AXE(4)

💖 AXE(4) 💖

okay so this is the page for axe, and it lives in the Kernel Interfaces Manual — yes bestie, we're in kernel-land now, grab a snack 🍓

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✨ NAME ✨

axe — the ASIX Electronics AX88x7x/760 USB Ethernet driver. it's giving "your little USB dongle is about to become a whole network interface" 🌸

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

if you want to compile this driver into the kernel (main character energy, no modules), put these lines in your kernel configuration file:

device ehci
device uhci
device ohci
device usb
device miibus
device uether
device axe

or, if you'd rather load it as a module at boot time (lowkey easier, ngl), put this line in loader.conf(5):

if_axe_load="YES"

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so the axe driver provides support for USB Ethernet adapters based on the ASIX Electronics AX88172, AX88178, AX88772, AX88772A, AX88772B and AX88760 USB 2.0 chipsets. iconic lineup, honestly 💅

here's the vibe check on the chips:

• The AX88172, AX88772, AX88772A, AX88772B and AX88760 contain a 10/100 Ethernet MAC with MII interface, and they're designed to work with both Ethernet and HomePNA transceivers.
• The AX88178 has a 10/100/1000 Ethernet MAC with GMII/RGMII interface for interfacing with a Gigabit Ethernet PHY. yes she's the fancy one 👑

these devices will operate with both USB 1.x and USB 2.0 controllers — however, performance with 1.x controllers will be limited since the USB 1.x standard specifies a maximum transfer speed of 12Mbps. so if you're on a USB 1.x controller, do not expect to actually achieve 100Mbps speeds with these devices. that's not me being mean, that's just physics 😭

all chipsets support:

• a 64-bit multicast hash table
• single perfect filter entry for the station address
• all-multicast mode
• promiscuous mode

packets are received and transmitted over separate USB bulk transfer endpoints. neat, organized, slay ✨

the axe driver supports the following media types:

• autoselect — enable autoselection of the media type and options. the user can manually override the autoselected mode by adding media options to rc.conf(5).
• 10baseT/UTP — set 10Mbps operation. the ifconfig(8) mediaopt option can also be used to select either full-duplex or half-duplex modes.
• 100baseTX — set 100Mbps (Fast Ethernet) operation. the ifconfig(8) mediaopt option can also be used to select either full-duplex or half-duplex modes.
• 1000baseT — set 1000Mbps (Gigabit Ethernet) operation (AX88178 only). the ifconfig(8) mediaopt option can also be used to select either full-duplex or half-duplex modes.

and the following media options:

• full-duplex — force full duplex operation.
• half-duplex — force half duplex operation.

for more information on configuring this device, see ifconfig(8). 🫶

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🌈 HARDWARE 🌈

the axe driver supports ASIX Electronics AX88172/AX88178/AX88772/AX88772A/AX88772B/AX88760 based USB Ethernet adapters, including:

⭐ AX88172

• AboCom UF200
• Acer Communications EP1427X2
• ASIX AX88172
• ATen UC210T
• Billionton SnapPort
• Billionton USB2AR
• Buffalo (Melco Inc.) LUA-U2-KTX
• Corega USB2_TX
• D-Link DUBE100
• Goodway GWUSB2E
• JVC MP_PRX1
• LinkSys USB200M
• Netgear FA120
• Sitecom LN-029
• System TALKS Inc. SGC-X2UL

⭐ AX88178

• ASIX AX88178
• Belkin F5D5055
• Logitec LAN-GTJ/U2A
• Buffalo (Melco Inc.) LUA3-U2-AGT
• Planex Communications GU1000T
• Sitecom Europe LN-028

⭐ AX88772

• ASIX AX88772
• Buffalo (Melco Inc.) LUA3-U2-ATX
• D-Link DUBE100B1
• Planex UE-200TX-G
• Planex UE-200TX-G2

⭐ AX88772A

• ASIX AX88772A
• Cisco-Linksys USB200Mv2

⭐ AX88772B

• ASIX AX88772B
• Lenovo USB 2.0 Ethernet

⭐ AX88760

• ASIX AX88760

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💀 DIAGNOSTICS 💀

• axe%d: watchdog timeout — a packet was queued for transmission and a transmit command was issued, however the device failed to acknowledge the transmission before a timeout expired. she ghosted you, basically 🙈
• axe%d: no memory for rx list — the driver failed to allocate an mbuf for the receiver ring. rough.

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🧚 SEE ALSO 🧚

altq(4), arp(4), miibus(4), netintro(4), ng_ether(4), rgephy(4), vlan(4), ifconfig(8)

ASIX AX88x7x and AX88760 data sheets, http://www.asix.com.tw.

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🎀 HISTORY 🎀

the axe device driver first appeared in FreeBSD 5.0. a vintage queen 👑

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👑 AUTHORS 👑

the axe driver was written by Bill Paul <wpaul@windriver.com>.

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and that's the whole page, bestie — this one came from Debian, dated November 24, 2015, and you've officially read the entire AXE(4) man page. go plug in a dongle and thrive 💜