Based on kernel version 4.16.1. Page generated on 2018-04-09 11:53 EST.
1 2 Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Driver for Linux in support of: 3 4 Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection 5 Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Network Connection 6 7 Note: The Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Driver for Linux and Intel(R) 8 PRO/Wireless 2200BG Driver for Linux is a unified driver that works on 9 both hardware adapters listed above. In this document the Intel(R) 10 PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Driver for Linux will be used to reference the 11 unified driver. 12 13 Copyright (C) 2004-2006, Intel Corporation 14 15 README.ipw2200 16 17 Version: 1.1.2 18 Date : March 30, 2006 19 20 21 Index 22 ----------------------------------------------- 23 0. IMPORTANT INFORMATION BEFORE USING THIS DRIVER 24 1. Introduction 25 1.1. Overview of features 26 1.2. Module parameters 27 1.3. Wireless Extension Private Methods 28 1.4. Sysfs Helper Files 29 1.5. Supported channels 30 2. Ad-Hoc Networking 31 3. Interacting with Wireless Tools 32 3.1. iwconfig mode 33 3.2. iwconfig sens 34 4. About the Version Numbers 35 5. Firmware installation 36 6. Support 37 7. License 38 39 40 0. IMPORTANT INFORMATION BEFORE USING THIS DRIVER 41 ----------------------------------------------- 42 43 Important Notice FOR ALL USERS OR DISTRIBUTORS!!!! 44 45 Intel wireless LAN adapters are engineered, manufactured, tested, and 46 quality checked to ensure that they meet all necessary local and 47 governmental regulatory agency requirements for the regions that they 48 are designated and/or marked to ship into. Since wireless LANs are 49 generally unlicensed devices that share spectrum with radars, 50 satellites, and other licensed and unlicensed devices, it is sometimes 51 necessary to dynamically detect, avoid, and limit usage to avoid 52 interference with these devices. In many instances Intel is required to 53 provide test data to prove regional and local compliance to regional and 54 governmental regulations before certification or approval to use the 55 product is granted. Intel's wireless LAN's EEPROM, firmware, and 56 software driver are designed to carefully control parameters that affect 57 radio operation and to ensure electromagnetic compliance (EMC). These 58 parameters include, without limitation, RF power, spectrum usage, 59 channel scanning, and human exposure. 60 61 For these reasons Intel cannot permit any manipulation by third parties 62 of the software provided in binary format with the wireless WLAN 63 adapters (e.g., the EEPROM and firmware). Furthermore, if you use any 64 patches, utilities, or code with the Intel wireless LAN adapters that 65 have been manipulated by an unauthorized party (i.e., patches, 66 utilities, or code (including open source code modifications) which have 67 not been validated by Intel), (i) you will be solely responsible for 68 ensuring the regulatory compliance of the products, (ii) Intel will bear 69 no liability, under any theory of liability for any issues associated 70 with the modified products, including without limitation, claims under 71 the warranty and/or issues arising from regulatory non-compliance, and 72 (iii) Intel will not provide or be required to assist in providing 73 support to any third parties for such modified products. 74 75 Note: Many regulatory agencies consider Wireless LAN adapters to be 76 modules, and accordingly, condition system-level regulatory approval 77 upon receipt and review of test data documenting that the antennas and 78 system configuration do not cause the EMC and radio operation to be 79 non-compliant. 80 81 The drivers available for download from SourceForge are provided as a 82 part of a development project. Conformance to local regulatory 83 requirements is the responsibility of the individual developer. As 84 such, if you are interested in deploying or shipping a driver as part of 85 solution intended to be used for purposes other than development, please 86 obtain a tested driver from Intel Customer Support at: 87 88 http://support.intel.com 89 90 91 1. Introduction 92 ----------------------------------------------- 93 The following sections attempt to provide a brief introduction to using 94 the Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Driver for Linux. 