2 .\" Copyright (c) 2002-2009 Sam Leffler, Errno Consulting
3 .\" All rights reserved.
5 .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
6 .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
8 .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
9 .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer,
10 .\" without modification.
11 .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce at minimum a disclaimer
12 .\" similar to the "NO WARRANTY" disclaimer below ("Disclaimer") and any
13 .\" redistribution must be conditioned upon including a substantially
14 .\" similar Disclaimer requirement for further binary redistribution.
17 .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
18 .\" ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
19 .\" LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF NONINFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTIBILITY
20 .\" AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL
21 .\" THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY,
22 .\" OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF
23 .\" SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
24 .\" INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER
25 .\" IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE)
26 .\" ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF
27 .\" THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
29 .\" $FreeBSD: head/share/man/man4/ath.4 264484 2014-04-15 00:45:38Z adrian $
36 .Nd "Atheros IEEE 802.11 wireless network driver"
38 To compile this driver into the kernel,
39 place the following lines in your
40 kernel configuration file:
41 .Bd -ragged -offset indent
44 .Cd "options AH_SUPPORT_AR5416"
45 .Cd "device ath_rate_sample"
49 Alternatively, to load the driver as a
50 module at boot time, place the following line in
52 .Bd -literal -offset indent
58 driver provides support for wireless network adapters based on
59 the Atheros AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, AR5416 and AR9300 programming APIs.
60 These APIs are used by a wide variety of chips; most all chips with
61 a PCI and/or CardBus interface are supported.
63 Supported features include 802.11 and 802.3 frames, power management, BSS,
64 IBSS, MBSS, TDMA, and host-based access point operation modes.
65 All host/device interaction is via DMA.
67 .\"Please note that from FreeBSD-9.0, the
69 .\"driver does not include the PCI/PCIe bus glue.
70 .\"The same driver supports multiple underlying bus types, including PCI/PCIe,
71 .\"but also embedded (AHB) and USB in the future.
73 .\"To enable use for PCI/PCIe systems, see the
76 .\"For embedded systems which use the AHB to connect the wireless MAC, see the
82 driver encapsulates all IP and ARP traffic as 802.11 frames, however
83 it can receive either 802.11 or 802.3 frames.
84 Transmit speed and operating mode is selectable
85 and depends on the specific chipset.
86 AR5210-based devices support 802.11a operation with transmit speeds
87 of 6 Mbps, 9 Mbps, 12 Mbps, 18 Mbps, 24 Mbps, 36 Mbps, 48 Mbps, and 54 Mbps.
88 AR5211-based devices support 802.11a and 802.11b operation with transmit
89 speeds as above for 802.11a operation and
90 1Mbps, 2Mbps, 5.5 Mbps and 11Mbps for 802.11b operation.
91 AR5212-based devices support 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g operation
92 with transmit speeds appropriate to each.
93 AR5416 and later class devices are capable of 802.11n operation.
94 Most chips also support an Atheros Turbo Mode (TM) that operates in
95 the 5GHz frequency range with 2x the transmit speeds.
96 Some chips also support Turbo mode in the 2.4GHz range with 802.11g
97 though this support is not presently available due to regulatory requirements.
98 (Note that Turbo modes are, however,
99 only interoperable with other Atheros-based devices.)
100 AR5212-based and AR5416-based devices also support half- (10MHz) and quarter-width (5MHz) channels.
101 The actual transmit speed used is dependent on signal quality and the
103 algorithm employed by the driver.
104 All chips support WEP encryption.
105 AR5212, AR5416 and later parts have hardware support for the
106 AES-CCM, TKIP, and Michael cryptographic
107 operations required for WPA.
108 To enable encryption, use
124 virtual interfaces may be configured for simultaneous
125 use on cards that use a 5212 or later part.
126 When multiple interfaces are configured each may have a separate
127 mac address that is formed by setting the U/L bits in the mac
128 address assigned to the underlying device.
131 virtual interfaces may be configured together with
136 interfaces may be operated together with
138 interfaces to construct a wireless repeater device.
139 The driver also support
141 operation when compiled with
142 .Cd "options IEEE80211_SUPPORT_TDMA"
143 (which also enables the required 802.11 support).
144 For more information on configuring this device, see
147 Devices supported by the
149 driver come in either Cardbus or mini-PCI packages.
150 Wireless cards in Cardbus slots may be inserted and ejected on the fly.
154 driver supports all Atheros Cardbus and PCI cards,
155 except those that are based on the AR5005VL chipset.
