink DWL650 Prism-2.5 PCMCIA
171 ELSA XI300 Prism-II PCMCIA
172 ELSA XI800 Prism-II CF
173 EMTAC A2424i Prism-II PCMCIA
174 Ericsson Wireless LAN CARD C11 Spectrum24 PCMCIA
175 Farallon Skyline Prism-II PCMCIA
176 Gemtek WL-311 Prism-2.5 PCMCIA
177 Hawking Technology WE110P Prism-2.5 PCMCIA
178 Home Wireless Networks Prism-II PCMCIA
179 IBM High Rate Wireless Hermes PCMCIA
180 ICOM SL-1100 Prism-II PCMCIA
181 I-O DATA WN-B11/PCM Prism-II PCMCIA
182 Intel PRO/Wireless 2011 Spectrum24 PCMCIA
183 Intersil Prism II Prism-II PCMCIA
184 Intersil Mini-PCI Prism-2.5 PCI
185 Linksys Instant Wireless WPC11 Prism-II PCMCIA
186 Linksys Instant Wireless WPC11 2.5 Prism-2.5 PCMCIA
187 Linksys Instant Wireless WPC11 3.0 Prism-3 PCMCIA
188 Lucent WaveLAN Hermes PCMCIA
189 Melco Airconnect Prism-II PCMCIA
190 NANOSPEED ROOT-RZ2000 Prism-II PCMCIA
191 NDC/Sohoware NCP130 Prism-II PCI
192 NEC CMZ-RT-WP Prism-II PCMCIA
193 NEC PK-WL001 Prism-II PCMCIA
194 NEC PC-WL/11C PRISM-II PCMCIA
195 Netgear MA401 Prism-II PCMCIA
196 NTT-ME 11Mbps Wireless LAN Prism-II PCMCIA
197 Planex GeoWave/GW-NS110 Prism-II PCMCIA
198 Planex GW-NS11H Prism-II PCMCIA
199 Proxim Harmony Prism-II PCMCIA
200 Proxim RangeLAN-DS Prism-II PCMCIA
201 Samsung MagicLAN SWL-2000N Prism-II PCMCIA
202 SMC 2602 EZ Connect (3.3V) Prism-II PCI or PCMCIA
203 SMC 2632 EZ Connect Prism-II PCMCIA
204 Socket Low Power WLAN-CF Prism-II CF
205 Sony PCWA-C100 Lucent PCMCIA
206 Symbol Spectrum24 Spectrum24 PCMCIA
207 Symbol LA-4100 Spectrum24 CF
208 TDK LAK-CD011WL Prism-II PCMCIA
209 Toshiba Wireless LAN Card Prism-II PCMCIA
210 U.S. Robotics Wireless Card 2410 Prism-II PCMCIA
213 Several vendors sell PCI adapters built around the PLX Technology 9050
215 The following such adapters are supported or expected to work:
218 .It 3Com AirConnect 3CRWE777A (3.3V)
219 .It Belkin F5D6000 (a rebadged WL11000P)
220 .It Eumitcom WL11000P
221 .It Global Sun Technology GL24110P (untested)
222 .It Global Sun Technology GL24110P02
223 .It LinkSys WDT11 (a rebadged GL24110P02)
225 .It US Robotics 2415 (rebadged WL11000P)
228 Join an existing BSS network (ie: connect to an access point):
230 .Dl "ifconfig wi0 inet 192.168.0.20 netmask 0xffffff00"
232 Join a specific BSS network with network name
235 .Dl "ifconfig wi0 inet 192.168.0.20 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net"
237 Join a specific BSS network with WEP encryption:
238 .Bd -literal -offset indent
239 ifconfig wi0 inet 192.168.0.20 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net \e
240 wepmode on wepkey 0x8736639624
243 Join a Lucent legacy demo ad-hoc network with network name
245 .Bd -literal -offset indent
246 ifconfig wi0 inet 192.168.0.20 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net \e
250 Create an IBSS network with network name
252 .Bd -literal -offset indent
253 ifconfig wi0 inet 192.168.0.20 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net \e
258 The infrastructure for
259 .Cm mediaopt ibss-master
260 has not been committed yet.
262 Join an IBSS network with network name
264 .Bd -literal -offset indent
265 ifconfig wi0 inet 192.168.0.22 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net \e
270 The infrastructure for
272 has not been committed yet.
274 Create a host-based access point (Prism only):
275 .Bd -literal -offset indent
276 ifconfig wi0 inet 192.168.0.10 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_ap \e
280 Create a host-based access point with WEP enabled (Prism only):
281 .Bd -literal -offset indent
282 ifconfig wi0 inet 192.168.0.10 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_ap \e
283 wepmode on wepkey 0x1234567890 mediaopt hostap
286 Create a host-based wireless bridge to fxp0 (Prism only):
287 .Bd -literal -offset indent
288 Add BRIDGE to the kernel config.
289 ifconfig wi0 inet up ssid my_ap mediaopt hostap
290 sysctl net.link.ether.bridge=1
291 sysctl net.link.ether.bridge_cfg="wi0 fxp0"
292 sysctl net.inet.ip.forwarding=1
295 This will give you approximately the same functionality as an access
299 .It "wi%d: init failed"
300 The WaveLAN card failed to come ready after an initialization command
302 .It "wi%d: failed to allocate %d bytes on NIC"
303 The driver was unable to allocate memory for transmit frames in the
305 .It "wi%d: device timeout"
306 The WaveLAN failed to generate an interrupt to acknowledge a transmit
319 .%T HCF Light programming specification
320 .%O http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.wavelan.com
325 device driver first appeared in
330 driver was written by
331 .An Bill Paul Aq wpaul@ctr.columbia.edu .
332 This man page comes from
335 Different regulatory domains have different default channels for adhoc
339 for information on how to change the channel.
341 The Intersil Prism family of chips' host-based access point mode has
342 bugs for station firmware versions prior to 0.8.3.
343 The driver currently precludes hostap functionality older station
345 The best version of the station firmware for the Prism family of chips
347 Some users of Prism-II and 2.5 based cards report that station firmware
348 version 1.3.4 works better for them in hostap than 1.4.9.
349 Older versions of the Prism station firmware have a number of issues
351 The IBSS/adhoc mode appears to work well on station firmware 1.3.1 and
353 The IBSS/adhoc mode appears to have problems for some people with
354 older versions of station firmware.
356 Lucent cards prior to firmware version 6.0.4 do not support IBSS
358 These cards support only the pre 802.11 mode known as
359 .Dq "demo ad-hoc mode"
360 which does not interoperate with stations in IBSS mode.
362 Not all the new messages are documented here, and many of them are
363 indications of transient errors that are not indications of serious
366 WL200 PCI wireless cards are based on a Cirrus Logic CL-PD6729 bridge
367 chips glued to an intersil prism-II pcmcia chipset w/o the PC Card
368 form factor being present.
369 These chips are special and require special care to use properly.
371 .Va hw.pcic.pd6729_intr_path Ns = Ns Qq Li 2
373 .Pa /boot/loader.conf .
374 This tells the pccard system to use PCI interrupts for this odd beast.
375 It is not possible to know automatically which kind of interrupts to use.
376 OLDCARD devices (pcic and card) support this device.