This README is written based on NetBSD Version 9.2.
We confirmed support for the following hardware.
For more information on all evaluated hardware, see Wi-Fi Hardware.
| Wi-Fi Dongle | Device ID | HW Vendor | Manpage | AP-Mode |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airlink 101 AWLL3026 | 0ace:1211 | ZyDAS (zyd) | https://man.netbsd.org/NetBSD-9.2-STABLE/zyd.4 | No |
| ALFA Network AWUS036NH | 148f:3070 | Ralink (run) | https://man.netbsd.org/NetBSD-9.2-STABLE/run.4 | No |
| Belkin F5D8053 v3 | 050d:815c | Ralink (run) | https://man.netbsd.org/NetBSD-9.2-STABLE/run.4 | No |
| Edimax EW-7811Un v2 | 7392:7811 | Realtek (urtwn) | https://man.netbsd.org/NetBSD-9.2-STABLE/urtwn.4 | Yes |
| Linksys WUSB600N v1 | 1737:0071 | Ralink (run) | https://man.netbsd.org/NetBSD-9.2-STABLE/run.4 | No |
| Linksys WUSBF54G v1.1 | 13b1:0024 | ZyDAS (zyd) | https://man.netbsd.org/NetBSD-9.2-STABLE/zyd.4 | No |
| Netgear WG111 v2 | 0846:6a00 | Realtek (urtw) | https://man.netbsd.org/NetBSD-9.2-STABLE/urtw.4 | Yes |
| Netgear WG111 v3 | 0846:4260 | Realtek (urtw) | https://man.netbsd.org/NetBSD-9.2-STABLE/urtw.4 | Yes |
| Sitecom WL-172 v1 | 0df6:90ac | Ralink (rum) | https://man.netbsd.org/NetBSD-9.2-STABLE/rum.4 | Yes |
| TP-Link TL-WN722N v1.10 | 0cf3:9271 | Atheros (athn) | https://man.netbsd.org/NetBSD-9.2-STABLE/athn.4 | Yes |
| TP-Link TL-WN722N v3 | 2357:010c | Realtek (urtwn) | https://man.netbsd.org/NetBSD-9.2-STABLE/urtwn.4 | Yes |
| TP-Link TL-WN725N v3.8 | 0bda:8179 | Realtek (urtwn) | https://man.netbsd.org/NetBSD-9.2-STABLE/urtwn.4 | Yes |
Clients can connect to a network using the well-known wpa_supplicant:
wpa_supplicant -i wlan0 -c supplicant.conf
An access point can be set up using the well-known hostapd:
hostapd -i wlan0 hostapd.conf
First we must enable dhcpd in /etc/rc.conf:
dhcpd=YES
Write the configuration in /etc/dhcpd.conf, for example:
allow unknown-clients;
subnet 192.168.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
range 192.168.0.100 192.168.0.200;
default-lease-time 604800;
max-lease-time 604800;
option routers 192.168.0.1;
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
option broadcast-address 192.168.0.255;
}
Then start the DHCP daemon:
dhcpd wlan0
Instructions to rebuild the kernel with debug statements.
Resources:
- https://www.netbsd.org/docs/guide/en/chap-fetch.html
- https://www.netbsd.org/docs/guide/en/chap-kernel.html
Clone the appropriate kernel source code into /usr/src:
cd /usr
export CVSROOT="[email protected]:/cvsroot"
cvs checkout -r netbsd-9-2-RELEASE -P src
We can now simply build and install:
cd /usr/src/sys/arch/$(machine)/conf
config GENERIC
cd /usr/src/sys/arch/$(machine)/compile/GENERIC
make depend
make
make install
Debug messages can be added with simple print statements:
printf("DEBUG-WLAN: Statement.\n");Interesting source files are located in the /usr/src/sys/net80211/ directory.
The kernel can now be rebuild and installed as instructed above.
Creating a patch file of any changes can be done as follows:
cd /usr/src
cvs diff -u ./sys/net80211/ > filename.patch
Instructions to rebuild device drivers.
Device driver code runs in the kernel and can be found in /usr/src/sys/dev.
Interesting source files for Wi-Fi dongles are located in the /usr/src/sys/dev/usb/ directory.
For example, Atheros code can be found in /usr/src/sys/dev/usb/if_athn_usb.c.
Changes can be made by rebuilding the kernel as listed above, and rebooting the system:
cd /usr/src/sys/arch/$(machine)/compile/GENERIC
make
make install
We can slightly increase debugging output for interface wlan0 with:
ifconfig wlan0 debug