95 96 This document is not meant to be a comprehensive manual on 97 understanding or using wireless technologies, but should be sufficient 98 to get you moving without wires on Linux. 99 100 For information on building and installing the driver, see the INSTALL 101 file. 102 103 104 1.1. Overview of Features 105 ----------------------------------------------- 106 The current release (1.1.2) supports the following features: 107 108 + BSS mode (Infrastructure, Managed) 109 + IBSS mode (Ad-Hoc) 110 + WEP (OPEN and SHARED KEY mode) 111 + 802.1x EAP via wpa_supplicant and xsupplicant 112 + Wireless Extension support 113 + Full B and G rate support (2200 and 2915) 114 + Full A rate support (2915 only) 115 + Transmit power control 116 + S state support (ACPI suspend/resume) 117 118 The following features are currently enabled, but not officially 119 supported: 120 121 + WPA 122 + long/short preamble support 123 + Monitor mode (aka RFMon) 124 125 The distinction between officially supported and enabled is a reflection 126 on the amount of validation and interoperability testing that has been 127 performed on a given feature. 128 129 130 131 1.2. Command Line Parameters 132 ----------------------------------------------- 133 134 Like many modules used in the Linux kernel, the Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 135 2915ABG Driver for Linux allows configuration options to be provided 136 as module parameters. The most common way to specify a module parameter 137 is via the command line. 138 139 The general form is: 140 141 % modprobe ipw2200 parameter=value 142 143 Where the supported parameter are: 144 145 associate 146 Set to 0 to disable the auto scan-and-associate functionality of the 147 driver. If disabled, the driver will not attempt to scan 148 for and associate to a network until it has been configured with 149 one or more properties for the target network, for example configuring 150 the network SSID. Default is 0 (do not auto-associate) 151 152 Example: % modprobe ipw2200 associate=0 153 154 auto_create 155 Set to 0 to disable the auto creation of an Ad-Hoc network 156 matching the channel and network name parameters provided. 157 Default is 1. 158 159 channel 160 channel number for association. The normal method for setting 161 the channel would be to use the standard wireless tools 162 (i.e. `iwconfig eth1 channel 10`), but it is useful sometimes 163 to set this while debugging. Channel 0 means 'ANY' 164 165 debug 166 If using a debug build, this is used to control the amount of debug 167 info is logged. See the 'dvals' and 'load' script for more info on 168 how to use this (the dvals and load scripts are provided as part 169 of the ipw2200 development snapshot releases available from the 170 SourceForge project at http://ipw2200.sf.net) 171 172 led 173 Can be used to turn on experimental LED code. 174 0 = Off, 1 = On. Default is 1. 175 176 mode 177 Can be used to set the default mode of the adapter. 178 0 = Managed, 1 = Ad-Hoc, 2 = Monitor 179 180 181 1.3. Wireless Extension Private Methods 182 ----------------------------------------------- 183 184 As an interface designed to handle generic hardware, there are certain 185 capabilities not exposed through the normal Wireless Tool interface. As 186 such, a provision is provided for a driver to declare custom, or 187 private, methods. The Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Driver for Linux 188 defines several of these to configure various settings. 189 190 The general form of using the private wireless methods is: 191 192 % iwpriv $IFNAME method parameters 193 194 Where $IFNAME is the interface name the device is registered with 195 (typically eth1, customized via one of the various network interface 196 name managers, such as ifrename) 197 198 The supported private methods are: 199 200 get_mode 201 Can be used to report out which IEEE mode the driver is 202 configured to support. Example: 203 204 % iwpriv eth1 get_mode 205 eth1 get_mode:802.11bg (6) 206 207 set_mode 208 Can be used to configure which IEEE mode the driver will 209 support. 210 211 Usage: 212 % iwpriv eth1 set_mode {mode} 213 Where {mode} is a number in the range 1-7: 214 1 802.11a (2915 only) 215 2 802.11b 216 3 802.11ab (2915 only) 217 4 802.11g 218 5 802.11ag (2915 only) 219 6 802.11bg 220 7 802.11abg (2915 only) 221 222 get_preamble 223 Can be used to report configuration of preamble length. 