| wl.4 (92426) | wl.4 (131530) |
|---|---|
| 1.\" 2.\" Copyright (c) 1997, Jim Binkley 3.\" All rights reserved. 4.\" 5.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 6.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 7.\" are met: 8.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright --- 14 unchanged lines hidden (view full) --- 23.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 24.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 25.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 26.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 27.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 28.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 29.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 30.\" | 1.\" 2.\" Copyright (c) 1997, Jim Binkley 3.\" All rights reserved. 4.\" 5.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 6.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 7.\" are met: 8.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright --- 14 unchanged lines hidden (view full) --- 23.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 24.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 25.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 26.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 27.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 28.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 29.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 30.\" |
| 31.\" $FreeBSD: head/share/man/man4/man4.i386/wl.4 92426 2002-03-16 17:31:46Z schweikh $ | 31.\" $FreeBSD: head/share/man/man4/man4.i386/wl.4 131530 2004-07-03 18:29:24Z ru $ |
| 32.Dd July 7, 1997 33.Dt WL 4 i386 34.Os 35.Sh NAME 36.Nm wl 37.Nd T1 speed ISA/radio lan card 38.Sh SYNOPSIS 39.Cd "device wl0 at isa? port 0x300 irq 5" 40.Sh DESCRIPTION 41The 42.Nm 43driver controls a radio lan card system made originally by | 32.Dd July 7, 1997 33.Dt WL 4 i386 34.Os 35.Sh NAME 36.Nm wl 37.Nd T1 speed ISA/radio lan card 38.Sh SYNOPSIS 39.Cd "device wl0 at isa? port 0x300 irq 5" 40.Sh DESCRIPTION 41The 42.Nm 43driver controls a radio lan card system made originally by |
| 44NCR, then ATT, now Lucent. The system is spread-spectrum radio 45at around 915 MHz (or 2.4 GHz). With the supplied omni-directional antennae, | 44NCR, then ATT, now Lucent. 45The system is spread-spectrum radio 46at around 915 MHz (or 2.4 GHz). 47With the supplied omni-directional antennae, |
| 46about 400 feet (indoors, more outdoors) can be covered in circumference. | 48about 400 feet (indoors, more outdoors) can be covered in circumference. |
| 47This card can talk to the companion (wlp0) pccard. Speeds vary | 49This card can talk to the companion (wlp0) pccard. 50Speeds vary |
| 48from 1 megabit to theoretically 2 megabits (roughly T1 in speed). 49.Pp 50The card has three fundamental hardware 51units, a so-called PSA or programmable storage area, a radio modem, | 51from 1 megabit to theoretically 2 megabits (roughly T1 in speed). 52.Pp 53The card has three fundamental hardware 54units, a so-called PSA or programmable storage area, a radio modem, |
| 52and a ethernet lan controller. The latter component is the | 55and a ethernet lan controller. 56The latter component is the |
| 53ancient (and not very honorable) Intel 82586 ethernet chip. 54Fundamentally it appears to the operating system as an ethernet system, | 57ancient (and not very honorable) Intel 82586 ethernet chip. 58Fundamentally it appears to the operating system as an ethernet system, |
| 55and speaks IEEE MAC addresses. The radio modem simply translates | 59and speaks IEEE MAC addresses. 60The radio modem simply translates |
| 56ethernet packets to/from radio packets, that are either at 2.4 GHz | 61ethernet packets to/from radio packets, that are either at 2.4 GHz |
| 57or 915 MHz depending on the radio modem. It supports a collision 58avoidance scheme. The lan controller | 62or 915 MHz depending on the radio modem. 63It supports a collision 64avoidance scheme. 65The lan controller |
| 59supports promiscuous mode, broadcast, and multicasting 60(although there is a glitch | 66supports promiscuous mode, broadcast, and multicasting 67(although there is a glitch |
| 61in the latter). "It thinks it is ethernet". | 68in the latter). 69"It thinks it is ethernet". |
