Date: Sat, 12 May 2001 16:46:59 -0700 (PDT) From: "Bruce R. Montague" <brucem@mail.cruzio.com> To: freebsd-net@freebsd.org Subject: Linksys Wavelan WPC11 non-laptop links Message-ID: <200105122346.f4CNkxk00390@mail.cruzio.com>
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This describes setup of an 802.11b (Wi-Fi) radio link between two desktop (non-laptop) PCs using LinkSys Wavelan cards and without using a separate access point, One end of the link ran FreeBSD 4.3-RC #5 and the other PicoBSD (same source code, that is, using 4.3 freebsd-stable). I knew little about this when I started, and if there is a single doc capturing this information I didn't find it. I used two LinkSys WPC11 wireless PCMCIA cards (which seem relatively common and reasonably cheap) and did _not_ use a separate base station or access point; the link is point-to-point. Although I found a number of helpful resources, there are a number of variables and a manual driver patch was required (for 4.3 freebsd-stable), so I thought I'd log this in one place. If I'm off in the weeds anywhere in the following or putting out bogus info, please let me know... ---------------------------------- * Helpful URLS include: http://www.live.com/wireless/unix-base-station.html http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2000/11/02/Big_Scary_Daemons.html http://people.freebsd.org/~wpaul/wi.patch and the online CVS files at http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi * The LinkSys WPC11 PCMCIA card is similar to the Lucent Orinoco "gold/silver" cards, but with a few differences (incompatibilities). The generic name for these cards is "WAVELAN/IEEE 802.11b". The FreeBSD-stable driver ("device wi") is in files "/usr/src/sys/i386/isa/if_wi.c" and "if_wiregs.h". This driver has been moved in freebsd-current to the "usr/src/sys/dev/wi" directory, and appears to be undergoing a reasonable amount of enhancement (including mods motivated by "Linksys cards"). The "isa/if_wi.c" source has been moved to the attic, that is, deprecated. The wi driver is colloquially known as the "FreeBSD Wavelan driver" and on non-laptops under freebsd-stable it only works with ISA->PCMCIA bridge cards (not PCI->PCMCIA bridge cards). The chipset in the WPC11 is the Intersil (ex-Harris) HFA3841/HFA3842. The interface to the Orinoco and similar cards is based on some sort of firmware-driven microcontroller called the Lucent Hermes. Getting Lucent doc for this has apparently been a source of problems. According to the required "if_wi.c" driver patch for freebsd-stable, the WPC11 uses the "PRISM II chip" as opposed to the "Lucent chip". * Due to differences in laptop and non-laptop PCI hardware, use of a PCI->PCMCIA bridge card in non-laptops is not currently supported in FreeBSD-stable. See: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freebsd-hackers/message/61239 * Thus, to use PCMCIA cards (PCCARDS) in desktop FreeBSD systems, ISA->PCMCIA bridge cards must be used. I had a hard time finding these. I ended up using two "LinkSys ProConnect Desktop PCMCIA Card Reader/Writer" (Model PCMRDWR) kits. These include an "internal" ISA->PCMCIA bridge card that connects by ribbon cable to a 2-slot PCMCIA card adapter physically similar to a floppy-drive unit. These are considered "external" PCMCIA kits because the PCMCIA card does not mount directly into the bridge card. PCI->PCMCIA bridge kits seem to be quite popular currently in association with Windows wireless networks. These seem to almost all be "internal" kits, that is, the PCMCIA card mounts directly in the bridge card, extending out the back of the PC. * A patch by Bill Paul must be applied to the FreeBSD-stable "isa/if_wi.c" driver file to support the LinkSys WPC11. It looks like there might be a slight version problem between the patch and 4.3 stable. Key steps to installing and configuring picobsd and freebsd support for the WPC11, using 4.3 