Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Driver for Linux in support of: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Network Connection Note: The Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Driver for Linux and Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Driver for Linux is a unified driver that works on both hardware adapters listed above. In this document the Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Driver for Linux will be used to reference the unified driver. Copyright (C) 2004-2005, Intel Corporation README.ipw2200 Version: 1.0.0 Date : January 31, 2005 Index ----------------------------------------------- 1. Introduction 1.1. Overview of features 1.2. Module parameters 1.3. Wireless Extension Private Methods 1.4. Sysfs Helper Files 2. About the Version Numbers 3. Support 4. License 1. Introduction ----------------------------------------------- The following sections attempt to provide a brief introduction to using the Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Driver for Linux. This document is not meant to be a comprehensive manual on understanding or using wireless technologies, but should be sufficient to get you moving without wires on Linux. For information on building and installing the driver, see the INSTALL file. 1.1. Overview of Features ----------------------------------------------- The current release (1.0.0) supports the following features: + BSS mode (Infrastructure, Managed) + IBSS mode (Ad-Hoc) + WEP (OPEN and SHARED KEY mode) + 802.1x EAP via wpa_supplicant and xsupplicant + Wireless Extension support + Full B and G rate support (2200 and 2915) + Full A rate support (2915 only) + Transmit power control + S state support (ACPI suspend/resume) + long/short preamble support 1.2. Command Line Parameters ----------------------------------------------- Like many modules used in the Linux kernel, the Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Driver for Linux allows certain configuration options to be provided as module parameters. The most common way to specify a module parameter is via the command line. The general form is: % modprobe ipw2200 parameter=value Where the supported parameter are: associate Set to 0 to disable the auto scan-and-associate functionality of the driver. If disabled, the driver will not attempt to scan for and associate to a network until it has been configured with one or more properties for the target network, for example configuring the network SSID. Default is 1 (auto-associate) Example: % modprobe ipw2200 associate=0 auto_create Set to 0 to disable the auto creation of an Ad-Hoc network matching the channel and network name parameters provided. Default is 1. channel channel number for association. The normal method for setting the channel would be to use the standard wireless tools (i.e. `iwconfig eth1 channel 10`), but it is useful sometimes to set this while debugging. Channel 0 means 'ANY' debug If using a debug build, this is used to control the amount of debug info is logged. See the 'dval' and 'load' script for more info on how to use this (the dval and load scripts are provided as part of the ipw2200 development snapshot releases available from the SourceForge project at http://ipw2200.sf.net) mode Can be used to set the default mode of the adapter. 0 = Managed, 1 = Ad-Hoc 1.3. Wireless Extension Private Methods ----------------------------------------------- As an interface designed to handle generic hardware, there are certain capabilities not exposed through the normal Wireless Tool interface. As such, a provision is provided for a driver to declare custom, or private, methods. The Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Driver for Linux defines several of these to configure various settings. The general form of using the private wireless methods is: % iwpriv $IFNAME method parameters Where $IFNAME is the interface name the device is registered with (typically eth1, customized via one of the various network interface name managers, such as ifrename) The supported private methods are: get_mode Can be used to report out which IEEE mode the driver is configured to support. Example: % iwpriv eth1 get_mode eth1 get_mode:802.11bg (6) set_mode Can be used to configure which IEEE mode the driver will support. Usage: % iwpriv eth1 set_mode {mode} Where {mode} is a number in the range 1-7: 1 802.11a (2915 only) 2 802.11b 3 802.11ab (2915 only) 4 802.11g 5 802.11ag (2915 only) 6 802.11bg 7 802.11abg (2915 only) get_preamble Can be used to report configuration of preamble length. set_preamble Can be used to set the configuration of preamble length: Usage: % iwpriv eth1 set_preamble {mode} Where {mode} is one of: 1 Long preamble only 0 Auto (long or short based on connection) 1.4. Sysfs Helper Files: ----------------------------------------------- The Linux kernel provides a pseudo file system that can be used to access various components of the operating system. The Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Driver for Linux exposes several configuration parameters through this mechanism. An entry in the sysfs can support reading and/or writing. You can typically query the contents of a sysfs entry through the use of cat, and can set the contents via echo. For example: % cat /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/debug_level Will report the current debug level of the driver's logging subsystem (only available if CONFIG_IPW_DEBUG was configured when the driver was built). You can set the debug level via: % echo $VALUE > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/debug_level Where $VALUE would be a number in the case of this sysfs entry. The input to sysfs files does not have to be a number. For example, the firmware loader used by hotplug utilizes sysfs entries for transferring the firmware image from user space into the driver. The Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Driver for Linux exposes sysfs entries at two levels -- driver level, which apply to all instances of the driver (in the event that there are more than one device installed) and device level, which applies only to the single specific instance. 1.4.1 Driver Level Sysfs Helper Files ----------------------------------------------- For the driver level files, look in /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/ debug_level This controls the same global as the 'debug' module parameter 1.4.2 Device Level Sysfs Helper Files ----------------------------------------------- For the device level files, look in /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/{PCI-ID}/ For example: /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/0000:02:01.0 For the device level files, see /sys/bus/pci/[drivers/ipw2200: rf_kill read - 0 = RF kill not enabled (radio on) 1 = SW based RF kill active (radio off) 2 = HW based RF kill active (radio off) 3 = Both HW and SW RF kill active (radio off) write - 0 = If SW based RF kill active, turn the radio back on 1 = If radio is on, activate SW based RF kill NOTE: If you enable the SW based RF kill and then toggle the HW based RF kill from ON -> OFF -> ON, the radio will NOT come back on ucode read-only access to the ucode version number 2. About the Version Numbers ----------------------------------------------- Due to the nature of open source development projects, there are frequently changes being incorporated that have not gone through a complete validation process. These changes are incorporated into development snapshot releases. Releases are numbered with a three level scheme: major.minor.development Any version where the 'development' portion is 0 (for example 1.0.0, 1.1.0, etc.) indicates a stable version that will be made available for kernel inclusion. Any version where the 'development' portion is not a 0 (for example 1.0.1, 1.1.5, etc.) indicates a development version that is being made available for testing and cutting edge users. The stability and functionality of the development releases are not know. We make efforts to try and keep all snapshots reasonably stable, but due to the frequency of their release, and the desire to get those releases available as quickly as possible, unknown anomalies should be expected. The major version number will be incremented when significant changes are made to the driver. Currently, there are no major changes planned. 3. Support ----------------------------------------------- For installation support of the 1.0.0 version, you can contact http://supportmail.intel.com, or you can use the open source project support. For general information and support, go to: http://ipw2200.sf.net/ 4. License ----------------------------------------------- Copyright(c) 2003 - 2005 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as published by the Free Software Foundation. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. The full GNU General Public License is included in this distribution in the file called LICENSE. Contact Information: James P. Ketrenos Intel Corporation, 5200 N.E. Elam Young Parkway, Hillsboro, OR 97124-6497