Documentation/networking/README.ipw2100

   1
   2 Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2100 Driver for Linux in support of:
   3
   4 Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2100 Network Connection
   5
   6 Copyright (C) 2003-2006, Intel Corporation
   7
   8 README.ipw2100
   9
  10 Version: git-1.1.5
  11 Date   : January 25, 2006
  12
  13 Index
  14 -----------------------------------------------
  15 0. IMPORTANT INFORMATION BEFORE USING THIS DRIVER
  16 1. Introduction
  17 2. Release git-1.1.5 Current Features
  18 3. Command Line Parameters
  19 4. Sysfs Helper Files
  20 5. Radio Kill Switch
  21 6. Dynamic Firmware
  22 7. Power Management
  23 8. Support
  24 9. License
  25
  26
  27 0.   IMPORTANT INFORMATION BEFORE USING THIS DRIVER
  28 -----------------------------------------------
  29
  30 Important Notice FOR ALL USERS OR DISTRIBUTORS!!!!
  31
  32 Intel wireless LAN adapters are engineered, manufactured, tested, and
  33 quality checked to ensure that they meet all necessary local and
  34 governmental regulatory agency requirements for the regions that they
  35 are designated and/or marked to ship into. Since wireless LANs are
  36 generally unlicensed devices that share spectrum with radars,
  37 satellites, and other licensed and unlicensed devices, it is sometimes
  38 necessary to dynamically detect, avoid, and limit usage to avoid
  39 interference with these devices. In many instances Intel is required to
  40 provide test data to prove regional and local compliance to regional and
  41 governmental regulations before certification or approval to use the
  42 product is granted. Intel's wireless LAN's EEPROM, firmware, and
  43 software driver are designed to carefully control parameters that affect
  44 radio operation and to ensure electromagnetic compliance (EMC). These
  45 parameters include, without limitation, RF power, spectrum usage,
  46 channel scanning, and human exposure.
  47
  48 For these reasons Intel cannot permit any manipulation by third parties
  49 of the software provided in binary format with the wireless WLAN
  50 adapters (e.g., the EEPROM and firmware). Furthermore, if you use any
  51 patches, utilities, or code with the Intel wireless LAN adapters that
  52 have been manipulated by an unauthorized party (i.e., patches,
  53 utilities, or code (including open source code modifications) which have
  54 not been validated by Intel), (i) you will be solely responsible for
  55 ensuring the regulatory compliance of the products, (ii) Intel will bear
  56 no liability, under any theory of liability for any issues associated
  57 with the modified products, including without limitation, claims under
  58 the warranty and/or issues arising from regulatory non-compliance, and
  59 (iii) Intel will not provide or be required to assist in providing
  60 support to any third parties for such modified products.
  61
  62 Note: Many regulatory agencies consider Wireless LAN adapters to be
  63 modules, and accordingly, condition system-level regulatory approval
  64 upon receipt and review of test data documenting that the antennas and
  65 system configuration do not cause the EMC and radio operation to be
  66 non-compliant.
  67
  68 The drivers available for download from SourceForge are provided as a
  69 part of a development project.  Conformance to local regulatory
  70 requirements is the responsibility of the individual developer.  As
  71 such, if you are interested in deploying or shipping a driver as part of
  72 solution intended to be used for purposes other than development, please
  73 obtain a tested driver from Intel Customer Support at:
  74
  75 http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/sb/CS-006408.htm
  76
  77 1. Introduction
  78 -----------------------------------------------
  79
  80 This document provides a brief overview of the features supported by the
  81 IPW2100 driver project.  The main project website, where the latest
  82 development version of the driver can be found, is:
  83
  84         http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net
  85
  86 There you can find the not only the latest releases, but also information about
  87 potential fixes and patches, as well as links to the development mailing list
  88 for the driver project.
  89
  90
  91 2. Release git-1.1.5 Current Supported Features
  92 -----------------------------------------------
  93 - Managed (BSS) and Ad-Hoc (IBSS)
  94 - WEP (shared key and open)
  95 - Wireless Tools support
  96 - 802.1x (tested with XSupplicant 1.0.1)
  97
  98 Enabled (but not supported) features:
  99 - Monitor/RFMon mode
 100 - WPA/WPA2
 101
 102 The distinction between officially supported and enabled is a reflection
 103 on the amount of validation and interoperability testing that has been
 104 performed on a given feature.
 105
 106
 107 3. Command Line Parameters
 108 -----------------------------------------------
 109
 110 If the driver is built as a module, the following optional parameters are used
 111 by entering them on the command line with the modprobe command using this
 112 syntax:
 113
 114         modprobe ipw2100 [<option>=<VAL1><,VAL2>...]
 115
 116 For example, to disable the radio on driver loading, enter:
 117
 118         modprobe ipw2100 disable=1
 119
 120 The ipw2100 driver supports the following module parameters:
 121
 122 Name            Value           Example:
 123 debug           0x0-0xffffffff  debug=1024
 124 mode            0,1,2           mode=1   /* AdHoc */
 125 channel         int             channel=3 /* Only valid in AdHoc or Monitor */
 126 associate       boolean         associate=0 /* Do NOT auto associate */
 127 disable         boolean         disable=1 /* Do not power the HW */
 128
 129
 130 4. Sysfs Helper Files
 131 ---------------------------
 132 -----------------------------------------------
 133
 134 There are several ways to control the behavior of the driver.  Many of the
 135 general capabilities are exposed through the Wireless Tools (iwconfig).  There
 136 are a few capabilities that are exposed through entries in the Linux Sysfs.
