Documentation/networking/README.ipw2200

   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) 2004-2005, Intel Corporation
  14
  15 README.ipw2200
  16
  17 Version: 1.0.0
  18 Date   : January 31, 2005
  19
  20
  21 Index
  22 -----------------------------------------------
  23 1.   Introduction
  24 1.1. Overview of features
  25 1.2. Module parameters
  26 1.3. Wireless Extension Private Methods
  27 1.4. Sysfs Helper Files
  28 2.   About the Version Numbers
  29 3.   Support
  30 4.   License
  31
  32
  33 1.   Introduction
  34 -----------------------------------------------
  35 The following sections attempt to provide a brief introduction to using
  36 the Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Driver for Linux.
  37
  38 This document is not meant to be a comprehensive manual on
  39 understanding or using wireless technologies, but should be sufficient
  40 to get you moving without wires on Linux.
  41
  42 For information on building and installing the driver, see the INSTALL
  43 file.
  44
  45
  46 1.1. Overview of Features
  47 -----------------------------------------------
  48 The current release (1.0.0) supports the following features:
  49
  50 + BSS mode (Infrastructure, Managed)
  51 + IBSS mode (Ad-Hoc)
  52 + WEP (OPEN and SHARED KEY mode)
  53 + 802.1x EAP via wpa_supplicant and xsupplicant
  54 + Wireless Extension support
  55 + Full B and G rate support (2200 and 2915)
  56 + Full A rate support (2915 only)
  57 + Transmit power control
  58 + S state support (ACPI suspend/resume)
  59 + long/short preamble support
  60
  61
  62
  63 1.2. Command Line Parameters
  64 -----------------------------------------------
  65
  66 Like many modules used in the Linux kernel, the Intel(R) PRO/Wireless
  67 2915ABG Driver for Linux allows certain configuration options to be
  68 provided as module parameters.  The most common way to specify a module
  69 parameter is via the command line.
  70
  71 The general form is:
  72
  73 % modprobe ipw2200 parameter=value
  74
  75 Where the supported parameter are:
  76
  77   associate
  78         Set to 0 to disable the auto scan-and-associate functionality of the
  79         driver.  If disabled, the driver will not attempt to scan
  80         for and associate to a network until it has been configured with
  81         one or more properties for the target network, for example configuring
  82         the network SSID.  Default is 1 (auto-associate)
  83
  84         Example: % modprobe ipw2200 associate=0
  85
  86   auto_create
  87         Set to 0 to disable the auto creation of an Ad-Hoc network
  88         matching the channel and network name parameters provided.
  89         Default is 1.
  90
  91   channel
  92         channel number for association.  The normal method for setting
  93         the channel would be to use the standard wireless tools
  94         (i.e. `iwconfig eth1 channel 10`), but it is useful sometimes
  95         to set this while debugging.  Channel 0 means 'ANY'
  96
  97   debug
  98         If using a debug build, this is used to control the amount of debug
  99         info is logged.  See the 'dval' and 'load' script for more info on
 100         how to use this (the dval and load scripts are provided as part
 101         of the ipw2200 development snapshot releases available from the
 102         SourceForge project at http://ipw2200.sf.net)
 103
 104   mode
 105         Can be used to set the default mode of the adapter.
 106         0 = Managed, 1 = Ad-Hoc
 107
 108
 109 1.3. Wireless Extension Private Methods
 110 -----------------------------------------------
 111
 112 As an interface designed to handle generic hardware, there are certain
 113 capabilities not exposed through the normal Wireless Tool interface.  As
 114 such, a provision is provided for a driver to declare custom, or
 115 private, methods.  The Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Driver for Linux
 116 defines several of these to configure various settings.
 117
 118 The general form of using the private wireless methods is:
 119
 120         % iwpriv $IFNAME method parameters
 121
 122 Where $IFNAME is the interface name the device is registered with
 123 (typically eth1, customized via one of the various network interface
 124 name managers, such as ifrename)
 125
 126 The supported private methods are:
 127
 128   get_mode
 129         Can be used to report out which IEEE mode the driver is
 130         configured to support.  Example:
 131
 132         % iwpriv eth1 get_mode
 133         eth1    get_mode:802.11bg (6)
 134
 135   set_mode
 136         Can be used to configure which IEEE mode the driver will
 137         support.