freebsd-stable source, are: ------------------------------------- * In both kernel config files, assure the Wavelan driver is added: --- device wi --- This is already the case in GENERIC. In picobsd you probably need to put it into the PICOBSD config file in your config directory. ------------------------------------- * In both kernel config files, you also need the PCMCIA driver (also already in GENERIC, you'll probably only need one device in picobsd): ---- # PCCARD (PCMCIA) support device card device pcic0 at isa? irq 0 port 0x3e0 iomem 0xd0000 device pcic1 at isa? irq 0 port 0x3e2 iomem 0xd4000 disable ----- ------------------------------------- * Modify "/usr/src/sys/i386/isa/if_wi.c" and "/usr/src/sys/i386/isa/if_wiregs.h" as per patch: http://people.freebsd.org/~wpaul/wi.patch That is, download the patch in the "i386/isa" directory and do a "patch <wi.patch". This patch implements support for the LinkSys WPC11 (and similar cards?). The patches to "if_wi.c" applied cleanly, but the last patch to "if_wiregs.h" did not. * Manually add the following line to the end of "struct wi_softc" in "if_wiregs.h": ----- int wi_prism2; /* set to 1 if it uses a Prism II chip */ ----- Without this patch, operations on the LinkSys card will hang or get bogus data. Specifically, commands such as "ifconfig wi up" immediately hang the system. ------------------------------------- * Modify the patched "/usr/src/sys/i386/isa/if_wi.c" file and remove the reference to "rman_make_alignment_flags()", which will cause 4.3-RC FreeBSD to fail on kernel link. In file "if_wi.c", replace: ---------------- static int wi_alloc(dev) device_t dev; { struct wi_softc *sc = device_get_softc(dev); int rid; rid = 0; sc->iobase = bus_alloc_resource(dev, SYS_RES_IOPORT, &rid, 0, ~0, (1 << 6), rman_make_alignment_flags(1 << 6) | RF_ACTIVE); ---------------- with: ---------------- static int wi_alloc(dev) device_t dev; { struct wi_softc *sc = device_get_softc(dev); int rid; rid = 0; sc->iobase = bus_alloc_resource(dev, SYS_RES_IOPORT, &rid, 0, ~0, (1 << 6), RF_ACTIVE); /* rman_make_alignment_flags(1 << 6) | RF_ACTIVE); */ ---------------- That is, just make the last argument "RF_ACTIVE". The "rman_make_alignment_flags()" looks like it works in freebsd-current. ------------------------------------ * Modify the FreeBSD "rc.conf" file to init the PCCARD driver via "pccardc" and run the PCCARD daemon, "pccardd" (add the following to "/etc/rc.conf"): --------------- pccard_enable="YES" pccard_mem="DEFAULT" --------------- For picoBSD, I ran the programs directly by editing "rc" (here "geode_ipfw" was my custom directory). In file: /usr/src/release/picobsd/geode_ipfw/floppy.tree/etc/rc add near the end: --------------- #### Enable pccard support: pccardc pccardmem 0xd0000 1>/dev/null && echo -n ' memory' pccardd -f /etc/pccard.conf && echo -n ' pccardd' ##### --------------- The "pccardd" command specifies a non-default "pccard.conf" (the "-f"; there is no "/etc/defaults" directory in a typical picoBSD configuration). ------------------------------------ * The "pccardd" daemon controls PCCARD activation on card insert. It is driven by a "database" config file that contains defaults for various known PCCARDS. Under FreeBSD the file is: /etc/defaults/pccard.conf This file does not contain a description for the LinkSys WPC11. The standard technique for adding "custom" PCCARD definitions is to put them in a "/etc/pccard.conf" file that is included by "/etc/defaults/pccard.conf". I created an "/etc/pccard.conf" file consisting of the following (a definition for the WPC11): --------------- # LinkSys WPC11: Derivative of Lucent WaveLAN/IEEE card "Instant Wireless " " Network PC CARD" config 0x1 "wi0" 9 0x10000 # insert sh /etc/server.sh --------------- * Note that it is _imperative_ that the strings on the "card" line be given exactly as specified, that is, with the trailing and leading spaces. These are the names that