| 62.Pp 63How it is used | 70.Pp 71How it is used |
| 64depends on the kind of antennae deployed with it. Point to point 65applications are possible as are ethernet-like lan use. The vendor | 72depends on the kind of antennae deployed with it. 73Point to point 74applications are possible as are ethernet-like lan use. 75The vendor |
| 66ships an omni-directional antennae that works in the 67vicinity of 400 feet (indoors). 68Point to point antennae can be purchased that will go miles. 69.Sh SETUP 70The card can either be initialized with the vendor supplied DOS setup software. 71Typically minimally an IRQ, port, and Network ID must be supplied. 72Michael Smith's 73.Xr wlconfig 8 74utility can now be used to do this work from | 76ships an omni-directional antennae that works in the 77vicinity of 400 feet (indoors). 78Point to point antennae can be purchased that will go miles. 79.Sh SETUP 80The card can either be initialized with the vendor supplied DOS setup software. 81Typically minimally an IRQ, port, and Network ID must be supplied. 82Michael Smith's 83.Xr wlconfig 8 84utility can now be used to do this work from |
| 75the UNIX side. The card is "not" plug and play. | 85the UNIX side. 86The card is "not" plug and play. |
| 76The network id controls whether one set of cards can hear another. 77If different, cards will read physical packets, but they will be discarded 78by the radio modem. 79.Sh CONTROL 80In addition to the config utility, there are several sysctl 81switches that can be used to modify runtime parameters. 82The 83.Xr sysctl 8 84variables are as follows: 85.Bl -diag 86.It "machdep.wl_xmit_delay <useconds>" 87This variable will cause the driver to insert a delay on transmit. | 87The network id controls whether one set of cards can hear another. 88If different, cards will read physical packets, but they will be discarded 89by the radio modem. 90.Sh CONTROL 91In addition to the config utility, there are several sysctl 92switches that can be used to modify runtime parameters. 93The 94.Xr sysctl 8 95variables are as follows: 96.Bl -diag 97.It "machdep.wl_xmit_delay <useconds>" 98This variable will cause the driver to insert a delay on transmit. |
| 88250 is the default. The delay should probably be a bit longer 89on faster cpus and less on slower cpus. It exists because the 82586 | 99250 is the default. 100The delay should probably be a bit longer 101on faster cpus and less on slower cpus. 102It exists because the 82586 |
| 90was not designed to work with Pentium-speed cpu systems and if overdriven 91will have copious xmit side errors. 92.It machdep.wl_ignore_nwid <0 | 1> | 103was not designed to work with Pentium-speed cpu systems and if overdriven 104will have copious xmit side errors. 105.It machdep.wl_ignore_nwid <0 | 1> |
| 93This switch defaults to 0; i.e., the nwid is not ignored. It can 94be set to 1 to cause the nwid to not be used. This may be useful | 106This switch defaults to 0; i.e., the nwid is not ignored. 107It can 108be set to 1 to cause the nwid to not be used. 109This may be useful |
| 95when the device is in promiscuous mode as one can watch for all 96packets and ignore nwid differences. 97.It machdep.wl_xmit_watch <milliseconds> 98This switch is not currently useful. 99.It machdep.wl_gather_snr <milliseconds> 100This switch is not currently useful. 101.Pp | 110when the device is in promiscuous mode as one can watch for all 111packets and ignore nwid differences. 112.It machdep.wl_xmit_watch <milliseconds> 113This switch is not currently useful. 114.It machdep.wl_gather_snr <milliseconds> 115This switch is not currently useful. 116.Pp |
| 102There is also a signal strength cache in the driver. It may be interrogated | 117There is also a signal strength cache in the driver. 118It may be interrogated |
| 103with 104.Xr wlconfig 8 . 105Incoming packets 106are checked for certain hardware radio-modem values including signal 107strength, silence, and quality, which range fro 0..63, 0..63, and 0..15 | 119with 120.Xr wlconfig 8 . 121Incoming packets 122are checked for certain hardware radio-modem values including signal 123strength, silence, and quality, which range fro 0..63, 0..63, and 0..15 |