224 225 set_preamble 226 Can be used to set the configuration of preamble length: 227 228 Usage: 229 % iwpriv eth1 set_preamble {mode} 230 Where {mode} is one of: 231 1 Long preamble only 232 0 Auto (long or short based on connection) 233 234 235 1.4. Sysfs Helper Files: 236 ----------------------------------------------- 237 238 The Linux kernel provides a pseudo file system that can be used to 239 access various components of the operating system. The Intel(R) 240 PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Driver for Linux exposes several configuration 241 parameters through this mechanism. 242 243 An entry in the sysfs can support reading and/or writing. You can 244 typically query the contents of a sysfs entry through the use of cat, 245 and can set the contents via echo. For example: 246 247 % cat /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/debug_level 248 249 Will report the current debug level of the driver's logging subsystem 250 (only available if CONFIG_IPW2200_DEBUG was configured when the driver 251 was built). 252 253 You can set the debug level via: 254 255 % echo $VALUE > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/debug_level 256 257 Where $VALUE would be a number in the case of this sysfs entry. The 258 input to sysfs files does not have to be a number. For example, the 259 firmware loader used by hotplug utilizes sysfs entries for transferring 260 the firmware image from user space into the driver. 261 262 The Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Driver for Linux exposes sysfs entries 263 at two levels -- driver level, which apply to all instances of the driver 264 (in the event that there are more than one device installed) and device 265 level, which applies only to the single specific instance. 266 267 268 1.4.1 Driver Level Sysfs Helper Files 269 ----------------------------------------------- 270 271 For the driver level files, look in /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/ 272 273 debug_level 274 275 This controls the same global as the 'debug' module parameter 276 277 278 279 1.4.2 Device Level Sysfs Helper Files 280 ----------------------------------------------- 281 282 For the device level files, look in 283 284 /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/{PCI-ID}/ 285 286 For example: 287 /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/0000:02:01.0 288 289 For the device level files, see /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200: 290 291 rf_kill 292 read - 293 0 = RF kill not enabled (radio on) 294 1 = SW based RF kill active (radio off) 295 2 = HW based RF kill active (radio off) 296 3 = Both HW and SW RF kill active (radio off) 297 write - 298 0 = If SW based RF kill active, turn the radio back on 299 1 = If radio is on, activate SW based RF kill 300 301 NOTE: If you enable the SW based RF kill and then toggle the HW 302 based RF kill from ON -> OFF -> ON, the radio will NOT come back on 303 304 ucode 305 read-only access to the ucode version number 306 307 led 308 read - 309 0 = LED code disabled 310 1 = LED code enabled 311 write - 312 0 = Disable LED code 313 1 = Enable LED code 314 315 NOTE: The LED code has been reported to hang some systems when 316 running ifconfig and is therefore disabled by default. 317 318 319 1.5. Supported channels 320 ----------------------------------------------- 321 322 Upon loading the Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Driver for Linux, a 323 message stating the detected geography code and the number of 802.11 324 channels supported by the card will be displayed in the log. 325 326 The geography code corresponds to a regulatory domain as shown in the 327 table below. 328 329 Supported channels 330 Code Geography 802.11bg 802.11a 331 332 --- Restricted 11 0 333 ZZF Custom US/Canada 11 8 334 ZZD Rest of World 13 0 335 ZZA Custom USA & Europe & High 11 13 336 ZZB Custom NA & Europe 11 13 337 ZZC Custom Japan 11 4 338 ZZM Custom 11 0 339 ZZE Europe 13 19 340 ZZJ Custom Japan 14 4 341 ZZR Rest of World 14 0 342 ZZH High Band 13 4 343 ZZG Custom Europe 13 4 344 ZZK Europe 13 24 345 ZZL Europe 11 13 346 347 348 2. Ad-Hoc Networking 349 ----------------------------------------------- 350 351 When using a device in an Ad-Hoc network, it is useful to understand the 352 sequence and requirements for the driver to be able to create, join, or 353 merge networks. 