are displayed by the "pccardc dumpcis" command (see below). If these strings do not match, the "pccardd" daemon will complain - "No card in database for "Instant Wireless "(" Network PC CARD")". * The "9" in the "config" line is the IRQ used by the WPC11. This must be correct, that is, an available unused IRQ. Find an unused IRQ by doing a "dmesg | egrep irq" and using knowledge of the machine. A wrong irq often results in messages of the form "wi0: device timeout". * The " 0x10000 " in the "config" line is a set of control flags passed to the driver. IT IS ACTUALLY THESE FLAGS, not any hardware signature, that determines whether the driver treats the hardware as a Prism II or Lucent chip (vitally important). * Remove the comment # on the "insert" line after your "server.sh" (or whatever path/name) startup-script has been manually verified. ------------------------------------ * The last line in the "pccard.conf" file must be terminated by a new-line or the "pccardd" program will hang forever. ------------------------------------ * In picoBSD, you do not want to include the entire "pccard.conf" file, just the data you need. Create a file (using your config dir): /usr/src/release/picobsd/geode_ipfw/floppy.tree/etc/pccard.conf that consists of the following: --------------- # picoBSD PCCARD configuration file # # Generally available IO ports io 0x240-0x360 # Generally available IRQs (Built-in sound-card owners remove 5) irq 3 5 10 11 15 # Available memory slots memory 0xd4000 96k # # # # LinkSys WPC11: Derivative of Lucent WaveLAN/IEEE card "Instant Wireless " " Network PC CARD" config auto "wi" ? 0x10000 # insert sh /etc/client.sh # --------------- Again note that the last line in "pccard.conf" must end in a newline to avoid a "pccardd" hang. Depending on your hardware configuration, you may need to hardcode the "config" similar to the FreeBSD case. Remove the comment # from the "insert" line after your "client.sh" startup-script has been manually verified. ------------------------------------ * For picoBSD, add "pccardc", "pccardd", and "wicontrol" to the system to be built. In my example, in file: /usr/src/release/picobsd/geode_ipfw/crunch.conf add the following: ------- srcdirs /usr/src/usr.sbin/pccard # ------- and ------- progs pccardc progs pccardd progs wicontrol ------- The "source directories" needed in "crunch.conf" are the directories where the "Makefile" that builds the program is located. ------------------------------------ * The "card0" device node needs to exist in "/dev". * In picoBSD, edit the file named "config" in your configuration directory, for instance, in my case I edited file: /usr/src/release/picobsd/geode_ipfw/config: and added "card0" to the end: MY_DEVS=" ... card0" A complete example for my device build line is: ------- MY_DEVS="std tun2 vty10 fd0 ad0 ad0s1 ad0s2 acd0 pty0 cuaa0 cuaa1 bpf0 bpf1 bpf2 ad0s1a ad0s1b ad0s1c ad0s2a ad0s2b ad0s2c card0" ------- ------------------------------------ * Create start-scripts to bring up both sides of the link. The smallest connectivity-test scripts I used were: On the FreeBSD system, "/etc/server.sh": ------------------ # # Server-side 802.11b (WiFi) radio set-up. # # Note if you are using 40-bit cards, that # names are limited to 5 characters (5*8). # Newer cards may be 128-bit cards. # ifconfig wi0 down # wicontrol -i wi0 -c 0 wicontrol -i wi0 -p 3 # ifconfig wi0 192.168.0.2 # ------------------ On the picoBSD system, in: /usr/src/release/picobsd/geode_ipfw/floppy.tree/etc/client.sh file contents: ------------------ # # client-side 802.11b (WiFi) radio set-up. # # Note if you are using 40-bit cards, that # names are limited to 5 characters (5*8). # Newer cards may be 128-bit cards. # # ifconfig wi0 down # wicontrol -i wi0 -c 0 wicontrol -i wi0 -p 3 # ifconfig wi0 192.168.0.14 # ------------------ (naturally your IP addresses will differ). The "-c 0" means not to create (or join?) a BSS (cell) and "-p 3" means to operate the "port" in ad-hoc mode. In ad-hoc mode PCs talk directly to each other (as if on an ethernet link). Although apparently not necessary in ad-hoc mode, it seems reasonable to assign "station" (node) names ("-s") and the name of the "radio network" ("service set", SS, similar to a "cell") that one wants to join ("-n"). To actually create the named SS, use "-q" on the ``server'' (this probably only has meaning in BSS mode). Also, using encryption (WEP) and setting a key should be done in real operation. A more realistic set of startup-scripts is: ------------------ # # Server-side 802.11b (WiFi) radio set-up. # # Note if you are using 40-bit cards, that # names are limited to 5 characters (5*8). # Newer cards may be 128-bit cards. # ifconfig wi0 down # wicontrol -i wi0 -s srv1 # `station' (node) name. wicontrol -i wi0 -n bruce # Name of `radio-net/set' to join. wicontrol -i wi0 -q bruce # Name of `radio-net/set' to create. # wicontrol -i wi0 -e 1 # WEP encryption ON. wicontrol -i wi0 -k 0x1234512345 -v 1 # Set key 1. wicontrol -i wi0 -T 1 # Use key 1. # wicontrol -i wi0 -c 0 # No IBSS (AP). wicontrol -i wi0 -p 3 # Ad-hoc mode. # ifconfig wi0 192.168.0.2 # IP address. # ------------------ ------------------ # # client-side 802.11b (WiFi) radio set-up. # # Note if you are using 40-bit cards, that # names are limited to 5 characters (5*8). # Newer cards may be 128-bit cards. # # ifconfig wi0 down # wicontrol -i wi0 -s foo # `station' (node) name. wicontrol -i wi0 -n bruce # Name of `radio-net/set' to join. # # wicontrol -i wi0 -e 1 # WEP encryption ON. wicontrol -i wi0 -k 0x1234512345 -v 1 # Set key 1. wicontrol -i wi0 -T 1 # Use key 1. # wicontrol -i wi0 -c 0 # No IBSS. wicontrol -i wi0 -p 3 # Ad-hoc mode. # ifconfig wi0 192.168.0.14 # IP address. # ------------------ ------------------------------------ * Both systems should be rebuilt, and then booted once with the verbose switch (on FreeBSD, press enter on countdown and then "boot -v"). For (the new non-/boot/loader) picoBSD, at the "boot:" countdown prompt, type "-v" and hit Enter. * After boot, scan the output of "dmesg" for: "wi0: found PrismII chip" If you see "wi0: found Lucent chip", your "pccard.conf" file has something wrong. ------------------------------------ * In FreeBSD, assure that "card0" exists. "cd /dev" and do a "MAKEDEV card0" if no "card0" exists. ------------------------------------ * Manually execute and test the startup-scripts that contain the "wicontrol" commands. The "wicontrol" program can be considered a logical extension to "ifconfig" (in NetBSD it is apparently called "wiconfig"). * Before executing the scripts, an "ifconfig" will show "wi0" is not "UP", and the red LED on the WPC11 card will blink constantly. * Assigning "wi0" an IP address will also bring the device "UP". When this happens, the red LED on the WPC11 will stay solidly on. * A "wi0: init failed" always occurs on driver startup. This is a timeout. It appears innocuous. * Naturally, before using the link you need to configure your routing tables with commands on both systems similar to: netstat -rn route add default 192.168.0.2 * After this, the link should work. Verify with a "ping" to the other system, then exercise other TCP/IP traffic. ------------------------------------ * Commands that can be used to display status: -------------- * To display WPC11 settings: >wicontrol or >wicontrol -i wi0 Both these commands produce the same output; the default argument is "-i wi0". Output of this command includes the station (node) and "service set ID" (radio network) names: Station name: [ srv1 ] SSID for IBSS creation: [ bruce ] Current netname (SSID): [ bruce ] Desired netname (SSID): [ bruce ] Current BSSID: [ 00:00:00:00:00:00 ] These names are not to be confused with DNS or other names. The BSSID is 0 in 802.11b ad-hoc mode. Other values of interest are: Port type (1=BSS, 3=ad-hoc): [ 3 ] MAC address: [ 00:dd:e5:c0:00:72 ] TX rate (selection): [ 3 ] TX rate (actual speed): [ 11 ] Create IBSS: [ Off ] WEP encryption: [ Off ] TX encryption key: [ 1 ] Encryption keys: [ ][ ][ ][ ] The "Off" flag for "Create IBSS" indicates the card is in 802.11b ad-hoc mode. To see the values for transmit (TX) rate, do a "man wicontrol", which shows 3 to be "auto select high". -------------- * To display 802.11b link stats: >wicontrol -o This is useful for checking error rates on wireless links. -------------- * To display firmware PCMCIA values/settings in the WPC11 card: >pccardc dumpcis This shows the PCMCIA "Card Information Structure", which for the WPC11 includes: Version = 5.0, Manuf = [Instant Wireless ], card vers = [ Network PC CARD] Addit. info = [Version 01.02],[] This command can be given as soon as the "wi" driver is included in the kernel and the "pccardc pccardmem 0xd0000 " executed (that is, before the "pccard.conf" database is correct). =================== ==== Remarks ====== ================== The above only applies to 4.3 stable. Under freebsd-current the same basic procedure should work but the patches should not be needed. Helpful man pages: wi, wicontrol, pccardd, pccardc, pcard.conf. There appears to be some confusion in terminology between "ad-hoc", BSS, IBSS, and ESS modes. What appears to be a fairly widespread 3COM white paper, "What's New in Wireless LANs: The IEEE 802.11b Standard" (one copy at): http://www.pulsewan.com/data101/802_11_b_basics.htm defines ad-hoc mode as the same as IBSS ("Independent Basic Service Set"). In this mode an access point (AP, essentially a cell-controller) is not used; the wireless cards simply provide the equivalent of a local ethernet cable. In the 3COM doc a BSS is a "cell" controlled by an AP, and an ESS (extended SS) is a network of APs. I assumed the "wicontrol" BSS "port type" means an access point is to be used, and ad-hoc means no AP is used. I never did get the WPC11s to operate in BSS mode, that is, not in ad-hoc mode (but then, I did not have an AP). Ross Finlayson's experience at: http://www.live.com/wireless/unix-base-station.html (also without an AP) is presumably different because he was using Lucent Orinoco cards, perhaps with "updated" firmware? The WPC11 cards do not all appear the same. Some (presumably older) come with doc that says they work with 40-bit WEP encryption, others with doc that says they will work up to 128 bits. Both old and new cards seem to interoperate OK at 40-bits or with WEP off. I'm assuming some version of freebsd-current will eventually support PCI->PCMCIA bridges. Does freebsd-current already do this? I don't know if PC-104 (an ISA derivative) will work with ISA->PCMCIA bridges, although I assume something like these must exist. PicoBSD folks probably have experience with WPC11 cards and PC-104? The same WPC11 card, in the same machine, will not necessarily reuse the same MAC address across boots (presumably it uses an address that does not appear to be in use in the "cell"?) Rebooting a system may thus result in console/log messages on other systems of the form: "arp: <ip addr> moved from <MAC addr> to <MAC addr> on wi0" This does not appear to cause any problems. It appears to be the last byte of the MAC address that changes... but? I don't know if it's possible to use antennas with the WPC11 cards. People seem to only use antennas with true access point units, but somewhere some doc suggested that the access points are actually just using the same cards (with different firmware or settings?), so maybe there is a way to connect an antenna? Although 802.11b seems short-range using just the cards, people seem to achieve 802.11b links the better part of 10 miles using directional antennas (amplified? higher power?). - bruce To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-net" in the body of the message
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