xref: /netbsd-src/share/man/man4/urtwn.4 (revision 82d56013d7b633d116a93943de88e08335357a7c)
1.\" $NetBSD: urtwn.4,v 1.17 2018/12/20 15:19:31 tih Exp $
2.\" $OpenBSD: urtwn.4,v 1.15 2011/11/26 06:39:33 ckuethe Exp $
3.\"
4.\" Copyright (c) 2010 Damien Bergamini <damien.bergamini@free.fr>
5.\"
6.\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
7.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
8.\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
9.\"
10.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
11.\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
12.\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
13.\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
14.\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
15.\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
16.\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
17.\"
18.Dd December 17, 2018
19.Dt URTWN 4
20.Os
21.Sh NAME
22.Nm urtwn
23.Nd Realtek RTL8188CU/RTL8188EU/RTL8192CU/RTL8192EU USB IEEE 802.11b/g/n wireless network device
24.Sh SYNOPSIS
25.Cd "urtwn* at uhub? port ?"
26.Sh DESCRIPTION
27The
28.Nm
29driver supports USB 2.0 wireless network devices based on Realtek
30RTL8188CUS, RTL8188CE-VAU, RTL8188EUS, RTL8188RU, RTL8192CU and RTL8192EU
31chipsets.
32.Pp
33The RTL8188CUS and RTL8188EUS are highly integrated 802.11n adapters that
34combine a MAC, a 1T1R capable baseband and an RF in a single chip.
35They operate in the 2GHz spectrum only.
36The RTL8188RU is a high-power variant of the RTL8188CUS.
37The RTL8188CE-VAU is a PCI Express Mini Card adapter that attaches
38to the USB interface.
39.Pp
40The RTL8192CU and RTL8192EU are highly integrated multiple-in, multiple-out
41(MIMO) 802.11n adapters that combine a MAC, a 2T2R capable baseband and an
42RF in a single chip.
43It operates in the 2GHz spectrum only.
44.Pp
45These are the modes the
46.Nm
47driver can operate in:
48.Bl -tag -width "IBSS-masterXX"
49.It BSS mode
50Also known as
51.Em infrastructure
52mode, this is used when associating with an access point, through
53which all traffic passes.
54This mode is the default.
55.It IBSS mode
56Also known as
57.Em IEEE ad-hoc
58mode or
59.Em peer-to-peer
60mode.
61This is the standardized method of operating without an access point.
62Stations associate with a service set.
63However, actual connections between stations are peer-to-peer.
64.It Host AP
65In this mode the driver acts as an access point (base station)
66for other cards.
67.It monitor mode
68In this mode the driver is able to receive packets without
69associating with an access point.
70This disables the internal receive filter and enables the card to
71capture packets from networks which it wouldn't normally have access to,
72or to scan for access points.
73.El
74.Pp
75The
76.Nm
77driver can be configured to use
78Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) or
79Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK).
80WPA is the de facto encryption standard for wireless networks.
81It is strongly recommended that WEP
82not be used as the sole mechanism
83to secure wireless communication,
84due to serious weaknesses in it.
85.Pp
86The
87.Nm
88driver can be configured at runtime with
89.Xr ifconfig 8
90or on boot with
91.Xr ifconfig.if 5 .
92.Sh FILES
93The driver needs the following firmware files,
94which are loaded when an interface is attached:
95.Pp
96.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
97.It /libdata/firmware/if_urtwn/rtl8188eufw.bin
98.It /libdata/firmware/if_urtwn/rtl8192cfw.bin
99.It /libdata/firmware/if_urtwn/rtl8192cfwU.bin
100.It /libdata/firmware/if_urtwn/rtl8192efw.bin
101.El
102.Sh HARDWARE
103The following adapters should work:
104.Pp
105.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
106.It Airlink101 AWLL5088
107.It Aus. Linx AL-9604R1S
108.It ASUSTeK USB-N10 NANO
109.It B-Link BL-LW05-5R
110.It Belkin F7D1102 Surf Wireless Micro
111.It D-Link DWA-121
112.It D-Link DWA-131
113.It D-Link DWA-133
114.It D-Link DWA-135
115.It Digitus DN-7042
116.It Edimax EW-7811Un
117.It EDUP EP-N8508
118.It ELECOM WDC-150SU2M
119.It Full River FR-W100NUL
120.It Hercules Wireless N USB Pico HWNUp-150
121.It IO-DATA WN-G150UMW
122.It Netgear WNA1000A
123.It Planex GW-USEco300
124.It Planex GW-USNano2
125.It Planex GW-USValue-EZ
126.It Planex GW-USWExtreme
127.It POWCHIP POW-N18
128.It Sitecom N300 USB (WLA-2102 v1)
129.It Sitecom WL-365
130.It Solwise NET-WL-UMD-606N
131.It TP-LINK TL-WN723N v3
132.It TP-LINK TL-WN725N v2
133.It TRENDnet TEW-648UBM
134.El
135.Sh EXAMPLES
136The following
137.Xr ifconfig.if 5
138example configures urtwn0 to join whatever network is available on boot,
139using WEP key
140.Dq 0x1deadbeef1 ,
141channel 11, obtaining an IP address using DHCP:
142.Bd -literal -offset indent
143nwkey 0x1deadbeef1 chan 11
144dhcp
145.Ed
146.Pp
147Join an existing BSS network,
148.Dq my_net :
149.Bd -literal -offset indent
150# ifconfig urtwn0 192.168.1.1 netmask 0xffffff00 nwid my_net
151.Ed
152.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
153.Bl -diag
154.It "urtwn%d: error %d, could not read firmware %s"
155For some reason, the driver was unable to read the microcode file from the
156filesystem.
157The file might be missing or corrupted.
158.It "urtwn%d: device timeout"
159A frame dispatched to the hardware for transmission did not complete in time.
160The driver will reset the hardware.
161This should not happen.
162.El
163.Sh SEE ALSO
164.Xr arp 4 ,
165.Xr netintro 4 ,
166.Xr usb 4 ,
167.Xr ifconfig.if 5 ,
168.Xr wpa_supplicant.conf 5 ,
169.Xr ifconfig 8 ,
170.Xr wpa_supplicant 8
171.Sh HISTORY
172The
173.Nm
174device driver first appeared in
175.Ox 4.9
176and in
177.Nx 6.0 .
178.Sh AUTHORS
179.An -nosplit
180The
181.Nm
182driver was written by
183.An Damien Bergamini
184.Aq damien@openbsd.org
185for
186.Ox
187and ported to
188.Nx
189by
190.An NONAKA Kimihiro
191.Aq nonaka@NetBSD.org .
192.Sh CAVEATS
193The
194.Nm
195driver does not support any of the 802.11n capabilities offered by the
196adapters.
197Additional work is required in
198.Xr ieee80211 9
199before those features can be supported.
200