DragonFly BSD

HowToSetUpIpw2200

"Index"

  1. HowToSetUpIpw2200
  2. Preamble
  3. Prerequisites
  4. Loading the if_iwi kernel module
  5. Loading the firmware
  6. Configuring the WLAN interface

Preamble

This document is written by a DragonFlyBSD newbie for other newbies, so there may be a better way to setup the ipw2200 wlan adapter. It was tested on a Asus V6800 notebook, but hopefully it should apply to all notebooks with ipw2200 adapters. WPA encryption is not available now (April 2006), and I wasn't unable to get my wlan adapter to establish a WEP connection, so I have only an unprotected WIFI connection, but that may be a problem with my notebook or my router.

Prerequisites

You need two things to setup your ipw2200 adapter:

Loading the if_iwi kernel module

If you've done a fresh install of DragonFlyBSD, the kernel module should already be "ready to use". This is how you can load it:

  # kldload if_iwi 

If you don't get an error message, the necessary module is loaded now. If you get this message:

  kldload: can't load if_iwi: File exists

this is ok, too. It means, that the module has already been loaded for you. BTW: you can check, if it's already loaded with this command:

  # kldstat | grep if_iwi 

This should return something similar to this, if the module is loaded:

  6    1 0xc0759000 c2c8     if_iwi.ko

If you don't have the kernel module available, you must build a new kernel. You can find the necessary information to do that in the ["DragonFlyBSD Handbook, chapter 9"](http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/~justin/handbook/kernelconfig.htm) : (http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/~justin/handbook/kernelconfig.html) .

Later, you can automate loading of the kernel driver by using the /boot/loader.conf file.

# Getting the firmware 

If you've already set up the pkgsrc system on your machine, you can install it by


  # cd /usr/pkgsrc/sysutils/iwi-firmware
  # make install clean

and continue reading at the next section ("Loading the firmware").

Otherwise, you can "download it from" (http://damien.bergamini.free.fr/iwifw/ipw2200-fw-2.3.tgz) and extract to a new directory, e. g. /usr/libdata/iwi_firmware:

  # mkdir /tmp/firmware
  # cd /tmp/firmware
  # fetch http://damien.bergamini.free.fr/iwifw/ipw2200-fw-2.3.tgz
  # tar xvfz ipw2200-fw-2.3.tgz
  # mkdir /usr/libdata/if_iwi
  # mv *fw  /usr/libdata/if_iwi
  # cd ..
  # rm -fd firmware

Unfortunately, you must rename the files:

  # cd /usr/libdata/if_iwi
  # mv ipw-2.3-ibss_ucode.fw iwi-ucode-ibss.fw
  # mv ipw-2.3-sniffer.fw iwi-sniffer.fw
  # mv ipw-2.3-boot.fw iwi-boot.fw
  # mv ipw-2.3-bss.fw iwi-bss.fw
  # mv ipw-2.3-sniffer_ucode.fw iwi-ucode-sniffer.fw
  # mv ipw-2.3-bss_ucode.fw iwi-ucode-bss.fw
  # mv ipw-2.3-ibss.fw iwi-ibss.fw

Loading the firmware

Now, you can load the firmware:

  # iwicontrol iwi0 -d /usr/libdata/if_iwi

Configuring the WLAN interface

Now, you can configure your ipw2200 adapter.

First example: without WPA and WEP

  # ifconfig iwi0 inet <ip-address> netmask <netmask> ssid <myssid> wepmode off

Second example: with WEP

  # ifconfig iwi0 inet <ip-address> netmask <netmask> ssid <myssid> wepmode on wepkey <mywepkey>

(example for a 104/128 bit wepkey hex value: 0xf6fa1c61abc3ca5a3787fdaeae)

Check your success (example):

  # ifconfig iwi0
  iwi0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
       inet 192.168.2.101 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.2.255
       inet6 fe80::212:f0ff:fe07:f5c8%iwi0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x3
       ether 00:12:f0:07:f5:c8
       media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet autoselect (OFDM/54Mbps)
       status: associated
       ssid catalan 1:catalan
       channel 6 authmode OPEN powersavemode OFF powersavesleep 100
       rtsthreshold 2312 protmode CTS txpower 100
       wepmode OFF weptxkey 1

We have the IP-address 192.168.2.101 with netmask 255.255.255.0 (0xffffff00), and are connected ("associated") to an access point with the name "catalan". We don't use WEP (wepmode OFF) here.

As said at the beginning, I wasn't able to connect to my router/AP with WEP enabled, but it should work (tm). I was only able to make a connection with enabled SSID broadcast, but may be you'll have more luck ;-)