1 2Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2100 Driver for Linux in support of: 3 4Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2100 Network Connection 5 6Copyright (C) 2003-2006, Intel Corporation 7 8README.ipw2100 9 10Version: git-1.1.5 11Date : January 25, 2006 12 13Index 14----------------------------------------------- 150. IMPORTANT INFORMATION BEFORE USING THIS DRIVER 161. Introduction 172. Release git-1.1.5 Current Features 183. Command Line Parameters 194. Sysfs Helper Files 205. Radio Kill Switch 216. Dynamic Firmware 227. Power Management 238. Support 249. License 25 26 270. IMPORTANT INFORMATION BEFORE USING THIS DRIVER 28----------------------------------------------- 29 30Important Notice FOR ALL USERS OR DISTRIBUTORS!!!! 31 32Intel wireless LAN adapters are engineered, manufactured, tested, and 33quality checked to ensure that they meet all necessary local and 34governmental regulatory agency requirements for the regions that they 35are designated and/or marked to ship into. Since wireless LANs are 36generally unlicensed devices that share spectrum with radars, 37satellites, and other licensed and unlicensed devices, it is sometimes 38necessary to dynamically detect, avoid, and limit usage to avoid 39interference with these devices. In many instances Intel is required to 40provide test data to prove regional and local compliance to regional and 41governmental regulations before certification or approval to use the 42product is granted. Intel's wireless LAN's EEPROM, firmware, and 43software driver are designed to carefully control parameters that affect 44radio operation and to ensure electromagnetic compliance (EMC). These 45parameters include, without limitation, RF power, spectrum usage, 46channel scanning, and human exposure. 47 48For these reasons Intel cannot permit any manipulation by third parties 49of the software provided in binary format with the wireless WLAN 50adapters (e.g., the EEPROM and firmware). Furthermore, if you use any 51patches, utilities, or code with the Intel wireless LAN adapters that 52have been manipulated by an unauthorized party (i.e., patches, 53utilities, or code (including open source code modifications) which have 54not been validated by Intel), (i) you will be solely responsible for 55ensuring the regulatory compliance of the products, (ii) Intel will bear 56no liability, under any theory of liability for any issues associated 57with the modified products, including without limitation, claims under 58the warranty and/or issues arising from regulatory non-compliance, and 59(iii) Intel will not provide or be required to assist in providing 60support to any third parties for such modified products. 61 62Note: Many regulatory agencies consider Wireless LAN adapters to be 63modules, and accordingly, condition system-level regulatory approval 64upon receipt and review of test data documenting that the antennas and 65system configuration do not cause the EMC and radio operation to be 66non-compliant. 67 68The drivers available for download from SourceForge are provided as a 69part of a development project. Conformance to local regulatory 70requirements is the responsibility of the individual developer. As 71such, if you are interested in deploying or shipping a driver as part of 72solution intended to be used for purposes other than development, please 73obtain a tested driver from Intel Customer Support at: 74 75http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/sb/CS-006408.htm 76 771. Introduction 78----------------------------------------------- 79 80This document provides a brief overview of the features supported by the 81IPW2100 driver project. The main project website, where the latest 82development version of the driver can be found, is: 83 84 http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net 85 86There you can find the not only the latest releases, but also information about 87potential fixes and patches, as well as links to the development mailing list 88for the driver project. 89 90 912. 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 98Enabled (but not supported) features: 99- Monitor/RFMon mode 100- WPA/WPA2 101 102The distinction between officially supported and enabled is a reflection 103on the amount of validation and interoperability testing that has been 104performed on a given feature. 105 106 1073. Command Line Parameters 108----------------------------------------------- 109 110If the driver is built as a module, the following optional parameters are used 111by entering them on the command line with the modprobe command using this 112syntax: 113 114 modprobe ipw2100 [<option>=<VAL1><,VAL2>...] 115 116For example, to disable the radio on driver loading, enter: 117 118 modprobe ipw2100 disable=1 119 120The ipw2100 driver supports the following module parameters: 121 122Name Value Example: 123debug 0x0-0xffffffff debug=1024 124mode 0,1,2 mode=1 /* AdHoc */ 125channel int channel=3 /* Only valid in AdHoc or Monitor */ 126associate boolean associate=0 /* Do NOT auto associate */ 127disable boolean disable=1 /* Do not power the HW */ 128 129 1304. Sysfs Helper Files 131--------------------------- 132----------------------------------------------- 133 134There are several ways to control the behavior of the driver. Many of the 135general capabilities are exposed through the Wireless Tools (iwconfig). There 136are a few capabilities that are exposed through entries in the Linux Sysfs. 137 138 139----- Driver Level ------ 140For 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 ------ 152For the device level files look in 153 154 /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2100/{PCI-ID}/ 155 156For example: 157 /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2100/0000:02:01.0 158 159For 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 1755. Radio Kill Switch 176----------------------------------------------- 177Most laptops provide the ability for the user to physically disable the radio. 178Some vendors have implemented this as a physical switch that requires no 179software to turn the radio off and on. On other laptops, however, the switch 180is controlled through a button being pressed and a software driver then making 181calls to turn the radio off and on. This is referred to as a "software based 182RF kill switch" 183 184See the Sysfs helper file 'rf_kill' for determining the state of the RF switch 185on your system. 186 187 1886. Dynamic Firmware 189----------------------------------------------- 190As the firmware is licensed under a restricted use license, it can not be 191included within the kernel sources. To enable the IPW2100 you will need a 192firmware image to load into the wireless NIC's processors. 193 194You can obtain these images from <http://ipw2100.sf.net/firmware.php>. 195 196See INSTALL for instructions on installing the firmware. 197 198 1997. Power Management 200----------------------------------------------- 201The IPW2100 supports the configuration of the Power Save Protocol 202through a private wireless extension interface. The IPW2100 supports 203the 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 211Power management works by powering down the radio after a certain 212interval of time has passed where no packets are passed through the 213radio. Once powered down, the radio remains in that state for a given 214period of time. For higher power savings, the interval between last 215packet processed to sleep is shorter and the sleep period is longer. 216 217When the radio is asleep, the access point sending data to the station 218must buffer packets at the AP until the station wakes up and requests 219any buffered packets. If you have an AP that does not correctly support 220the PSP protocol you may experience packet loss or very poor performance 221while power management is enabled. If this is the case, you will need 222to try and find a firmware update for your AP, or disable power 223management (via `iwconfig eth1 power off`) 224 225To configure the power level on the IPW2100 you use a combination of 226iwconfig and iwpriv. iwconfig is used to turn power management on, off, 227and 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 239You can view the current power level setting via: 240 241 iwpriv eth1 get_power 242 243It will return the current period or timeout that is configured as a string 244in the form of xxxx/yyyy (z) where xxxx is the timeout interval (amount of 245time after packet processing), yyyy is the period to sleep (amount of time to 246wait before powering the radio and querying the access point for buffered 247packets), and z is the 'power level'. If power management is turned off the 248xxxx/yyyy will be replaced with 'off' -- the level reported will be the active 249level if `iwconfig eth1 power on` is invoked. 250 251 2528. Support 253----------------------------------------------- 254 255For general development information and support, 256go to: 257 258 http://ipw2100.sf.net/ 259 260The ipw2100 1.1.0 driver and firmware can be downloaded from: 261 262 http://support.intel.com 263 264For installation support on the ipw2100 1.1.0 driver on Linux kernels 2652.6.8 or greater, email support is available from: 266 267 http://supportmail.intel.com 268 2699. 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 293 294