BCW(4)                    OpenBSD Programmer's Manual                   BCW(4)

NAME
     bcw - Broadcom IEEE 802.11b/g wireless network device

SYNOPSIS
     bcw* at cardbus?
     bcw* at pci?

DESCRIPTION
     The bcw driver provides support for Broadcom BCM43xx based PCI/Cardbus
     network adapters.

     These are the modes the bcw driver can operate in:

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

     The transmit speed is user-selectable or can be adapted automatically by
     the driver depending on the received signal strength and on the number of
     hardware transmission retries.  See rssadapt(9) for more information.

CONFIGURATION
     The bcw driver can be configured at runtime with ifconfig(8) or on boot
     with hostname.if(5) using the following parameters:

     bssid bssid
             Set the desired BSSID.

     -bssid  Unset the desired BSSID.  The interface will automatically select
             a BSSID in this mode, which is the default.

     chan n  Set the channel (radio frequency) to be used by the driver based
             on the given channel ID n.

     -chan   Unset the desired channel to be used by the driver.  The driver
             will automatically select a channel in this mode, which is the
             default.

     media media
             The bcw driver supports the following media types:

             autoselect  Enable autoselection of the media type and options.
             DS1         Set 802.11b DS 1Mbps operation.
             DS2         Set 802.11b DS 2Mbps operation.
             DS5         Set 802.11b DS 5.5Mbps operation.
             DS11        Set 802.11b DS 11Mbps operation.
             OFDM6       Set 802.11g OFDM 6Mbps operation.
             OFDM9       Set 802.11g OFDM 9Mbps operation.
             OFDM12      Set 802.11g OFDM 12Mbps operation.
             OFDM18      Set 802.11g OFDM 18Mbps operation.
             OFDM24      Set 802.11g OFDM 24Mbps operation.
             OFDM36      Set 802.11g OFDM 36Mbps operation.
             OFDM48      Set 802.11g OFDM 48Mbps operation.
             OFDM54      Set 802.11g OFDM 54Mbps operation.

     mediaopt opts
             The bcw driver supports the following media options:

             hostap   Select Host AP operation.
             ibss     Select IBSS operation.

     -mediaopt opts
             Disable the specified media options on the driver and return it
             to the default mode of operation (BSS).

     mode mode
             The bcw driver supports the following modes:

             11b  Force 802.11b operation.
             11g  Force 802.11g operation.

     nwid id
             Set the network ID.  The id can either be any text string up to
             32 characters in length, or a series of hexadecimal digits up to
             64 digits.  An empty id string allows the interface to connect to
             any available access points.  By default the bcw driver uses an
             empty string.  Note that network ID is synonymous with Extended
             Service Set ID (ESSID).

     -nwid   Set the network ID to the empty string to allow the interface to
             connect to any available access point.

     nwkey key
             Enable WEP encryption using the specified key.  The key can ei-
             ther be a string, a series of hexadecimal digits (preceded by
             `0x'), or a set of keys of the form ``n:k1,k2,k3,k4'', where `n'
             specifies which of the keys will be used for transmitted packets,
             and the four keys, ``k1'' through ``k4'', are configured as WEP
             keys.  If a set of keys is specified, a comma (`,') within the
             key must be escaped with a backslash.  Note that if multiple keys
             are used, their order must be the same within the network.  bcw
             is capable of using both 40-bit (5 characters or 10 hexadecimal
             digits) or 104-bit (13 characters or 26 hexadecimal digits) keys.

     -nwkey  Disable WEP encryption.  This is the default mode of operation.

FILES
     The driver needs a firmware file which is loaded when an interface is
     brought up:

           /etc/firmware/bcw-bcm43xx

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

           http://www.nazgul.ch/bcw/bcw-firmware-1.3.tgz

HARDWARE
     The following cards are among those supported by the bcw driver:

           Card                   Chip       Bus        Standard
           ?                      BCM4318    PCI        b/g
           ?                      BCM4306    PCI        b/g

EXAMPLES
     The following hostname.if(5) example configures bcw0 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

     The following hostname.if(5) example creates a host-based access point on
     boot:

           inet 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0 NONE media autoselect \
                   mediaopt hostap nwid my_net chan 11

     Configure bcw0 for WEP, using hex key ``0x1deadbeef1'':

           # ifconfig bcw0 nwkey 0x1deadbeef1

     Return bcw0 to its default settings:

           # ifconfig bcw0 -bssid -chan media autoselect \
                   nwid "" -nwkey

     Join an existing BSS network, ``my_net'':

           # ifconfig bcw0 192.168.1.1 netmask 0xffffff00 nwid my_net

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

HISTORY
     The bcw driver first appeared in OpenBSD 4.1.

AUTHORS
     The bcw driver was originally written by Cliff Wright and then rewritten
     for IEEE 802.11 by Jon Simola.

OpenBSD 4.1                    November 17, 2006                             3