 138
 139         Usage:
 140         % iwpriv eth1 set_mode {mode}
 141         Where {mode} is a number in the range 1-7:
 142         1       802.11a (2915 only)
 143         2       802.11b
 144         3       802.11ab (2915 only)
 145         4       802.11g
 146         5       802.11ag (2915 only)
 147         6       802.11bg
 148         7       802.11abg (2915 only)
 149
 150   get_preamble
 151         Can be used to report configuration of preamble length.
 152
 153   set_preamble
 154         Can be used to set the configuration of preamble length:
 155
 156         Usage:
 157         % iwpriv eth1 set_preamble {mode}
 158         Where {mode} is one of:
 159         1       Long preamble only
 160         0       Auto (long or short based on connection)
 161
 162
 163 1.4. Sysfs Helper Files:
 164 -----------------------------------------------
 165
 166 The Linux kernel provides a pseudo file system that can be used to
 167 access various components of the operating system.  The Intel(R)
 168 PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Driver for Linux exposes several configuration
 169 parameters through this mechanism.
 170
 171 An entry in the sysfs can support reading and/or writing.  You can
 172 typically query the contents of a sysfs entry through the use of cat,
 173 and can set the contents via echo.  For example:
 174
 175 % cat /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/debug_level
 176
 177 Will report the current debug level of the driver's logging subsystem
 178 (only available if CONFIG_IPW_DEBUG was configured when the driver was
 179 built).
 180
 181 You can set the debug level via:
 182
 183 % echo $VALUE > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/debug_level
 184
 185 Where $VALUE would be a number in the case of this sysfs entry.  The
 186 input to sysfs files does not have to be a number.  For example, the
 187 firmware loader used by hotplug utilizes sysfs entries for transferring
 188 the firmware image from user space into the driver.
 189
 190 The Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Driver for Linux exposes sysfs entries
 191 at two levels -- driver level, which apply to all instances of the
 192 driver (in the event that there are more than one device installed) and
 193 device level, which applies only to the single specific instance.
 194
 195
 196 1.4.1 Driver Level Sysfs Helper Files
 197 -----------------------------------------------
 198
 199 For the driver level files, look in /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/
 200
 201   debug_level
 202
 203         This controls the same global as the 'debug' module parameter
 204
 205
 206 1.4.2 Device Level Sysfs Helper Files
 207 -----------------------------------------------
 208
 209 For the device level files, look in
 210
 211         /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/{PCI-ID}/
 212
 213 For example:
 214         /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/0000:02:01.0
 215
 216 For the device level files, see /sys/bus/pci/[drivers/ipw2200:
 217
 218   rf_kill
 219         read -
 220         0 = RF kill not enabled (radio on)
 221         1 = SW based RF kill active (radio off)
 222         2 = HW based RF kill active (radio off)
 223         3 = Both HW and SW RF kill active (radio off)
 224         write -
 225         0 = If SW based RF kill active, turn the radio back on
 226         1 = If radio is on, activate SW based RF kill
 227
 228         NOTE: If you enable the SW based RF kill and then toggle the HW
 229         based RF kill from ON -> OFF -> ON, the radio will NOT come back on
 230
 231   ucode
 232         read-only access to the ucode version number
 233
 234
 235 2.   About the Version Numbers
 236 -----------------------------------------------
 237
 238 Due to the nature of open source development projects, there are
 239 frequently changes being incorporated that have not gone through
 240 a complete validation process.  These changes are incorporated into
 241 development snapshot releases.
 242
 243 Releases are numbered with a three level scheme:
 244
 245         major.minor.development
 246
 247 Any version where the 'development' portion is 0 (for example
 248 1.0.0, 1.1.0, etc.) indicates a stable version that will be made
 249 available for kernel inclusion.
 250
 251 Any version where the 'development' portion is not a 0 (for
 252 example 1.0.1, 1.1.5, etc.) indicates a development version that is
 253 being made available for testing and cutting edge users.  The stability
 254 and functionality of the development releases are not know.  We make
 255 efforts to try and keep all snapshots reasonably stable, but due to the
 256 frequency of their release, and the desire to get those releases
 257 available as quickly as possible, unknown anomalies should be expected.
 258
 259 The major version number will be incremented when significant changes
 260 are made to the driver.  Currently, there are no major changes planned.
 261
 262
 263 3.  Support
 264 -----------------------------------------------
 265
 266 For installation support of the 1.0.0 version, you can contact
 267 http://supportmail.intel.com, or you can use the open source project
 268 support.
 269
 270 For general information and support, go to:
 271
 272     http://ipw2200.sf.net/
 273
 274
 275 4.  License
 276 -----------------------------------------------
 277
 278   Copyright(c) 2003 - 2005 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.
 279
 280   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
 281   under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as
 282   published by the Free Software Foundation.
 283
 284   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
 285   ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
 286   FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for
 287   more details.
 288
 289   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
 290   this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
 291   Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.
 292
 293   The full GNU General Public License is included in this distribution in the
 294   file called LICENSE.
 295
 296   Contact Information:
 297   James P. Ketrenos <ipw2100-admin@linux.intel.com>
 298   Intel Corporation, 5200 N.E. Elam Young Parkway, Hillsboro, OR 97124-6497
 299
 300