xref: /openbsd/share/man/man4/iwn.4 (revision fc61954a)
1.\" $OpenBSD: iwn.4,v 1.51 2016/01/15 18:50:13 tj Exp $
2.\"
3.\" Copyright (c) 2007,2008
4.\"	Damien Bergamini <damien.bergamini@free.fr>. All rights reserved.
5.\"
6.\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
7.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
8.\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
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10.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
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15.\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
16.\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
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18.Dd $Mdocdate: January 15 2016 $
19.Dt IWN 4
20.Os
21.Sh NAME
22.Nm iwn
23.Nd Intel WiFi Link and Centrino IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n wireless network devices
24.Sh SYNOPSIS
25.Cd "iwn* at pci?"
26.Sh DESCRIPTION
27The
28.Nm
29driver provides support for
30.Tn Intel
31Wireless WiFi Link 4965/5000/1000 and Centrino Wireless-N 1000/2000/6000
32Series PCIe Mini Card network adapters.
33.Pp
34The Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN (codenamed Kedron) is a PCIe
35Mini Card network adapter that operates in the 2GHz and 5GHz spectra.
36It has 2 transmit paths and 3 receiver paths (2T3R).
37It is part of the fourth-generation Centrino platform (codenamed Santa Rosa).
38.Pp
39The Intel WiFi Link 5000 series is a family of wireless network adapters
40that operate in the 2GHz and 5GHz spectra.
41They are part of the fifth-generation Centrino platform (codenamed Montevina).
42These adapters are available in both PCIe Mini Card (model code ending by MMW)
43and PCIe Half Mini Card (model code ending by HMW) form factor.
44The
45.Nm
46driver provides support for the 5100 (codenamed Shirley Peak 1x2),
475150 (codenamed Echo Peak-V), 5300 (codenamed Shirley Peak 3x3) and
485350 (codenamed Echo Peak-P) adapters.
49The 5100 and 5150 adapters have 1 transmit path and 2 receiver paths (1T2R).
50The 5300 and 5350 adapters have 3 transmit paths and 3 receiver paths (3T3R).
51.Pp
52The Intel WiFi Link 1000 (codenamed Condor Peak) is a single-chip wireless
53network adapter that operates in the 2GHz spectrum.
54It is part of the sixth-generation Centrino platform (codenamed Calpella).
55It is available in both PCIe Mini Card (model code ending by MMW)
56and PCIe Half Mini Card (model code ending by HMW) form factor.
57It has 1 transmit path and 2 receiver paths (1T2R).
58.Pp
59The Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 (codenamed Puma Peak 3x3) is a single-chip
60wireless network adapter that operates in the 2GHz and 5GHz spectra.
61It has 3 transmit paths and 3 receiver paths (3T3R).
62The Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6250 (codenamed Kilmer Peak) is a combo
63WiFi/WiMAX network adapter that operates in the 2GHz and 5GHz spectra.
64It has 2 transmit paths and 2 receiver paths (2T2R).
65The Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 (codenamed Puma Peak 2x2) is
66a wireless network adapter that operates in the 2GHz and 5GHz spectra.
67It has 2 transmit paths and 2 receiver paths (2T2R).
68These adapters are part of the sixth-generation Centrino platform
69(codenamed Calpella).
70.Pp
71The Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2230 (codename Jackson Peak) and Intel
72Centrino Wireless-N 2200 (codename Marble Peak) are wireless network
73adapters that operate in the 2GHz spectrum.
74These adapters have 2 transmit paths and 2 receiver paths (2T2R).
75The Intel Centrino Wireless-N 135 and Intel Centrino Wireless-N 105
76(codename Canyon Peak) also operate in the 2GHz spectrum.
77These adapters have 1 transmit path and 1 receiver path (1T1R).
78.Pp
79These are the modes the
80.Nm
81driver can operate in:
82.Bl -tag -width "IBSS-masterXX"
83.It BSS mode
84Also known as
85.Em infrastructure
86mode, this is used when associating with an access point, through
87which all traffic passes.
88This mode is the default.
89.It monitor mode
90In this mode the driver is able to receive packets without
91associating with an access point.
92This disables the internal receive filter and enables the card to
93capture packets from networks which it wouldn't normally have access to,
94or to scan for access points.
95.El
96.Pp
97The
98.Nm
99driver can be configured to use
100Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) or
101Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK).
102WPA is the current encryption standard for wireless networks.
103It is strongly recommended that WEP
104not be used as the sole mechanism
105to secure wireless communication,
106due to serious weaknesses in it.
107The
108.Nm
109driver offloads both encryption and decryption of unicast data frames to the
110hardware for the CCMP cipher.
111.Pp
112The
113.Nm
114driver can be configured at runtime with
115.Xr ifconfig 8
116or on boot with
117.Xr hostname.if 5 .
118.Sh FILES
119The driver needs at least version 5.6 of the following firmware files,
120which are loaded when an interface is brought up:
121.Pp
122.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
123.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwn-4965
124.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwn-5000
125.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwn-5150
126.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwn-1000
127.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwn-6000
128.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwn-6050
129.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwn-6005
130.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwn-6030
131.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwn-2030
132.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwn-2000
133.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwn-135
134.It Pa /etc/firmware/iwn-105
135.El
136.Pp
137These firmware files are not free because Intel refuses to grant
138distribution rights without contractual obligations.
139As a result, even though
140.Ox
141includes the driver, the firmware files cannot be included and
142users have to download these files on their own.
143.Pp
144A prepackaged version of the firmware can be installed using
145.Xr fw_update 1 .
146.Sh EXAMPLES
147The following example scans for available networks:
148.Pp
149.Dl # ifconfig iwn0 scan
150.Pp
151The following
152.Xr hostname.if 5
153example configures iwn0 to join network
154.Dq mynwid ,
155using WPA key
156.Dq mywpakey ,
157obtaining an IP address using DHCP:
158.Bd -literal -offset indent
159nwid mynwid
160wpakey mywpakey
161dhcp
162.Ed
163.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
164.Bl -diag
165.It "iwn0: device timeout"
166A frame dispatched to the hardware for transmission did not complete in time.
167The driver will reset the hardware.
168This should not happen.
169.It "iwn0: fatal firmware error"
170For some reason, the firmware crashed.
171The driver will reset the hardware.
172This should not happen.
173.It "iwn0: radio is disabled by hardware switch"
174The radio transmitter is off and thus no packet can go out.
175The driver will reset the hardware.
176Make sure the laptop radio switch is on.
177.It "iwn0: could not read firmware ... (error N)"
178For some reason, the driver was unable to read the firmware image from the
179filesystem.
180The file might be missing or corrupted.
181.It "iwn0: firmware too short: N bytes"
182The firmware image is corrupted and can't be loaded into the adapter.
183.It "iwn0: could not load firmware"
184An attempt to load the firmware into the adapter failed.
185The driver will reset the hardware.
186.El
187.Sh SEE ALSO
188.Xr arp 4 ,
189.Xr ifmedia 4 ,
190.Xr intro 4 ,
191.Xr netintro 4 ,
192.Xr pci 4 ,
193.Xr hostname.if 5 ,
194.Xr ifconfig 8
195.Sh HISTORY
196The
197.Nm
198device driver first appeared in
199.Ox 4.3 .
200.Sh AUTHORS
201The
202.Nm
203driver was written by
204.An Damien Bergamini Aq Mt damien.bergamini@free.fr .
205.Sh CAVEATS
206802.11n operation is currently limited to data rates MCS 0 to MCS 7.
207