path: root/Documentation/networking/README.ipw2200

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) 2004-2006, Intel Corporation

README.ipw2200

Version: 1.1.2
Date   : March 30, 2006


Index
-----------------------------------------------
0.   IMPORTANT INFORMATION BEFORE USING THIS DRIVER
1.   Introduction
1.1. Overview of features
1.2. Module parameters
1.3. Wireless Extension Private Methods
1.4. Sysfs Helper Files
1.5. Supported channels
2.   Ad-Hoc Networking
3.   Interacting with Wireless Tools
3.1. iwconfig mode
3.2. iwconfig sens
4.   About the Version Numbers
5.   Firmware installation
6.   Support
7.   License


0.   IMPORTANT INFORMATION BEFORE USING THIS DRIVER
-----------------------------------------------

Important Notice FOR ALL USERS OR DISTRIBUTORS!!!! 

Intel wireless LAN adapters are engineered, manufactured, tested, and
quality checked to ensure that they meet all necessary local and
governmental regulatory agency requirements for the regions that they
are designated and/or marked to ship into. Since wireless LANs are
generally unlicensed devices that share spectrum with radars,
satellites, and other licensed and unlicensed devices, it is sometimes
necessary to dynamically detect, avoid, and limit usage to avoid
interference with these devices. In many instances Intel is required to
provide test data to prove regional and local compliance to regional and
governmental regulations before certification or approval to use the
product is granted. Intel's wireless LAN's EEPROM, firmware, and
software driver are designed to carefully control parameters that affect
radio operation and to ensure electromagnetic compliance (EMC). These
parameters include, without limitation, RF power, spectrum usage,
channel scanning, and human exposure. 

For these reasons Intel cannot permit any manipulation by third parties
of the software provided in binary format with the wireless WLAN
adapters (e.g., the EEPROM and firmware). Furthermore, if you use any
patches, utilities, or code with the Intel wireless LAN adapters that
have been manipulated by an unauthorized party (i.e., patches,
utilities, or code (including open source code modifications) which have
not been validated by Intel), (i) you will be solely responsible for
ensuring the regulatory compliance of the products, (ii) Intel will bear
no liability, under any theory of liability for any issues associated
with the modified products, including without limitation, claims under
the warranty and/or issues arising from regulatory non-compliance, and
(iii) Intel will not provide or be required to assist in providing
support to any third parties for such modified products.  

Note: Many regulatory agencies consider Wireless LAN adapters to be
modules, and accordingly, condition system-level regulatory approval
upon receipt and review of test data documenting that the antennas and
system configuration do not cause the EMC and radio operation to be
non-compliant.

The drivers available for download from SourceForge are provided as a 
part of a development project.  Conformance to local regulatory 
requirements is the responsibility of the individual developer.  As 
such, if you are interested in deploying or shipping a driver as part of 
solution intended to be used for purposes other than development, please 
obtain a tested driver from Intel Customer Support at:

http://support.intel.com/support/notebook/sb/CS-006408.htm


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 (1.1.2) 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)

The following features are currently enabled, but not officially
supported:

+ WPA
+ long/short preamble support
+ Monitor mode (aka RFMon)

The distinction between officially supported and enabled is a reflection 
on the amount of validation and interoperability testing that has been
performed on a given feature. 



1.2. Command Line Parameters
-----------------------------------------------

Like many modules used in the Linux kernel, the Intel(R) PRO/Wireless
2915ABG Driver for Linux allows 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 0 (do not 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 'dvals' and 'load' script for more info on
	how to use this (the dvals and load scripts are provided as part 
	of the ipw2200 development snapshot releases available from the 
	SourceForge project at http://ipw2200.sf.net)
  
  led
	Can be used to turn on experimental LED code.
	0 = Off, 1 = On.  Default is 1.

  mode
	Can be used to set the default mode of the adapter.  
	0 = Managed, 1 = Ad-Hoc, 2 = Monitor


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_IPW2200_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 transfering 
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

  led
	read -
	0 = LED code disabled
	1 = LED code enabled
	write -
	0 = Disable LED code
	1 = Enable LED code

	NOTE: The LED code has been reported to hang some systems when 
	running ifconfig and is therefore disabled by default.


1.5. Supported channels
-----------------------------------------------

Upon loading the Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Driver for Linux, a
message stating the detected geography code and the number of 802.11
channels supported by the card will be displayed in the log.

The geography code corresponds to a regulatory domain as shown in the
table below.

					  Supported channels
Code	Geography			802.11bg	802.11a

---	Restricted			11 	 	 0
ZZF	Custom US/Canada		11	 	 8
ZZD	Rest of World			13	 	 0
ZZA	Custom USA & Europe & High	11		13
ZZB	Custom NA & Europe    		11		13
ZZC	Custom Japan			11	 	 4
ZZM	Custom 				11	 	 0
ZZE	Europe				13		19
ZZJ	Custom Japan			14	 	 4
ZZR	Rest of World			14	 	 0
ZZH	High Band			13	 	 4
ZZG	Custom Europe			13	 	 4
ZZK	Europe 				13		24
ZZL	Europe				11		13


2.   Ad-Hoc Networking
-----------------------------------------------

When using a device in an Ad-Hoc network, it is useful to understand the 
sequence and requirements for the driver to be able to create, join, or 
merge networks.

The following attempts to provide enough information so that you can 
have a consistent experience while using the driver as a member of an 
Ad-Hoc network.

2.1. Joining an Ad-Hoc Network
-----------------------------------------------

The easiest way to get onto an Ad-Hoc network is to join one that 
already exists.

2.2. Creating an Ad-Hoc Network
-----------------------------------------------

An Ad-Hoc networks is created using the syntax of the Wireless tool.

For Example:
iwconfig eth1 mode ad-hoc essid testing channel 2

2.3. Merging Ad-Hoc Networks
-----------------------------------------------


3.  Interaction with Wireless Tools
-----------------------------------------------

3.1 iwconfig mode
-----------------------------------------------

When configuring the mode of the adapter, all run-time configured parameters
are reset to the value used when the module was loaded.  This includes
channels, rates, ESSID, etc.

3.2 iwconfig sens
-----------------------------------------------

The 'iwconfig ethX sens XX' command will not set the signal sensitivity
threshold, as described in iwconfig documentation, but rather the number
of consecutive missed beacons that will trigger handover, i.e. roaming
to another access point. At the same time, it will set the disassociation
threshold to 3 times the given value.


4.   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.

5.  Firmware installation
----------------------------------------------

The driver requires a firmware image, download it and extract the
files under /lib/firmware (or wherever your hotplug's firmware.agent
will look for firmware files)

The firmware can be downloaded from the following URL:

    http://ipw2200.sf.net/


6.  Support
-----------------------------------------------

For direct 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/


7.  License
-----------------------------------------------

  Copyright(c) 2003 - 2006 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 <ipw2100-admin@linux.intel.com>
  Intel Corporation, 5200 N.E. Elam Young Parkway, Hillsboro, OR 97124-6497