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34 .Nd "Atheros IEEE 802.11 wireless network driver"
36 To compile this driver into the kernel,
37 place the following lines in your
38 kernel configuration file:
39 .Bd -ragged -offset indent
42 .Cd "device ath_rate_sample"
46 Alternatively, to load the driver as a
47 module at boot time, place the following line in
49 .Bd -literal -offset indent
55 driver provides support for wireless network adapters based on
56 the Atheros AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, AR5416 and AR9300 programming APIs.
57 These APIs are used by a wide variety of chips; most all chips with
58 a PCI, PCIe and/or CardBus interface are supported.
60 Supported features include 802.11 and 802.3 frames, power management, BSS,
61 IBSS, MBSS, WDS/DWDS TDMA, and host-based access point operation modes.
62 All host/device interaction is via DMA.
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 and operating mode is selectable
69 and depends on the specific chipset.
70 AR5210-based devices support 802.11a operation with transmit speeds
71 of 6 Mbps, 9 Mbps, 12 Mbps, 18 Mbps, 24 Mbps, 36 Mbps, 48 Mbps, and 54 Mbps.
72 AR5211-based devices support 802.11a and 802.11b operation with transmit
73 speeds as above for 802.11a operation and
74 1Mbps, 2Mbps, 5.5 Mbps and 11Mbps for 802.11b operation.
75 AR5212-based devices support 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g operation
76 with transmit speeds appropriate to each.
77 AR5416 and later class devices are capable of 802.11n operation.
78 Most chips also support an Atheros Turbo Mode (TM) that operates in
79 the 5GHz frequency range with 2x the transmit speeds.
80 Some chips also support Turbo mode in the 2.4GHz range with 802.11g
81 though this support is not presently available due to regulatory requirements.
82 (Note that Turbo modes are, however,
83 only interoperable with other Atheros-based devices.)
84 AR5212-based and AR5416-based devices also support half- (10MHz) and quarter-width (5MHz) channels.
85 The actual transmit speed used is dependent on signal quality and the
87 algorithm employed by the driver.
88 All chips support WEP encryption.
89 AR5212, AR5416 and later parts have hardware support for the
90 AES-CCM, TKIP, and Michael cryptographic
91 operations required for WPA.
92 To enable encryption, use
108 virtual interfaces may be configured for simultaneous
109 use on cards that use a 5212 or later part.
110 When multiple interfaces are configured each may have a separate
111 mac address that is formed by setting the U/L bits in the mac
112 address assigned to the underlying device.
115 virtual interfaces may be configured together with
120 interfaces may be operated together with
122 interfaces to construct a wireless repeater device.
123 The driver also support
125 operation when compiled with
126 .Cd "options IEEE80211_SUPPORT_TDMA"
127 (which also enables the required 802.11 support).
128 For more information on configuring this device, see
131 Devices supported by the
133 driver come in Cardbus, ExpressCard, Mini-PCI and Mini-PCIe packages.
134 Wireless cards in Cardbus and ExpressCard slots may be inserted and
139 driver supports all Atheros Cardbus, ExpressCard, PCI and PCIe cards,
140 except those that are based on the AR5005VL chipset.
142 Join a specific BSS network with WEP encryption:
143 .Bd -literal -offset indent
144 ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0
145 ifconfig wlan0 inet 192.168.0.20 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net \e
146 wepmode on wepkey 0x8736639624
149 Join/create an 802.11b IBSS network with network name
151 .Bd -literal -offset indent
152 ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode adhoc
153 ifconfig wlan0 inet 192.168.0.22 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net \e
157 Create an 802.11g host-based access point:
158 .Bd -literal -offset indent
159 ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode hostap
160 ifconfig wlan0 inet 192.168.0.10 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_ap \e
164 Create an 802.11a mesh station:
165 .Bd -literal -offset indent
166 ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode mesh
167 ifconfig wlan0 meshid my_mesh mode 11a inet 192.168.0.10/24
170 Create two virtual 802.11a host-based access points, one with
171 WEP enabled and one with no security, and bridge them to
172 the fxp0 (wired) device:
173 .Bd -literal -offset indent
174 ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode hostap \e
175 ssid paying-customers wepmode on wepkey 0x1234567890 \e
177 ifconfig wlan1 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode hostap bssid \e
179 ifconfig bridge0 create addm wlan0 addm wlan1 addm fxp0 up
182 Create a master node in a two slot TDMA BSS configured to use
183 2.5 millisecond slots.
