OpenSolaris

Wireless Network Driver for the Intel Pro/Wireless 2100B Chipset (ipw)

The current version is 0.5.  Previous version(s) can be downloaded from here. With Crossbow integration, this version can be used with onnv105 and previous builds.  On onnv105+ builds, user can use the integrated driver directly.

This driver is based on the Intel Pro/Wireless 2100 Native *BSD Driver project.

The binaries are provided under the OpenSolaris Binary License,
which is included in the distribution package. 

The ipw driver is now integrated into OpenSolaris build 61. Solaris 10 users need to use v0.3 which is based on GLDv2.

Changelog

Version 0.5: Nevada build 44 requires this new version now.  Note that
this version is incompatible with all releases of Solaris 10 and Nevada builds before build 44.  Fixed bugs:

• 6398382 Unable to get DHCP to work over iwi (ipw2200)
• 6425757 /kernel/drv/iwi: undefined symbol 'pci_config_put8'
• 6447026 assertion panic on load/boot with iwi and mac after GLDv3/Nemo integration

Version 0.4: Added GLDv3 and shared key support. The driver now requires Nevada build 31+. Fixed bugs:

• 6365840 ipw need to support gldv3
• 6385030 iwi: wificonfig scan results never changed
• 6390240 Wifi iwi locks machine on large local transfer
• 6412040 iwi need to support shared key authmode
• 6412811 SUNWiwi postinstall needs to handle the conflict with e1000g for pci8086,4223.8086.1000

Version 0.3: Source code is now available. Critical bugs fixed:

• 6353812 ipw driver must disable interrupts at shutdown; tecra s1 hangs on reboot
• 6390925 iwi and ipw should support multicast function
• 6390876 ipw has rc4_init fail message prompted during attach

Version 0.2: Now includes 64-bit ipw driver and requires wificonfig v0.2. Bugs fixed since 0.1:

• 6344041 wificonfig scan doesn't work unless interface is plumbed
• 6346570 wificonfig disconnect doesn't work
• 6385255 SUNWiwi and SUNWipw package postinstall need to remove "-b" option
• 6354367 iwi always drops connections when laptop lid is closed

Links

• ipw(7D) man page
• SUNWipw package (v0.5)
• Source code tarball
• wificonfig utility (v0.2)

Requirements

Before downloading the source or installing the binaries, please
make sure that your system meets the following requirements:

• Built-in wireless card based on Intel Pro/Wireless 2100B Chipset
• Solaris 10 or Solaris Nevada build

How to use

The easiest way to install the driver is from pre-compiled binary package:

    # wget http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/laptop/downloads/ipw-0.5-pkg.tar.gz
    # gzip -dc ipw-0.5-pkg.tar.gz | tar xvf -
    # pkgadd -d ./ipw-0.5 SUNWipw

You should be able to plumb the interface right after installing this
package without having to reboot first:

    # ifconfig ipw0 plumb

If plumbing failed, your card may be not supported or just not
getting properly identified by the Solaris kernel.  Send us a note
and we'll try to help.

If you don't use WEP and want to connect to whatever WLAN available, then
all that's left to do is starting dhcp:

    # ifconfig ipw0 dhcp

If your WLAN requires WEP authorization, then you need to download and install the wificonfig utility.  After that, you'll need to create
new profile for your WLAN with the following commands:

    # wificonfig createprofile <ProfileName> essid=<ssid> encryption=wep wepkey1=<wepkey>
    # wificonfig -i ipw0 connect <ProfileName>
     or
    # wificonfig -i ipw0 connect <ssid>
    # ifconfig ipw0 dhcp

Go to wificonfig web page for more details.

Notes

This is work in progress. Please send your questions and comments <mailto:laptop-discuss@opensolaris.org> discussion forum.