UATH(4)

NAME
uath - Atheros USB IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless network device

SYNOPSIS
uath* at uhub? port ?

DESCRIPTION
The uath driver supports USB 2.0 wireless network devices based on Atheros Communications fifth generation AR5005UG and AR5005UX chipsets.

The AR5005UG chipset is made of an AR5523 multiprotocol MAC/baseband processor and an AR2112 Radio-on-a-Chip that can operate between 2300 and 2500 MHz (802.11b/g).

The AR5005UX chipset is made of an AR5523 multiprotocol MAC/baseband processor and an AR5112 dual band Radio-on-a-Chip that can operate between 2300 and 2500 MHz (802.11b/g) or 4900 and 5850 MHz (802.11a).

The AR5005UG and AR5005UX chipsets both have an integrated 32-bit MIPS R4000-class processor that runs a firmware and manages, among other things, the automatic control of the transmit rate and the calibration of the radio.

These are the modes the uath driver can operate in:

BSS mode
    Also known as infrastructure mode, this is used when associating with an access point, through which all traffic passes. This mode is the default.

monitor mode
    In this mode the driver is able to receive packets without associating with an access point. This disables the internal receive filter and enables the card to capture packets from networks which it wouldn't normally have access to, or to scan for access points.

uath supports hardware WEP. Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is the de facto encryption standard for wireless networks. It can be typically configured in one of three modes: no encryption; 40-bit encryption; or 104-bit encryption. Unfortunately, due to serious weaknesses in WEP protocol it is strongly recommended that it not be used as the sole mechanism to secure wireless communication. WEP is not enabled by default.

The uath driver can be configured at runtime with ifconfig(8) or on boot with hostname.if(5).

FILES
The following firmware file is loaded when a device is plugged:

/etc/firmware/uath-ar5523

This firmware file is not freely redistributable.

A prepackaged version of the firmware, designed to be used with pkg_add(1), can be found at:

    http://firmware.openbsd.org/firmware/uath-firmware-1.0p0.tgz

HARDWARE
The following adapters should work:

Adapter | Chipset
Compex WLU108AG | AR5005UX
Compex WLU108G | AR5005UG
D-Link DWL-G132 | AR5005UG
IODATA WN-G54/US | AR5005UG
MELCO WLI-U2-KAMG54 | AR5005UX
Netgear WG111T | AR5005UG
Netgear WG111U | AR5005UX
Netgear WPN111 | AR5005UG
Olitec 000544 | AR5005UG
Philips SNU6500 | AR5005UG
PLANET WDL-U357 | AR5005UX
Siemens Gigaset 108 | AR5005UG
SMC SMCWUSBT-G | AR5005UG
SMC SMCWUSBT-G2 | AR5005UG
SparkLAN WL-785A | AR5005UX
TP-Link TL-WN620G | AR5005UG
TRENDware International TEW-444UB | AR5005UG
TRENDware International TEW-504UB | AR5005UX
Unex Technology UR054ag | AR5005UX
ZyXEL XtremeMIMO M-202 | AR5005UX

EXAMPLES
The following hostname.if(5) example configures uath0 to join whatever network is available on boot, using WEP key “0x1deadbeef1”, channel 11, obtaining an IP address using DHCP:

    dhcp NONE NONE NONE nwkey 0x1deadbeef1 chan 11

Configure uath0 for WEP, using hex key “0x1deadbeef1”:

    # ifconfig uath0 nwkey 0x1deadbeef1

Return uath0 to its default settings:

    # ifconfig uath0 -bssid -chan media autoselect \
            nwid "" -nwkey

Join an existing BSS network, “my_net”:

    # ifconfig uath0 192.168.1.1 netmask 0xffffff00 nwid my_net

DIAGNOSTICS

uath%d: error %d, could not read firmware %s For some reason, the driver was unable to read the firmware image from the filesystem. The file might be missing or corrupted.

uath%d: could not load firmware (error=%s) An error occurred while attempting to upload the firmware to the onboard MIPS R4000 processor.

uath%d: could not initialize adapter (error=%d) The firmware was uploaded successfully but did not initialize properly or in time.

uath%d: could not send command (error=%s) An attempt to send a command to the firmware failed.

uath%d: timeout waiting for command reply A read command was sent to the firmware but the firmware failed to reply in time.

uath%d: device timeout A frame dispatched to the hardware for transmission did not complete in time. The driver will reset the hardware. This should not happen.

SEE ALSO
arp(4), ifmedia(4), intro(4), netintro(4), usb(4), hostname.if(5), ifconfig(8)

HISTORY
The uath driver first appeared in OpenBSD 4.0.

AUTHORS
The uath driver was written by Damien Bergamini <damien@openbsd.org>.

CAVEATS
Atheros Communications refuses to release any documentation for their products. Atheros proprietary 108 Mbps mode (aka Super AG mode) is not supported.

The uath driver does not attempt to do any regulation of radio frequencies.