WPI(4) OpenBSD Programmer's Manual WPI(4)NAMEwpi - Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless network device
SYNOPSIS
wpi* at pci?
DESCRIPTION
The wpi driver provides support for Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Mini PCI
Express network adapters.
These are the modes the wpi driver can operate in:
BSS mode Also known as infrastructure mode, this is used when
associating with an access point, through which all
traffic passes. This mode is the default.
monitor mode In this mode the driver is able to receive packets without
associating with an access point. This disables the
internal receive filter and enables the card to capture
packets from networks which it wouldn't normally have
access to, or to scan for access points.
The wpi driver can be configured to use Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) or
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK). WPA is the de facto
encryption standard for wireless networks. It is strongly recommended
that WEP not be used as the sole mechanism to secure wireless
communication, due to serious weaknesses in it. The wpi driver offloads
both encryption and decryption of unicast data frames to the hardware for
the CCMP cipher.
The wpi driver can be configured at runtime with ifconfig(8) or on boot
with hostname.if(5).
FILES
The driver needs at least version 3.1 of the following firmware file,
which is loaded when an interface is brought up:
/etc/firmware/wpi-3945abg
This firmware file is not free because Intel refuses to grant
distribution rights without contractual obligations. As a result, even
though OpenBSD includes the driver, the firmware file cannot be included
and users have to download this file on their own.
A prepackaged version of the firmware, designed to be used with
pkg_add(1), can be found at:
http://damien.bergamini.free.fr/packages/openbsd/wpi-firmware-3.2.tgz
EXAMPLES
The following hostname.if(5) example configures wpi0 to join whatever
network is available on boot, using WEP key ``0x1deadbeef1'', channel 11,
obtaining an IP address using DHCP:
dhcp NONE NONE NONE nwkey 0x1deadbeef1 chan 11
Configure wpi0 to join network ``my_net'' using WPA with passphrase
``my_passphrase'':
# ifconfig wpi0 nwid my_net wpakey my_passphrase
Join an existing BSS network, ``my_net'':
# ifconfig wpi0 192.168.1.1 netmask 0xffffff00 nwid my_net
DIAGNOSTICS
wpi%d: device timeout A frame dispatched to the hardware for
transmission did not complete in time. The driver will reset the
hardware. This should not happen.
wpi%d: fatal firmware error For some reason, the firmware crashed. The
driver will reset the hardware. This should not happen.
wpi%d: Radio transmitter is off The radio transmitter is off and thus no
packet can go out. The driver will reset the hardware. Make sure the
laptop radio switch is on.
wpi%d: error %d, could not read firmware %s For some reason, the driver
was unable to read the firmware image from the filesystem. The file
might be missing or corrupted.
wpi%d: firmware file too short: %d bytes The firmware image is corrupted
and can't be loaded into the adapter.
wpi%d: could not load firmware An attempt to load the firmware into the
adapter failed. The driver will reset the hardware.
SEE ALSOpkg_add(1), arp(4), ifmedia(4), intro(4), netintro(4), pci(4),
hostname.if(5), ifconfig(8)AUTHORS
The wpi driver was written by Damien Bergamini <damien@openbsd.org>.
OpenBSD 4.9 November 1, 2010 OpenBSD 4.9
