Wireless Network Driver for the Agere/Prism-II 802.11b Chipsets (pcwl)
The current version is 0.1 which is based on GLDv2. Solaris 10 users need to user this version, while pcwl(GLDv3) version is integrated OpenSolaris build 60. With Crossbow integration, pcwl(GLDv3) version can be used with onnv105 and previous builds. On onnv105+ builds, please use the integrated driver directly.
This version doesn't support Prism2.5 pci card, while the gldv3 version in snv_60+ does support it.
This driver is partially based on the source code from FreeBSD, and
is provided under the same BSD License.
Links
- SUNWpcwl package
- Source code
Requirements
Before downloading the source or installing the binaries, please
make sure that your system meets the following requirements:
- Wireless card based on Agere 802.11b (e.g. Orinoco 11b) or Prism-II 802.11b (e.g., Netgear MA401) Chipset.
The card has to be recognized by Solaris and reported as "pccard156,2" in prtconf(1M). - 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/pcwl-0.1-pkg.tar.gz
# gzip -dc pcwl-0.1-pkg.tar.gz | tar xvf -
# pkgadd -d . SUNWpcwl
You should be able to plumb the interface right after installing this
package without having to reboot first:
# ifconfig pcwl0 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 pcwl0 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 -i pcwl0 createprofile essid=ssid encryption=wep wepkey1=wepkey
# wificonfig -i pcwl0 connect ssid
# ifconfig pcwl0 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.