
Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 802.11b Driver for Linux
README.ipw2100

May 06, 2004


Release 0.43 Current Features
------------ -----   -----       ----       ---       --         -     

- BSS (infrastructure) only
- 802.11 fragmentation
- WEP 
- limited wireless extension support 


TODO
------------ -----   -----       ----       ---       --         -     
- long/short preamble support
- enhance wireless extension support
- adhoc
- continue to add support for addtional SW RF kill switch implementations
- "shared" authentication
- transmit power control
- power states support (ACPI)


Command Line Parameters
------------ -----   -----       ----       ---       --         -     

If the driver is built as a module, the following optional parameters are used
by entering them on the command line with the modprobe command using this
syntax:

	modprobe ipw2100 [<option>=<VAL1><,VAL2>...]

For example, to set the interface name for driver, entering:

	modprobe ipw2100 if_name=wlan%d

results in the ipw2100 driver defaulting to the wlan prefix, with the system
assigning a unique number in place of %d.  The default interface name is eth%d.


Radio Kill Switch
------------ -----   -----       ----       ---       --         -
Most laptops provide the ability for the user to physically disable the radio.
Some vendors have implemented this as a physical switch that requires no
software to turn the radio off and on.  On other laptops, however, the switch
is controlled through a button being pressed and a software driver then making
calls to turn the radio off and on.  This is referred to as a "software based
RF kill switch"

Currently this project provides modules for controlling the software RF kill
switch on the Averatec 5100P and Packard Bell EasyNote E5.  The code may work
on other laptops, but these are the only models on which it has been tested.

To determine if you have a system that might be compatible with one of the
provided SW RF Kill switch modules, you can run:


        To check for the Packard Bell --

        % dd if=/dev/mem bs=1 skip=983040 count=65535 2>/dev/null |                 strings |                 egrep "NEW-PC|Insyde Software MobilePRO BIOS"

        To check for the Averatec --

        % dd if=/dev/mem bs=1 skip=983040 count=65535 2>/dev/null |                 strings |                 egrep "AVERATEC"

If you have one of those laptop models you can imply loading the av5100/pbe5
module and the radio will be toggled on and off.  In addition, you can turn
the driver on and off by writing either a 1 or 0 to /proc/av5100/radio or
/proc/pbe5/radio.  If you automatically load the av5100/pbe5 module when your
system boots, you may wish to use the radio module parameter to control the
state of the radio upon loading:

        modprobe av5100 radio=0
        modprobe pbe5 radio=0

results in the module loading with the radio turned off.  You can then turn the
radio on by:

        echo 1 > /proc/av5100/radio
        echo 1 > /proc/pbe5/radio

If you have a SW RF kill switch and can not use one of the above modules,
please join us on IRC (irc.freenode.net) on channel #ipw2100 and someone may
be able to help--progress has been made at adapting the acerhk project to
support various laptops built using the Phoenix BIOS.


Dynamic Firmware
------------ -----   -----       ----       ---       --         -     
As the firmware is licensed under a restricted use license, it can not be 
included within the kernel sources.  To enable the IPW2100 you will need a 
firmware image to load into the wireless NIC's processors.

You can obtain these images from <http://ipw2100.sf.net/firmware.php>.

See INSTALL for instructions on installing the firmware.


Support
------------ -----   -----       ----       ---       --         -     

For general information and support, go to:
	
    http://ipw2100.sf.net/

License
------------ -----   -----       ----       ---       --         -     

  Copyright(c) 2003 - 2004 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.

  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it 
  under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free 
  Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) 
  any later version.
  
  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT 
  ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or 
  FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for 
  more details.
  
  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
  this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 
  Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.
  
  The full GNU General Public License is included in this distribution in the
  file called LICENSE.
  
  Contact Information:
  James P. Ketrenos <ipw2100-admin@linux.intel.com>
  Intel Corporation, 5200 N.E. Elam Young Parkway, Hillsboro, OR 97124-6497

