Intersil Prism 2/2.5/3 BeOS driver

http://patrick.lafarguette.free.fr/en/beos/hfa384x/

Introduction

This driver manages IEEE 802.11b wireless network adapters based on the Intersil Prism 2/2.5/3 (HFA3841 and HFA3842 MAC processors).

Features

The driver allows the network card to act as a station of a BSS (Basic Service Set) linked to an access point or as a station of an IBBS (Independent Basic Service Set) in a peer to peer network without an access point.
The WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) is managed with keys of 40 or 104 bits for a global level of protection of 64 or 128 bits.
It is recommended to update the firmware of the adapter for optimal operation.

Device support

PCI

Vendor and device identifiers supported by this driver are presented below. I may add more if needed.

1260:3872 Intersil Prism 3 Untested
1260:3873 Intersil Prism 2.5 Mini-PCI WLAN
167d:0a00 Samsung MagicLAN SWL-2210P Untested

PCMCIA

Manfids and versions supported by this driver are presented below.

0156, 0002 Belkin 11Mbps Wireless Notebook Network Adapter

PLX

Vendor and device identifiers supported by this driver are presented below. I may add more if needed.

1638:1100 Eumitcom Technology WP11000

USB

Vendor and device identifiers supported by this driver are presented below. I may add more if needed.

0846:4110 Netgear MA111 802.11b Wireless USB Adapter
0967:0204 Acer WarpLink USB Adapter
09aa:3642 Intersil Prism 2.5 802.11b USB Adapter
2001:3700 D-Link DWL-122 Air Wireless 2.4GHz (802.11b) USB Adapter

Disclaimer

This driver is copyrighted © 2003, 2004, 2005 by Patrick Lafarguette. All Rights Reserved.
Some portions of code are copyrighted © by Be Incorporated.
No warranty.
Use at your own risk.

Installation

There is no need to install the add-on for using the driver with BONE or Zeta.

PCI

  1. Open the driver folder. Drag the file hfa384x in the folder named drop driver here.
  2. Create a link in the folder /boot/home/config/add-ons/kernel/drivers/dev/net to the driver named /boot/home/config/add-ons/kernel/drivers/bin/hfa384x.
  3. Go to parent folder.
  4. Open the add-on folder. Drag the file hfa384x in the folder named drop add-on here.
  5. Go to parent folder.
  6. Open the configuration folder. Drag the file hfa384x in the folder named drop configuration file here.
  7. Reboot. After reboot, you will see a new device in the Network preferences panel.
  8. Setup your device and restart networking.

PCMCIA

  1. Open the driver folder. Drag the file hfa384x_cs in the folder named drop driver here.
  2. Create a link in the folder /boot/home/config/add-ons/kernel/drivers/dev/net to the driver named /boot/home/config/add-ons/kernel/drivers/bin/hfa384x_cs.
  3. Go to parent folder.
  4. Open the add-on folder. Drag the file hfa384x_cs in the folder named drop add-on here.
  5. Go to parent folder.
  6. Open the configuration folder. Drag the file hfa384x_cs in the folder named drop configuration file here.
  7. Insert your network card in a PCMCIA socket.
  8. Open a terminal. Execute the command cardctl ident to get the information needed for the configuration of the PCMCIA service :
    $ cardctl ident
    Socket 0:
      no product info available
    Socket 1:
      product info: "Belkin", "11Mbps Wireless Notebook Network Adapter", "Version 01.02", ""
      manfid: 0x0156, 0x0002
      function: 6 (network)
    
  9. Edit the file /boot/home/config/settings/kernel/drivers/pcmcia. Add the configuration information to bind this kind of card to the driver :
    card { # PCMCIA Prism 2/2.5/3
    	manfid 0x0156 0x0002
    	bind hfa384x_cs
    }
  10. Reboot. After reboot, insert the network card. You will see a new device in the Network preferences panel.
  11. Setup your device and restart networking.

PLX

  1. Open the driver folder. Drag the file hfa384x_plx in the folder named drop driver here.
  2. Create a link in the folder /boot/home/config/add-ons/kernel/drivers/dev/net to the driver named /boot/home/config/add-ons/kernel/drivers/bin/hfa384x_plx.
  3. Go to parent folder.
  4. Open the add-on folder. Drag the file hfa384x_plx in the folder named drop add-on here.
  5. Go to parent folder.
  6. Open the configuration folder. Drag the file hfa384x_plx in the folder named drop configuration file here.
  7. Reboot. After reboot, you will see a new device in the Network preferences panel.
  8. Setup your device and restart networking.

USB

  1. Open the driver folder. Drag the file hfa384x_usb in the folder named drop driver here.
  2. Create a link in the folder /boot/home/config/add-ons/kernel/drivers/dev/net to the driver named /boot/home/config/add-ons/kernel/drivers/bin/hfa384x_usb.
  3. Go to parent folder.
  4. Open the add-on folder. Drag the file hfa384x_usb in the folder named drop add-on here.
  5. Go to parent folder.
  6. Open the configuration folder. Drag the file hfa384x_usb in the folder named drop configuration file here.
  7. Reboot. After reboot, you will see a new device in the Network preferences panel.
  8. Setup your device and restart networking.

Configuration file

The configuration file is used to specify wireless settings.

mode Specify the kind of the wireless network. 0 for an IBSS, peer to peer network or 1 for a BSS, infrastructure network with an access point. The default value is 1.
channel Specify the radio channel to use. Possible values are from 1 to 14.
ssid Specify the name of the network to join or create. Up to 32 characters. If this value is not specified in BSS mode, the adapter can join all the existing networks.
privacy Specify if the frames are encrypted. 0 disable privacy. 1 enable WEP 64 bits and 2 enable WEP 128 bits. The default value is 0
authentication Specify the authentication type. 0 open system authentication. 1 shared key authentication (requires WEP). The default value is 0.
format Specify the WEP keys format. 0 ASCII. 1 hexadecimal string. The default value is 0
key0,
key1,
key2,
key3
Define the four keys associated with WEP. A key is a succession of 5 or 13 ASCII characters or 10 or 26 hexadecimal characters according to the selected format and level of privacy.

Syslog

You can enable syslog output to get useful debugging information.

  1. Copy the file named /boot/home/config/settings/kernel/drivers/sample/kernel to /boot/home/config/settings/kernel/drivers/kernel.
  2. Edit this file and uncomment the line syslog_debug_ouput true.
  3. After reboot, the file named /var/log/syslog will receive debug information from the driver.

Send me syslog file with your bug reports.

Author

This driver is written by Patrick Lafarguette.
Fell free to email me for bug report or enhancement request.

History

Version 0.0.10 01/23/2005 Open system and shared key authentication support.
Version 0.0.9 12/17/2004 USB device support.
Improved WEP support.
Modification of the configuration file format.
Version 0.0.8 02/12/2004 PLX device support.
Configuration file for compatibility with Zeta.
Version 0.0.7 11/24/2003 IBSS mode support for peer to peer network.
WEP support for privacy. Keys of 40 and 104 bits are managed.
The device configuration is now realized by the add-on.
Version 0.0.6 11/17/2003 Improved performances.
Improved reliability.
Version 0.0.5 10/30/2003 First public release.
Basic support.