| 108respectively. Thus one can read out signal strenth values to see 109how close/far peer nodes are. The signal strength cache is indexed by | 124respectively. 125Thus one can read out signal strenth values to see 126how close/far peer nodes are. 127The signal strength cache is indexed by |
| 110sender MAC address. | 128sender MAC address. |
| 111There are two sysctls that change how it filters packets. Both are on | 129There are two sysctls that change how it filters packets. 130Both are on |
| 112by default. 113.It machdep.wl_wlcache_mcastonly <0 | 1> 114By default this switch is on. 115It forces the cache to filter out | 131by default. 132.It machdep.wl_wlcache_mcastonly <0 | 1> 133By default this switch is on. 134It forces the cache to filter out |
| 116unicast packets. Only broadcast or multicast packets are accepted. | 135unicast packets. 136Only broadcast or multicast packets are accepted. |
| 117.It machdep.wl_wlcache_iponly <0 | 1> | 137.It machdep.wl_wlcache_iponly <0 | 1> |
| 118By default this switch is on. It forces the driver to discard non-IP 119packets and also stores the IP src address. ARP packets are ignored, | 138By default this switch is on. 139It forces the driver to discard non-IP 140packets and also stores the IP src address. 141ARP packets are ignored, |
| 120as are any other network protocol barring IPv4 packets. 121.El 122.Sh CAVEATS | 142as are any other network protocol barring IPv4 packets. 143.El 144.Sh CAVEATS |
| 123The 82586 has numerous defects. It may experience transmit-side | 145The 82586 has numerous defects. 146It may experience transmit-side |
| 124errors when modern faster cpus send packets at it faster than it can handle. 125The driver (and probably the chip) does not support an all multicast mode. 126As a result, it can be used with applications like 127.Xr mrouted 8 , | 147errors when modern faster cpus send packets at it faster than it can handle. 148The driver (and probably the chip) does not support an all multicast mode. 149As a result, it can be used with applications like 150.Xr mrouted 8 , |
| 128but it must go into promiscuous mode for that to work. The driver | 151but it must go into promiscuous mode for that to work. 152The driver |
| 129is slow to change modes from "normal" to promiscuous mode, presumably 130due to delays in the configuration code. 131.Sh SEE ALSO 132.Xr sysctl 8 , 133.Xr wlconfig 8 134.Pp 135.Pa http://www.wavelan.com 136.Sh HISTORY 137The 138.Nm 139driver was written by 140.An Anders Klemets 141(thousands of years ago?) and | 153is slow to change modes from "normal" to promiscuous mode, presumably 154due to delays in the configuration code. 155.Sh SEE ALSO 156.Xr sysctl 8 , 157.Xr wlconfig 8 158.Pp 159.Pa http://www.wavelan.com 160.Sh HISTORY 161The 162.Nm 163driver was written by 164.An Anders Klemets 165(thousands of years ago?) and |
| 142appears to be based on an even older Intel 82586 driver. The 82586 | 166appears to be based on an even older Intel 82586 driver. 167The 82586 |
| 143controller was one of the first (if not the first?) integrated lan | 168controller was one of the first (if not the first?) integrated lan |
| 144controller on the block. That does not mean it was the best either. | 169controller on the block. 170That does not mean it was the best either. |
| 145Anders ported and or created a driver for the ISA wavelan and PCCARD 146wavelan system too (wlp). 147.An Robert T. Morris, Jr. 148ported the Mach drivers to BSDI. 149.An Jim Binkley 150ported them to 151.Fx 2.1 . 152.An Michael Smith | 171Anders ported and or created a driver for the ISA wavelan and PCCARD 172wavelan system too (wlp). 173.An Robert T. Morris, Jr. 174ported the Mach drivers to BSDI. 175.An Jim Binkley 176ported them to 177.Fx 2.1 . 178.An Michael Smith |
| 153ported the wl driver only to 2.2.2. Jim and Michael have been 154maintaining them. The current state of the driver is NOT ANYONE'S 155FAULT. Thanks to | 179ported the wl driver only to 2.2.2. 180Jim and Michael have been 181maintaining them. 182The current state of the driver is NOT ANYONE'S 183FAULT. 184Thanks to |
| 156.An Bernie Doehner 157and 158.An Robert Buaas 159for contributions. 160.Sh AUTHORS | 185.An Bernie Doehner 186and 187.An Robert Buaas 188for contributions. 189.Sh AUTHORS |
| 161Too numerous to mention. See above. | 190Too numerous to mention. 191See above. |