NAME

urtwn — Realtek RTL8188CU/RTL8188EU/RTL8192CU USB IEEE 802.11b/g/n wireless network device

SYNOPSIS

urtwn* at uhub? port ?

DESCRIPTION

The urtwn driver supports USB 2.0 wireless network devices based on Realtek RTL8188CUS, RTL8188CE-VAU, RTL8188EUS, RTL8188RU, and RTL8192CU chipsets.

The RTL8188CUS and RTL8188EUS are highly integrated 802.11n adapters that combine a MAC, a 1T1R capable baseband and an RF in a single chip. They operate in the 2GHz spectrum only. The RTL8188RU is a high-power variant of the RTL8188CUS. The RTL8188CE-VAU is a PCI Express Mini Card adapter that attaches to the USB interface.

The RTL8192CU is a highly integrated multiple-in, multiple-out (MIMO) 802.11n adapter that combines a MAC, a 2T2R capable baseband and an RF in a single chip. It operates in the 2GHz spectrum only.

These are the modes the urtwn 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.

IBSS mode

Also known as IEEE ad-hoc mode or peer-to-peer mode. This is the standardized method of operating without an access point. Stations associate with a service set. However, actual connections between stations are peer-to-peer.

Host AP

In this mode the driver acts as an access point (base station) for other cards.

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.

The urtwn driver can be configured to use Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) or Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK). WPA is the de facto encryption standard for wireless networks. It is strongly recommended that WEP not be used as the sole mechanism to secure wireless communication, due to serious weaknesses in it.

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

FILES

The driver needs the following firmware files, which are loaded when an interface is attached:

/libdata/firmware/if_urtwn/rtl8188eufw.bin

/libdata/firmware/if_urtwn/rtl8192cfw.bin

/libdata/firmware/if_urtwn/rtl8192cfwU.bin

HARDWARE

The following adapters should work:

Airlink101 AWLL5088

Aus. Linx AL-9604R1S

ASUSTeK USB-N10 NANO

B-Link BL-LW05-5R

Belkin F7D1102 Surf Wireless Micro

D-Link DWA-121

D-Link DWA-133

D-Link DWA-135

Digitus DN-7042

Edimax EW-7811Un

EDUP EP-N8508

ELECOM WDC-150SU2M

Full River FR-W100NUL

Hercules Wireless N USB Pico HWNUp-150

Netgear WNA1000A

Planex GW-USEco300

Planex GW-USNano2

Planex GW-USValue-EZ

Planex GW-USWExtreme

POWCHIP POW-N18

Sitecom N300 USB (WLA-2102 v1)

Sitecom WL-365

Solwise NET-WL-UMD-606N

TP-LINK TL-WN723N v3

TP-LINK TL-WN725N v2

TRENDnet TEW-648UBM

EXAMPLES

The following ifconfig.if(5) example configures urtwn0 to join whatever network is available on boot, using WEP key “0x1deadbeef1”, channel 11, obtaining an IP address using DHCP:

nwkey 0x1deadbeef1 chan 11 
dhcp

Join an existing BSS network, “my_net”:

# ifconfig urtwn0 192.168.1.1 netmask 0xffffff00 nwid my_net

DIAGNOSTICS

urtwn%d: error %d, could not read firmware %s

For some reason, the driver was unable to read the microcode file from the filesystem. The file might be missing or corrupted.

urtwn%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), netintro(4), usb(4), ifconfig.if(5), wpa_supplicant.conf(5), ifconfig(8), wpa_supplicant(8)

HISTORY

The urtwn device driver first appeared in OpenBSD 4.9 and in NetBSD 6.0.

AUTHORS

The urtwn driver was written by Damien Bergamini <damien@openbsd.org> for OpenBSD and ported to NetBSD by NONAKA Kimihiro <nonaka@NetBSD.org>.

CAVEATS

The urtwn driver does not support any of the 802.11n capabilities offered by the adapters. Additional work is required in ieee80211(9) before those features can be supported.