157 Join a specific BSS network with WEP encryption:
158 .Bd -literal -offset indent
159 ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0
160 ifconfig wlan0 inet 192.168.0.20 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net \e
161 wepmode on wepkey 0x8736639624
164 Join/create an 802.11b IBSS network with network name
166 .Bd -literal -offset indent
167 ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode adhoc
168 ifconfig wlan0 inet 192.168.0.22 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net \e
172 Create an 802.11g host-based access point:
173 .Bd -literal -offset indent
174 ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode hostap
175 ifconfig wlan0 inet 192.168.0.10 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_ap \e
179 Create an 802.11a mesh station:
180 .Bd -literal -offset indent
181 ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode mesh
182 ifconfig wlan0 meshid my_mesh mode 11a inet 192.168.0.10/24
185 Create two virtual 802.11a host-based access points, one with
186 WEP enabled and one with no security, and bridge them to
187 the fxp0 (wired) device:
188 .Bd -literal -offset indent
189 ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode hostap \e
190 ssid paying-customers wepmode on wepkey 0x1234567890 \e
192 ifconfig wlan1 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode hostap bssid \e
194 ifconfig bridge0 create addm wlan0 addm wlan1 addm fxp0 up
197 Create a master node in a two slot TDMA BSS configured to use
198 2.5 millisecond slots.
199 .Bd -literal -offset indent
200 ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev ath0 wlanmode tdma \e
201 ssid tdma-test tmdaslot 0 tdmaslotlen 2500 \e
206 .It "ath%d: unable to attach hardware; HAL status %u"
207 The Atheros Hardware Access Layer was unable to configure the hardware
209 The status code is explained in the HAL include file
210 .Pa sys/dev/netif/ath/ath_hal/ah.h .
211 .It "ath%d: failed to allocate descriptors: %d"
212 The driver was unable to allocate contiguous memory for the transmit
213 and receive descriptors.
214 This usually indicates system memory is scarce and/or fragmented.
215 .It "ath%d: unable to setup a data xmit queue!"
216 The request to the HAL to set up the transmit queue for normal
218 This should not happen.
219 .It "ath%d: unable to setup a beacon xmit queue!"
220 The request to the HAL to set up the transmit queue for 802.11 beacon frames
222 This should not happen.
223 .It "ath%d: 802.11 address: %s"
224 The MAC address programmed in the EEPROM is displayed.
225 .It "ath%d: hardware error; resetting"
226 An unrecoverable error in the hardware occurred.
227 Errors of this sort include unrecoverable DMA errors.
228 The driver will reset the hardware and continue.
229 .It "ath%d: rx FIFO overrun; resetting"
230 The receive FIFO in the hardware overflowed before the data could be
231 transferred to the host.
232 This typically occurs because the hardware ran short of receive
233 descriptors and had no place to transfer received data.
234 The driver will reset the hardware and continue.
235 .It "ath%d: unable to reset hardware; hal status %u"
236 The Atheros Hardware Access Layer was unable to reset the hardware
238 The status code is explained in the HAL include file
239 .Pa sys/dev/netif/ath/ath_hal/ah.h .
240 This should not happen.
241 .It "ath%d: unable to start recv logic"
242 The driver was unable to restart frame reception.
243 This should not happen.
244 .It "ath%d: device timeout"
245 A frame dispatched to the hardware for transmission did not complete in time.
246 The driver will reset the hardware and continue.
247 This should not happen.
248 .It "ath%d: bogus xmit rate 0x%x"
249 An invalid transmit rate was specified for an outgoing frame.
250 The frame is discarded.
251 This should not happen.
252 .It "ath%d: ath_chan_set: unable to reset channel %u (%u MHz)"
253 The Atheros Hardware Access Layer was unable to reset the hardware
254 when switching channels during scanning.
255 This should not happen.
256 .It "ath%d: failed to enable memory mapping"
257 The driver was unable to enable memory-mapped I/O to the PCI device registers.
258 This should not happen.
259 .It "ath%d: failed to enable bus mastering"
260 The driver was unable to enable the device as a PCI bus master for doing DMA.
261 This should not happen.
262 .It "ath%d: cannot map register space"
263 The driver was unable to map the device registers into the host address space.
264 This should not happen.
265 .It "ath%d: could not map interrupt"
266 The driver was unable to allocate an IRQ for the device interrupt.
267 This should not happen.
268 .It "ath%d: could not establish interrupt"
269 The driver was unable to install the device interrupt handler.
270 This should not happen.
289 device driver first appeared in
291 and was imported into
294 Revision A1 of the D-LINK DWL-G520 and DWL-G650 are based on an
295 Intersil PrismGT chip and are not supported by this driver.
297 The driver does not fully enable power-save operation of the chip
298 in station mode; consequently power use is suboptimal (e.g. on a laptop).
300 The AR5210 can only do WEP in hardware; consequently hardware assisted WEP
301 is disabled in order to allow software implementations of TKIP and CCMP to
303 Hardware WEP can be re-enabled by modifying the driver.