AXGE(4)

💅 AXGE(4) — a.k.a. the ASIX USB Gigabit Ethernet driver, bestie edition 🦋

okay so this is page 4 of the Kernel Interfaces Manual, and it's literally all about axge, the ASIX Electronics AX88178A/179/179A USB Gigabit Ethernet driver. yeah. that's the whole vibe. get comfy 🎀

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✨ NAME ✨

axge — the ASIX Electronics AX88178A/179/179A USB Gigabit Ethernet driver. it's giving "my ethernet is a dongle and it slays" 🔥

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

so if you wanna bake this driver into the kernel (main character energy, no modules), you drop these lines into your kernel configuration file, exactly like this:

device xhci
device ehci
device uhci
device ohci
device usb
device miibus
device uether
device axge

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

if_axge_load="YES"

and that's it. periodt. 💜

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

the axge driver is out here providing support for USB Gigabit Ethernet adapters based on the ASIX Electronics AX88179/AX88179A USB 3.0 and AX88178A USB 2.0 chipsets. yes, both. iconic of it. 👑

the AX88179, AX88179A and AX88178A each contain a 10/100/1000 Ethernet MAC with a GMII interface, which is what lets it talk to the Gigabit Ethernet PHY. the plumbing. the infrastructure. we love to see it 💅

these devices will operate with both USB 1.x and USB 2.0 controllers, and the AX88179/AX88179A will also operate with USB 3.0 controllers. packets get received and transmitted over separate USB bulk transfer endpoints — two lanes, no drama, fr fr 🦋

🌸 supported media types 🌸

the axge driver supports the following media types:

• autoselect — turns on autoselection of the media type and options. you can still manually override the autoselected mode by adding media options to rc.conf(5). so it'll pick for you, but you can absolutely step in and be like "no bestie, I got this" ✨
• 10baseT/UTP — sets 10Mbps operation. the ifconfig(8) mediaopt option can also be used to select either full-duplex or half-duplex modes.
• 100baseTX — sets 100Mbps (Fast Ethernet) operation. the ifconfig(8) mediaopt option can also be used to select either full-duplex or half-duplex modes.
• 1000baseT — sets 1000Mbps (Gigabit Ethernet) operation (AX88178 only). the ifconfig(8) mediaopt option can also be used to select either full-duplex or half-duplex modes. gigabit!! she's fast!! 💨

🎀 supported media options 🎀

the axge driver supports the following media options:

• full-duplex — force full duplex operation. both directions, baby. 🫶
• half-duplex — force half duplex operation. one at a time, we take turns. 🙈

for more information on configuring this device, see ifconfig(8). it's the manual, it's the moment, go read it 💖

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🌈 HARDWARE 🌈

the axge driver supports the following USB Gigabit Ethernet controllers:

• ASIX Electronics AX88179A
• ASIX Electronics AX88179
• ASIX Electronics AX88178A

three icons. all ASIX. no cap. ⭐

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🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

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

iykyk — go read them if you need the lore 📚

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🧚 HISTORY 🧚

the axge device driver first appeared in FreeBSD 10.1. a whole era. a whole moment in time. 🕰️

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💖 AUTHORS 💖

the axge driver was written by Kevin Lo <kevlo@FreeBSD.org> and Li-Wen Hsu <lwhsu@FreeBSD.org>. this manual page was adapted by Mark Johnston <markj@FreeBSD.org> from the axe(4) manual page. give them their flowers, they earned them 🌸💐

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! 💀✨ this edition came from Debian and is dated May 25, 2025 — so go forth, plug in your dongle, and let axge do her thing. mwah. 🫶💜🎀