 137
 138
 139 ----- Driver Level ------
 140 For the driver level files, look in /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2100/
 141
 142   debug_level
 143
 144         This controls the same global as the 'debug' module parameter.  For
 145         information on the various debugging levels available, run the 'dvals'
 146         script found in the driver source directory.
 147
 148         NOTE:  'debug_level' is only enabled if CONFIG_IPW2100_DEBUG is turn
 149                on.
 150
 151 ----- Device Level ------
 152 For the device level files look in
 153
 154         /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2100/{PCI-ID}/
 155
 156 For example:
 157         /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2100/0000:02:01.0
 158
 159 For the device level files, see /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2100:
 160
 161   rf_kill
 162         read -
 163         0 = RF kill not enabled (radio on)
 164         1 = SW based RF kill active (radio off)
 165         2 = HW based RF kill active (radio off)
 166         3 = Both HW and SW RF kill active (radio off)
 167         write -
 168         0 = If SW based RF kill active, turn the radio back on
 169         1 = If radio is on, activate SW based RF kill
 170
 171         NOTE: If you enable the SW based RF kill and then toggle the HW
 172         based RF kill from ON -> OFF -> ON, the radio will NOT come back on
 173
 174
 175 5. Radio Kill Switch
 176 -----------------------------------------------
 177 Most laptops provide the ability for the user to physically disable the radio.
 178 Some vendors have implemented this as a physical switch that requires no
 179 software to turn the radio off and on.  On other laptops, however, the switch
 180 is controlled through a button being pressed and a software driver then making
 181 calls to turn the radio off and on.  This is referred to as a "software based
 182 RF kill switch"
 183
 184 See the Sysfs helper file 'rf_kill' for determining the state of the RF switch
 185 on your system.
 186
 187
 188 6. Dynamic Firmware
 189 -----------------------------------------------
 190 As the firmware is licensed under a restricted use license, it can not be
 191 included within the kernel sources.  To enable the IPW2100 you will need a
 192 firmware image to load into the wireless NIC's processors.
 193
 194 You can obtain these images from <http://ipw2100.sf.net/firmware.php>.
 195
 196 See INSTALL for instructions on installing the firmware.
 197
 198
 199 7. Power Management
 200 -----------------------------------------------
 201 The IPW2100 supports the configuration of the Power Save Protocol
 202 through a private wireless extension interface.  The IPW2100 supports
 203 the following different modes:
 204
 205         off     No power management.  Radio is always on.
 206         on      Automatic power management
 207         1-5     Different levels of power management.  The higher the
 208                 number the greater the power savings, but with an impact to
 209                 packet latencies.
 210
 211 Power management works by powering down the radio after a certain
 212 interval of time has passed where no packets are passed through the
 213 radio.  Once powered down, the radio remains in that state for a given
 214 period of time.  For higher power savings, the interval between last
 215 packet processed to sleep is shorter and the sleep period is longer.
 216
 217 When the radio is asleep, the access point sending data to the station
 218 must buffer packets at the AP until the station wakes up and requests
 219 any buffered packets.  If you have an AP that does not correctly support
 220 the PSP protocol you may experience packet loss or very poor performance
 221 while power management is enabled.  If this is the case, you will need
 222 to try and find a firmware update for your AP, or disable power
 223 management (via `iwconfig eth1 power off`)
 224
 225 To configure the power level on the IPW2100 you use a combination of
 226 iwconfig and iwpriv.  iwconfig is used to turn power management on, off,
 227 and set it to auto.
 228
 229         iwconfig eth1 power off    Disables radio power down
 230         iwconfig eth1 power on     Enables radio power management to
 231                                    last set level (defaults to AUTO)
 232         iwpriv eth1 set_power 0    Sets power level to AUTO and enables
 233                                    power management if not previously
 234                                    enabled.
 235         iwpriv eth1 set_power 1-5  Set the power level as specified,
 236                                    enabling power management if not
 237                                    previously enabled.
 238
 239 You can view the current power level setting via:
 240
 241         iwpriv eth1 get_power
 242
 243 It will return the current period or timeout that is configured as a string
 244 in the form of xxxx/yyyy (z) where xxxx is the timeout interval (amount of
 245 time after packet processing), yyyy is the period to sleep (amount of time to
 246 wait before powering the radio and querying the access point for buffered
 247 packets), and z is the 'power level'.  If power management is turned off the
 248 xxxx/yyyy will be replaced with 'off' -- the level reported will be the active
 249 level if `iwconfig eth1 power on` is invoked.
 250
 251
 252 8. Support
 253 -----------------------------------------------
 254
 255 For general development information and support,
 256 go to:
 257
 258     http://ipw2100.sf.net/
 259
 260 The ipw2100 1.1.0 driver and firmware can be downloaded from:
 261
 262     http://support.intel.com
 263
 264 For installation support on the ipw2100 1.1.0 driver on Linux kernels
 265 2.6.8 or greater, email support is available from:
 266
 267     http://supportmail.intel.com
 268
 269 9. License
 270 -----------------------------------------------
 271
 272   Copyright(c) 2003 - 2006 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.
 273
 274   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
 275   under the terms of the GNU General Public License (version 2) as
 276   published by the Free Software Foundation.
 277
 278   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
 279   ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
 280   FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for
 281   more details.
 282
 283   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
 284   this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
 285   Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.
 286
 287   The full GNU General Public License is included in this distribution in the
 288   file called LICENSE.
 289
 290   License Contact Information:
 291   James P. Ketrenos <ipw2100-admin@linux.intel.com>
 292   Intel Corporation, 5200 N.E. Elam Young Parkway, Hillsboro, OR 97124-6497
 293