bwi(4) - NetBSD Manual Pages

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BWI(4)                  NetBSD Kernel Interfaces Manual                 BWI(4)


NAME

     bwi -- Broadcom BCM430x/4318 IEEE 802.11b/g wireless network driver


SYNOPSIS

     bwi* at pci? dev ? function ?


DESCRIPTION

     The bwi driver provides support for Broadcom BCM430x/4318 wireless net-
     work adapters.  For more information on configuring this device, see
     ifconfig(8).

   MIB Variables
     The following per-interface variables are implemented in the hw.bwiX
     branch of the sysctl(3) MIB.

     debug        Debug flags.

     dwell_time   Channel dwell time during scan (msec).

     fw_version   Firmware version.

     led_idle     Number of ticks before LED enters idle state.

     led_blink    Allow LED to blink.

     txpwr_calib  Enable software TX power calibration.


HARDWARE

     The following cards are among those supported by the bwi driver:

           Card                     Chip       Bus         Standard
           Buffalo WLI-PCI-G54S     BCM4306    PCI         b/g
           Dell Wireless 1370       BCM4318    Mini PCI    b/g
           Dell Wireless 1470       BCM4318    Mini PCI    b/g
           Dell Truemobile 1400     BCM4309    Mini PCI    b/g
           Dell Latitude D505       BCM4306    PCI         b/g
           Apple AirPort Extreme                           b/g


FILES

     The firmware for the adapter is not shipped with NetBSD and must be
     obtained separately.  An archive with firmware files that are known to
     work can be found at:

           http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/~sephe/bwi/v3.tbz

     The firmware files conventionally reside in /libdata/firmware/bwi and
     will be loaded when the interface is brought up.  Note: the v3 subdirec-
     tory in the above firmware archive should exist in the firmware folder.
     The full list of paths checked for firmware can be found in the
     hw.firmware.path sysctl(3) node.


SEE ALSO

     arp(4), ifmedia(4), pci(4), ifconfig(8), sysctl(8), wiconfig(8),
     wpa_supplicant(8)


HISTORY

     The bwi driver first appeared in NetBSD 6.0.


AUTHORS

     The bwi driver was written by Sepherosa Ziehau for Dragonfly BSD.  It was
     ported to NetBSD by Taylor R. Campbell <campbell@mumble.net>.

     The hardware specification was reverse engineered by the people at
     http://bcm-specs.sipsolutions.net.  Thanks go also to johill and mb on
     the #bcm-specs channel.


BUGS

     BCM4306 and BCM4309 chips do not work properly on channel 1, 2, and 3.

     The NetBSD driver does not yet support cardbus devices.

NetBSD 6.0                      March 24, 2009                      NetBSD 6.0