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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 "device ath_rate_sample"
48 Alternatively, to load the driver as a
49 module at boot time, place the following line in
51 .Bd -literal -offset indent
57 driver provides support for wireless network adapters based on
58 the Atheros AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, AR5416 and AR9300 programming APIs.
59 These APIs are used by a wide variety of chips; most all chips with
60 a PCI, PCIe and/or CardBus interface are supported.
62 Supported features include 802.11 and 802.3 frames, power management, BSS,
63 IBSS, MBSS, WDS/DWDS TDMA, and host-based access point operation modes.
64 All host/device interaction is via DMA.
68 driver encapsulates all IP and ARP traffic as 802.11 frames, however
69 it can receive either 802.11 or 802.3 frames.
70 Transmit speed and operating mode is selectable
71 and depends on the specific chipset.
72 AR5210-based devices support 802.11a operation with transmit speeds
73 of 6 Mbps, 9 Mbps, 12 Mbps, 18 Mbps, 24 Mbps, 36 Mbps, 48 Mbps, and 54 Mbps.
74 AR5211-based devices support 802.11a and 802.11b operation with transmit
75 speeds as above for 802.11a operation and
76 1Mbps, 2Mbps, 5.5 Mbps and 11Mbps for 802.11b operation.
77 AR5212-based devices support 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g operation
78 with transmit speeds appropriate to each.
79 AR5416 and later class devices are capable of 802.11n operation.
80 Most chips also support an Atheros Turbo Mode (TM) that operates in
81 the 5GHz frequency range with 2x the transmit speeds.
82 Some chips also support Turbo mode in the 2.4GHz range with 802.11g
83 though this support is not presently available due to regulatory requirements.
84 (Note that Turbo modes are, however,
85 only interoperable with other Atheros-based devices.)
86 AR5212-based and AR5416-based devices also support half- (10MHz) and quarter-width (5MHz) channels.
87 The actual transmit speed used is dependent on signal quality and the
89 algorithm employed by the driver.
90 All chips support WEP encryption.
91 AR5212, AR5416 and later parts have hardware support for the
92 AES-CCM, TKIP, and Michael cryptographic
93 operations required for WPA.
94 To enable encryption, use
110 virtual interfaces may be configured for simultaneous
111 use on cards that use a 5212 or later part.
112 When multiple interfaces are configured each may have a separate
113 mac address that is formed by setting the U/L bits in the mac
114 address assigned to the underlying device.
117 virtual interfaces may be configured together with
122 interfaces may be operated together with
124 interfaces to construct a wireless repeater device.
125 The driver also support
127 operation when compiled with
128 .Cd "options IEEE80211_SUPPORT_TDMA"
129 (which also enables the required 802.11 support).
130 For more information on configuring this device, see
133 Devices supported by the
135 driver come in Cardbus, ExpressCard, Mini-PCI and Mini-PCIe packages.
136 Wireless cards in Cardbus and ExpressCard slots may be inserted and
141 driver supports all Atheros Cardbus, ExpressCard, PCI and PCIe cards,
142 except those that are based on the AR5005VL chipset.
144 Join a specific BSS network with WEP encryption:
145 .Bd -literal -offset indent
146 ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0
147 ifconfig wlan0 inet 192.168.0.20 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net \e
148 wepmode on wepkey 0x8736639624
151 Join/create an 802.11b IBSS network with network name
153 .Bd -literal -offset indent
154 ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode adhoc
155 ifconfig wlan0 inet 192.168.0.22 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net \e
159 Create an 802.11g host-based access point:
160 .Bd -literal -offset indent
161 ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode hostap
162 ifconfig wlan0 inet 192.168.0.10 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_ap \e
166 Create an 802.11a mesh station:
167 .Bd -literal -offset indent
168 ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode mesh
169 ifconfig wlan0 meshid my_mesh mode 11a inet 192.168.0.10/24
172 Create two virtual 802.11a host-based access points, one with
173 WEP enabled and one with no security, and bridge them to
174 the fxp0 (wired) device:
175 .Bd -literal -offset indent
176 ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode hostap \e
177 ssid paying-customers wepmode on wepkey 0x1234567890 \e
179 ifconfig wlan1 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode hostap bssid \e
181 ifconfig bridge0 create addm wlan0 addm wlan1 addm fxp0 up
184 Create a master node in a two slot TDMA BSS configured to use
185 2.5 millisecond slots.
