IWI(4)

💖 IWI(4) — like, the Intel PRO/Wireless driver, bestie ✨

Okay so real talk: this is iwi(4) from the Kernel Interfaces Manual section — the whole page is about a wireless driver and honestly it's giving vintage-tech-that-still-slaps. Sit down, grab a boba, and let's get into it 🧋

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🌸 NAME 🌸

iwi — the Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/2225BG/2915ABG IEEE 802.11 network driver, no cap 💅

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

So there's two ways to get this driver living in your system. Option one: bake it right into the kernel by dropping these lines into your kernel configuration file:

device iwi
device iwifw
device pci
device wlan
device firmware

Or alternatively (iconic behaviour), load it as a module at boot time by putting this line in loader.conf(5):

if_iwi_load="YES"

But listen — in both cases, you gotta also put this line in loader.conf(5) to acknowledge the firmware license (more on that below, don't skip it 👀):

legal.intel_iwi.license_ack=1

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

The iwi driver provides support for Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG/2225BG/2915ABG IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless network devices in station, adhoc, and monitor mode operation. Only one virtual interface may be configured at any time. That's it. One. Don't push it 🙈

This driver requires the firmware built with the iwifw module to work. And for the loaded firmware to actually be enabled for use, the license at /usr/share/doc/legal/intel_iwi.LICENSE must be agreed to by adding the following line to loader.conf(5):

legal.intel_iwi.license_ack=1

For more info on configuring this device, go check out ifconfig(8) — it's the main character of network config fr fr 👑

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🎀 HARDWARE 🎀

The iwi driver supports these wireless network devices, and yes, this is the whole list:

• Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG MiniPCI Network Connection
• Intel PRO/Wireless 2225BG PCI Network Connection
• Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG MiniPCI Network Connection

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🌈 FILES 🌈

• /usr/share/doc/legal/intel_iwi.LICENSE — the iwi firmware license 📜

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💜 EXAMPLES 💜

Okay this is the fun part, let's actually connect to stuff 🫶

Join an existing BSS network (i.e., connect to an access point):

ifconfig wlan create wlandev iwi0 inet 192.0.2.20/24

Join a specific BSS network with network name my_net:

ifconfig wlan create wlandev iwi0 ssid my_net up

Join a specific BSS network with 64-bit WEP encryption:

ifconfig wlan create wlandev iwi0 ssid my_net \
    wepmode on wepkey 0x1234567890 weptxkey 1 up

Join a specific BSS network with 128-bit WEP encryption:

ifconfig wlan create wlandev iwi0 wlanmode adhoc ssid my_net \
    wepmode on wepkey 0x01020304050607080910111213 weptxkey 1

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⭐ DIAGNOSTICS ⭐

These are the messages you might see, and what they mean. Some of these are straight up not supposed to happen, and the manual is very clear about that 😭

• iwi%d: device timeout — The driver will reset the hardware. This should not happen.
• iwi%d: firmware error — The onboard microcontroller crashed for some reason. The driver will reset the hardware. This should not happen.
• iwi%d: timeout waiting for firmware initialization to complete — The onboard microcontroller failed to initialize in time. This should not happen.
• iwi%d: could not load firmware image '%s' — The driver failed to load the firmware image using the firmware(9) subsystem. Verify the iwifw(4) firmware module is installed and the license agreement loader(8) tunable has been set.
• iwi%d: could not load boot firmware — An attempt to upload the boot firmware image to the onboard microcontroller failed. This should not happen.
• iwi%d: could not load microcode — An attempt to upload the microcode image to the onboard microcontroller failed. This should not happen.
• iwi%d: could not load main firmware — An attempt to upload the main firmware image to the onboard microcontroller failed. This should not happen.

Lowkey, if you're seeing a bunch of "this should not happen" errors, that's your sign to vibe check your setup 🫠

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

iwifw(4), pci(4), wlan(4), wlan_ccmp(4), wlan_tkip(4), wlan_wep(4), networking(7), ifconfig(8), wpa_supplicant(8)

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🌸 AUTHORS 🌸

The original iwi driver was written by Damien Bergamini <damien.bergamini@free.fr>. Respect the icon who built the thing 🙌

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And that's the whole page, bestie — mwah 💋 this manual page was brought to you by Debian, dated November 10, 2024, and it ate, no crumbs. Go forth and connect ✨📶