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WI(4)			    Kernel Interfaces Manual			 WI(4)

NAME
       wi -- Lucent Hermes, Intersil PRISM and Spectrum24 IEEE 802.11 driver

SYNOPSIS
       device wi
       device wlan

DESCRIPTION
       The  wi	driver	provides  support  for wireless	network	adapters based
       around the Lucent Hermes, Intersil PRISM-II, Intersil PRISM-2.5,	Inter-
       sil Prism-3, and	Symbol Spectrum24 chipsets.  All five chipsets provide
       a similar interface to the driver.

       Supported features include 802.11 and 802.3 frames,  power  management,
       BSS,  IBSS,  WDS	 and  old-style	 Lucent	ad-hoc operation modes.	 Cards
       based on	the Intersil PRISM chips  also	support	 a  host-based	access
       point  mode  which  allows a card to act	as a normal access point (with
       some assistance from the	wi driver).   The  Lucent  Hermes  and	Symbol
       Spectrum24  chipsets do not contain this	functionality.	The PRISM fam-
       ily of chips do not support the WDS functionality.  All host/device in-
       teraction is via	programmed I/O,	even on	those cards that support a DMA
       interface.

       The wi driver encapsulates all IP and ARP  traffic  as  802.11  frames,
       however	it  can	receive	either 802.11 or 802.3 frames.	Transmit speed
       is selectable between 1Mbps, 2Mbps, 5.5 Mbps and	 11Mbps	 depending  on
       your  hardware.	Most hardware supports 11Mbps where the	signal quality
       allows, but falls back to slower	speeds when it does not.   Except  for
       the  Lucent  WaveLAN Bronze cards, all cards supported by the wi	driver
       support WEP for encryption.  To enable encryption, use  ifconfig(8)  as
       shown below.

       By  default,  the  wi driver configures the card	for BSS	operation (aka
       infrastructure mode).  This mode	requires the use of  an	 access	 point
       (base station).

       The  wi	driver	also supports a	point-to-point mode where stations can
       communicate amongst themselves without the  aid	of  an	access	point.
       Note  that  there are two possible point-to-point modes.	 One mode, re-
       ferred to as "ad-hoc demo mode",	or "legacy Lucent ad-hoc  mode",  pre-
       dates  the  IEEE	 802.11	specification and so may not interoperate with
       cards from different vendors.  The standardized point-to-point mode  is
       called  IBSS (or	confusingly just ad-hoc	mode), but is not supported by
       cards with very old firmware revisions.	If your	 cards	supports  IBSS
       mode,  it  is  recommended that you use it in preference	to the "ad-hoc
       demo mode" in new installations.

       Cards supported by the driver based on the  Intersil  PRISM  family  of
       chips also have a host-based access point mode which allows the card to
       act  as	an  access  point (base	station).  Access points are different
       than operating in IBSS mode.  They operate in BSS mode.	They allow for
       easier roaming and bridge all Ethernet traffic such that	machines  con-
       nected via an access point appear to be on the local Ethernet segment.

       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 PCM-
       CIA  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 3CRWE737A	     Spectrum24	   PCMCIA
       3Com AirConnect 3CRWE777A	     Prism-II	   PCI
       Accton airDirect	WN3301				   PCMCIA
       ACTIONTEC HWC01170		     Prism-2.5	   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 XI800			     Prism-II	   CF
       EMTAC A2424i			     Prism-II	   PCMCIA
       Ericsson	Wireless LAN CARD C11	     Spectrum24	   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
       Intel PRO/Wireless 2011		     Spectrum24	   PCMCIA
       Intersil	Prism II		     Prism-II	   PCMCIA
       Intersil	Mini-PCI		     Prism-2.5	   PCI
       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
       Siemens SpeedStream SS1021	     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
       Symbol Spectrum24		     Spectrum24	   PCMCIA
       Symbol LA-4100			     Spectrum24	   CF
       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 wi0 inet 192.168.0.20 netmask 0xffffff00

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

	     ifconfig wi0 inet 192.168.0.20 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net

       Join a specific BSS network with	WEP encryption:

	     ifconfig wi0 inet 192.168.0.20 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net \
		     wepmode on	wepkey 0x8736639624

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

	     ifconfig wi0 inet 192.168.0.20 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net \
		     media DS/11Mbps mediaopt adhoc,link0

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

	     ifconfig wi0 inet 192.168.0.22 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net \
		     media DS/11Mbps mediaopt adhoc

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

	     ifconfig wi0 inet 192.168.0.10 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_ap \
		     media DS/11Mbps mediaopt hostap

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

	     ifconfig wi0 inet 192.168.0.10 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_ap \
		     wepmode on	wepkey 0x1234567890 media DS/11Mbps \
		     mediaopt hostap

       Create a	host-based wireless bridge to fxp0 (Prism only):

	     Add BRIDGE	to the kernel config.
	     ifconfig wi0 inet up ssid my_ap media DS/11Mbps mediaopt hostap
	     sysctl net.link.ether.bridge.enable=1
	     sysctl net.link.ether.bridge.config="wi0 fxp0"
	     sysctl net.inet.ip.check_interface=0

       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  al-
       locate  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
       an(4),  arp(4),	ath(4),	 card(4),  netintro(4),	 pccard(4),  pccbb(4),
       pcic(4),	wlan(4), ifconfig(8), wicontrol(8)

       HCF Light programming specification, http://www.wavelan.com.

HISTORY
       The wi device driver first appeared in FreeBSD 3.0.

AUTHORS
       The wi driver was written by Bill Paul <wpaul@ctr.columbia.edu>.	  This
       man page	comes from OpenBSD.

CAVEATS
       Different  regulatory domains have different default channels for adhoc
       mode.  See ifconfig(8) for information on how to	 change	 the  channel.
       See wicontrol(8)	for information	on different regulatory	domains.

       The  Intersil  Prism  family of chips' host-based access	point mode has
       bugs for	station	firmware versions prior	to  0.8.3.   The  driver  cur-
       rently precludes	hostap functionality with older	station	firmware.  The
       best  version  of  the  station	firmware for the Prism family of chips
       seems to	be 1.4.9.  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 support IBSS	 mode.
       These  cards  support  only  the	 pre-802.11 mode known as "demo	ad-hoc
       mode" which does	not interoperate with stations in IBSS mode.

       Prism cards prior to version 0.8.0 do not support IBSS mode.

       Symbol cards prior to version 2.50.00 do	not support IBSS mode.

BUGS
       Not all the new messages	are documented here, and many of them are  in-
       dications of transient errors that are not indications of serious prob-
       lems.

       WL200  PCI  wireless cards are based on a Cirrus	Logic CL-PD6729	bridge
       chips glued to an Intersil Prism-II PCMCIA chipset w/o the PC Card form
       factor being present.  These chips are special and require special care
       to  use	properly.   One	 must  set   hw.pcic.pd6729_intr_path="2"   in
       /boot/loader.conf.  This	tells the PC Card system to use	PCI interrupts
       for  this  odd  beast.	It is not possible to know automatically which
       kind of interrupts to use.  OLDCARD devices (pcic(4) and	card(4))  sup-
       port this device.  NEWCARD devices (pccbb(4) and	pccard(4)) do not sup-
       port it at this time.

GNU			       February	17, 2003			 WI(4)

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | EXAMPLES | DIAGNOSTICS | SEE ALSO | HISTORY | AUTHORS | CAVEATS | BUGS

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