186 .Bd -literal -offset indent
187 ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode tdma \e
188 ssid tdma-test tmdaslot 0 tdmaslotlen 2500 \e
193 .It "ath%d: unable to attach hardware; HAL status %u"
194 The Atheros Hardware Access Layer was unable to configure the hardware
196 The status code is explained in the HAL include file
197 .Pa sys/dev/ath/ath_hal/ah.h .
198 .It "ath%d: failed to allocate descriptors: %d"
199 The driver was unable to allocate contiguous memory for the transmit
200 and receive descriptors.
201 This usually indicates system memory is scarce and/or fragmented.
202 .It "ath%d: unable to setup a data xmit queue!"
203 The request to the HAL to set up the transmit queue for normal
205 This should not happen.
206 .It "ath%d: unable to setup a beacon xmit queue!"
207 The request to the HAL to set up the transmit queue for 802.11 beacon frames
209 This should not happen.
210 .It "ath%d: 802.11 address: %s"
211 The MAC address programmed in the EEPROM is displayed.
212 .It "ath%d: hardware error; resetting"
213 An unrecoverable error in the hardware occurred.
214 Errors of this sort include unrecoverable DMA errors.
215 The driver will reset the hardware and continue.
216 .It "ath%d: rx FIFO overrun; resetting"
217 The receive FIFO in the hardware overflowed before the data could be
218 transferred to the host.
219 This typically occurs because the hardware ran short of receive
220 descriptors and had no place to transfer received data.
221 The driver will reset the hardware and continue.
222 .It "ath%d: unable to reset hardware; hal status %u"
223 The Atheros Hardware Access Layer was unable to reset the hardware
225 The status code is explained in the HAL include file
226 .Pa sys/dev/ath/ath_hal/ah.h .
227 This should not happen.
228 .It "ath%d: unable to start recv logic"
229 The driver was unable to restart frame reception.
230 This should not happen.
231 .It "ath%d: device timeout"
232 A frame dispatched to the hardware for transmission did not complete in time.
233 The driver will reset the hardware and continue.
234 This should not happen.
235 .It "ath%d: bogus xmit rate 0x%x"
236 An invalid transmit rate was specified for an outgoing frame.
237 The frame is discarded.
238 This should not happen.
239 .It "ath%d: ath_chan_set: unable to reset channel %u (%u MHz)"
240 The Atheros Hardware Access Layer was unable to reset the hardware
241 when switching channels during scanning.
242 This should not happen.
243 .It "ath%d: failed to enable memory mapping"
244 The driver was unable to enable memory-mapped I/O to the PCI device registers.
245 This should not happen.
246 .It "ath%d: failed to enable bus mastering"
247 The driver was unable to enable the device as a PCI bus master for doing DMA.
248 This should not happen.
249 .It "ath%d: cannot map register space"
250 The driver was unable to map the device registers into the host address space.
251 This should not happen.
252 .It "ath%d: could not map interrupt"
253 The driver was unable to allocate an IRQ for the device interrupt.
254 This should not happen.
255 .It "ath%d: could not establish interrupt"
256 The driver was unable to install the device interrupt handler.
257 This should not happen.
275 device driver first appeared in
278 Revision A1 of the D-LINK DWL-G520 and DWL-G650 are based on an
279 Intersil PrismGT chip and are not supported by this driver.
281 The driver does supports optional station mode power-save operation.
283 The AR5210 can only do WEP in hardware; consequently hardware assisted WEP
284 is disabled in order to allow software implementations of TKIP and CCMP to
286 Hardware WEP can be re-enabled by modifying the driver.