354 355 The following attempts to provide enough information so that you can 356 have a consistent experience while using the driver as a member of an 357 Ad-Hoc network. 358 359 2.1. Joining an Ad-Hoc Network 360 ----------------------------------------------- 361 362 The easiest way to get onto an Ad-Hoc network is to join one that 363 already exists. 364 365 2.2. Creating an Ad-Hoc Network 366 ----------------------------------------------- 367 368 An Ad-Hoc networks is created using the syntax of the Wireless tool. 369 370 For Example: 371 iwconfig eth1 mode ad-hoc essid testing channel 2 372 373 2.3. Merging Ad-Hoc Networks 374 ----------------------------------------------- 375 376 377 3. Interaction with Wireless Tools 378 ----------------------------------------------- 379 380 3.1 iwconfig mode 381 ----------------------------------------------- 382 383 When configuring the mode of the adapter, all run-time configured parameters 384 are reset to the value used when the module was loaded. This includes 385 channels, rates, ESSID, etc. 386 387 3.2 iwconfig sens 388 ----------------------------------------------- 389 390 The 'iwconfig ethX sens XX' command will not set the signal sensitivity 391 threshold, as described in iwconfig documentation, but rather the number 392 of consecutive missed beacons that will trigger handover, i.e. roaming 393 to another access point. At the same time, it will set the disassociation 394 threshold to 3 times the given value. 395 396 397 4. About the Version Numbers 398 ----------------------------------------------- 399 400 Due to the nature of open source development projects, there are 401 frequently changes being incorporated that have not gone through 402 a complete validation process. These changes are incorporated into 403 development snapshot releases. 404 405 Releases are numbered with a three level scheme: 406 407 major.minor.development 408 409 Any version where the 'development' portion is 0 (for example 410 1.0.0, 1.1.0, etc.) indicates a stable version that will be made 411 available for kernel inclusion. 412 413 Any version where the 'development' portion is not a 0 (for 414 example 1.0.1, 1.1.5, etc.) indicates a development version that is 415 being made available for testing and cutting edge users. The stability 416 and functionality of the development releases are not know. We make 417 efforts to try and keep all snapshots reasonably stable, but due to the 418 frequency of their release, and the desire to get those releases 419 available as quickly as possible, unknown anomalies should be expected. 420 421 The major version number will be incremented when significant changes 422 are made to the driver. Currently, there are no major changes planned. 423 424 5. Firmware installation 425 ---------------------------------------------- 426 427 The driver requires a firmware image, download it and extract the 428 files under /lib/firmware (or wherever your hotplug's firmware.agent 429 will look for firmware files) 430 431 The firmware can be downloaded from the following URL: 432 433 http://ipw2200.sf.net/ 434 435 436 6. Support 437 ----------------------------------------------- 438 439 For direct support of the 1.0.0 version, you can contact 440 http://supportmail.intel.com, or you can use the open source project 441 support. 442 443 For general information and support, go to: 444 445 http://ipw2200.sf.net/ 446 447 448 7. License 449 ----------------------------------------------- 450 451 Copyright(c) 2003 - 2006 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. 452 453 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it 454 under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as 455 published by the Free Software Foundation. 456 457 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT 458 ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or 459 FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for 460 more details. 461 462 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with 463 this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 464 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. 465 466 The full GNU General Public License is included in this distribution in the 467 file called LICENSE. 468 469 Contact Information: 470 James P. Ketrenos <ipw2100-admin@linux.intel.com> 471 Intel Corporation, 5200 N.E. Elam Young Parkway, Hillsboro, OR 97124-6497