This driver is for Cisco 340 and
Aironet 4500 and 4800 ISA/PCI/PCMCIA cards and 2.0
or 2.2 kernels. Just for fun, I tested a 3500 for a total of 2
minutes and it seemed to work more or less. (The configuration
information displayed in the Config file seemed a bit messed up.)
The card will create an ethX device for each wireless card. An entry
for each device will be created under /proc/aironet/ethX with entries
to view the status of the card and configure it.
/proc/aironet
In the /proc/aironet partition there will be a subdirectory for each
aironet interface. In that subdirectory are four files: Status,
Config, WepKey, and SSID.
Status
Most of the fields in the Status file are self describing. The Mode:
field is a bitmask. Here is the description from the programmer's
manual:
Bit Meaning
0x0001 Configured
0x0002 MAC Enabled
0x0004 Receive Enabled
0x0010 In Sync
0x0020 Associated
0x8000 Error
I'm not sure what the units are in the Signal: field.
Config
The Config file is mode up of fields separated by newlines. When
setting the fields, they can occur in any order. If the values are
in error, a sane default will be used. Note, there must be exactly
one space between the colon and the value.
Mode:
can be "adhoc" or "ESS". Defaults to ESS.
NodeName:
Can be up to 16 characters in length
PowerMode:
Can be CAM (Constantly Awake Mode), PSP (Power Saving
something...), PSPCAM (you guess...). CAM is default.
DataRates:
Must be separated by exactly 1 space. The units are 500 kps. So 2 is
1 mbs. There can be up to 8 rates specified. The basic rate set by
setting the high bit (bit 7).
Channel:
Don't know anything about this except that you can set it...
XmitPower:
Transmit power in milliwatts.
WEP:
Can be open, encrypt, and shared, meaning no authentication,
encrypted data only, shared key authentication and encryption.
Note that when WEP is enabled the current cards (as of 9/9/99)
do not allow data rates above 2 mbs.
Modulation:
Can be cck or mok. Sets the modulation type for speeds above 2mbs.
WepKey
This file allows all four wep keys to be set.
The key is set by writing the index (0 == first key) of the key to be set,
followed by a space,
followed by the key as a string
to the file. Each octet must be written in hexadecimal with
leading zeros and separated by colons. For security reasons the key
cannot be read from the card. Writing to this file sets both the
permanent and temporary key. (Anyone have a need for being able
to write them separately?) For example:
echo 0 12:04:78:9a:bc > /proc/aironet/eth0/WepKey
When the file is read, it shows the length of the keys that are set and
the index of the key that is set as the transmit key.
APList
Contains the list of MACs of the preferred APs. Each MAC address must be
separated by a delimiter and each octet of the MAC should be separated by a
delimiter and each octet should have two digits. 01:02:03:04:05:06 and
01-02-03:04:05,06 are valid. 1:2:3:4:5:6 is not. I usually separate the
MACs by linefeeds but any character works.
SSID
The SSID file has the list of usable SSIDs. If the list is empty, it
will associate with any access point that it can find. The SSIDs are
separated by line feeds. This file may also be written to to change
the list.
Stats/StatsDelta
Basically a dump of all the statistics of the card. The source has
provisions for all the statistics even though by default a lot of them
are turned off. Stats give the statistics from the time the card was
powered up. StatsDelta gives the statistics from the time the statistics
were last reset. The statistics are reset by opening the StatsDelta file
for writing.
PARAMETERS
io=i,j,...
Specifies the set of ioports used by the driver. This is only used
for ISA cards. The irq to be used will match the irq in the same
position in the irq list. So basically ioport at index i will be used
with the irq at index i.
irq=i,j,...
Specifies the set of interrupts are used by the driver.
rates=i,j,...
A comma separated list of rates. There are up to 8 of them. They are
specified in 512 kps units.
basic_rate=n
Sets the basic rate of the card. Same units as the rates. (It must
be one of the rates.)
ssids=i,j,k
A comma separated list of ssids. There can be up to 3. They are a
maximum of 32 characters.
maxencrypt=n
Sets the maximum speed of the card when doing encryption. If zero (the
default), it is not used. Units are in 512kbs. Older cards could only
do 2mbs (n=4) when doing encryption, even though they could do 11 mbs
without encryption.
auto_wep=n
Turns on logic to cycle through the different WEP settings until the card
is able to associate. It will also cycle through the wep keys. n is the
number of keys to cycle through. Note, it only cycles through the keys
for shared mode. When encrypt is tried, it will use the permanent key
index. (See WepKey.)
aux_bap=1
Enables logic that gets around bus timing problems on older cards with
some boards. The timing problem manifests itself when receiving packets
bigger than 70 bytes.
SPECIFIC NOTES
When used with PCMCIA cards, it must be used with the airo_cs module.