184 .Bd -literal -offset indent
185 ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode tdma \e
186 ssid tdma-test tmdaslot 0 tdmaslotlen 2500 \e
191 .It "ath%d: unable to attach hardware; HAL status %u"
192 The Atheros Hardware Access Layer was unable to configure the hardware
194 The status code is explained in the HAL include file
195 .Pa sys/dev/ath/ath_hal/ah.h .
196 .It "ath%d: failed to allocate descriptors: %d"
197 The driver was unable to allocate contiguous memory for the transmit
198 and receive descriptors.
199 This usually indicates system memory is scarce and/or fragmented.
200 .It "ath%d: unable to setup a data xmit queue!"
201 The request to the HAL to set up the transmit queue for normal
203 This should not happen.
204 .It "ath%d: unable to setup a beacon xmit queue!"
205 The request to the HAL to set up the transmit queue for 802.11 beacon frames
207 This should not happen.
208 .It "ath%d: 802.11 address: %s"
209 The MAC address programmed in the EEPROM is displayed.
210 .It "ath%d: hardware error; resetting"
211 An unrecoverable error in the hardware occurred.
212 Errors of this sort include unrecoverable DMA errors.
213 The driver will reset the hardware and continue.
214 .It "ath%d: rx FIFO overrun; resetting"
215 The receive FIFO in the hardware overflowed before the data could be
216 transferred to the host.
217 This typically occurs because the hardware ran short of receive
218 descriptors and had no place to transfer received data.
219 The driver will reset the hardware and continue.
220 .It "ath%d: unable to reset hardware; hal status %u"
221 The Atheros Hardware Access Layer was unable to reset the hardware
223 The status code is explained in the HAL include file
224 .Pa sys/dev/ath/ath_hal/ah.h .
225 This should not happen.
226 .It "ath%d: unable to start recv logic"
227 The driver was unable to restart frame reception.
228 This should not happen.
229 .It "ath%d: device timeout"
230 A frame dispatched to the hardware for transmission did not complete in time.
231 The driver will reset the hardware and continue.
232 This should not happen.
233 .It "ath%d: bogus xmit rate 0x%x"
234 An invalid transmit rate was specified for an outgoing frame.
235 The frame is discarded.
236 This should not happen.
237 .It "ath%d: ath_chan_set: unable to reset channel %u (%u MHz)"
238 The Atheros Hardware Access Layer was unable to reset the hardware
239 when switching channels during scanning.
240 This should not happen.
241 .It "ath%d: failed to enable memory mapping"
242 The driver was unable to enable memory-mapped I/O to the PCI device registers.
243 This should not happen.
244 .It "ath%d: failed to enable bus mastering"
245 The driver was unable to enable the device as a PCI bus master for doing DMA.
246 This should not happen.
247 .It "ath%d: cannot map register space"
248 The driver was unable to map the device registers into the host address space.
249 This should not happen.
250 .It "ath%d: could not map interrupt"
251 The driver was unable to allocate an IRQ for the device interrupt.
252 This should not happen.
253 .It "ath%d: could not establish interrupt"
254 The driver was unable to install the device interrupt handler.
255 This should not happen.
273 device driver first appeared in
276 Revision A1 of the D-LINK DWL-G520 and DWL-G650 are based on an
277 Intersil PrismGT chip and are not supported by this driver.
279 The driver does supports optional station mode power-save operation.
281 The AR5210 can only do WEP in hardware; consequently hardware assisted WEP
282 is disabled in order to allow software implementations of TKIP and CCMP to
284 Hardware WEP can be re-enabled by modifying the driver.