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NAME
wi — Lucent Hermes, and Intersil PRISM IEEE 802.11 driver
SYNOPSIS
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):
if_wi_load="YES"
DEPRECATION NOTICE
This driver is scheduled for removal prior to the release of FreeBSD 13.0
DESCRIPTION
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:
DLink DWL520
EXAMPLES
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.
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 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.
SEE ALSO
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/.
HISTORY
The wi device driver first appeared in FreeBSD 3.0.
AUTHORS
The original wi driver was written by Bill Paul <wpaul@ctr.columbia.edu>. This man page comes from
OpenBSD.
CAVEATS
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
BUGS
Not all the new messages are documented here, and many of them are indications of transient errors that
are not indications of serious problems.
Debian July 23, 2011 WI(4)