wi —
Lucent
Hermes, and Intersil PRISM IEEE 802.11 driver
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):
This driver is scheduled for removal prior to the release of
FreeBSD 13.0
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:
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.
- 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.
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/.
The
wi device driver first appeared in
FreeBSD 3.0.
The original
wi driver was written by
Bill Paul
<
[email protected]>.
This man page comes from
OpenBSD.
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 |
Not all the new messages are documented here, and many of them are indications
of transient errors that are not indications of serious problems.