wavelan(4)

💖 wavelan(4) — the Kernel Interfaces Manual glow-up ✨

okay bestie, gather round, because we're talking about wavelan, aka the AT&T GIS WaveLAN ISA device driver 🎀. she's a legacy icon, she's seen things, and she is very much retired. let's get into it 💅

---

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

insmod wavelan_cs.o [io=B,B..] [ irq=I,I..] [name=N,N..]

that's the whole vibe. type it, ship it, move on 💫

---

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so first things first, bestie: this driver is obsolete — it was removed in Linux 2.6.35. 🪦 she's gone. not ghosted, actually removed. RIP queen 👑

wavelan is the low-level device driver for the NCR / AT&T / Lucent WaveLAN ISA and Digital (DEC) RoamAbout DS wireless ethernet adapter 📡. she can show up as a module or she might be compiled into the kernel — both eras, both icons 🫶.

she supports multiple cards in both forms — up to 4 🔥 — and for each card she finds, she allocates the next available ethernet device (eth0..eth#), unless you explicitly hand her a device name (keep reading, it's below bestie, patience 💜). that device name gets reported in the kernel log file, alongside the MAC address, NWID, and frequency the card is using ✨. it's giving receipts.

🧚 Parameters

this whole section is about the module form — the parameters you pass on the insmod(8) command line. buuut if the driver is baked into the kernel instead, you use the ether=IRQ,IO,NAME syntax on the kernel command line 🎀.

• io — tells her the list of base addresses where to go searching for wavelan cards (that's the setting you dial in with the dip switch on the card, iykyk). if you don't specify any io address at all, the driver will scan 0x390 and 0x3E0 addresses — which might conflict with other hardware... 😭 yeah. drama incoming.
• irq — sets the list of IRQs that each wavelan card should use. and get this: the value is saved in permanent storage for future use 💾 she remembers. she always remembers.
• name — sets the list of names to be used for each wavelan card device (this is the name used by ifconfig(8)). name your children, bestie 💖

📶 Wireless extensions

use iwconfig(8) to manipulate wireless extensions ✨ simple as that.

🏷️ NWID (or domain)

set the network ID [0 to FFFF] or just disable it [off] 🚫. and here's the iconic part: since the NWID is stored in the card's Permanent Storage Area, it will be reused at any further invocation of the driver 👑 she holds onto it forever. committed queen.

🌈 Frequency & channels

for the 2.4 GHz 2.00 Hardware, you can set the frequency either by picking one of the 10 defined channels — that's 2.412, 2.422, 2.425, 2.4305, 2.432, 2.442, 2.452, 2.460, 2.462 or 2.484 — or by passing a numeric value directly 🎯. the frequency changes immediately and permanently ⚡ no take-backs. also, frequency availability depends on the regulations... 📜 so like, check your local laws bestie, don't be messy.

🕵️ Statistics spy

set a list of MAC addresses in the driver — up to 8 of them 👀 — and you'll get the last quality of link for each one (see iwspy(8)). she's watching. lovingly. 💜

📁 /proc/net/wireless

• status is the status reported by the modem 📠
• Link quality reports the quality of the modulation on the air (direct sequence spread spectrum) — [max = 16] ✨
• Level and Noise refer to the signal level and noise level — [max = 64] 🔊
• the crypt discarded packet and misc discarded packet counters are not implemented 🙈 yeah, those ones just don't exist, don't come for her.

🔒 Private ioctl

you may use iwpriv(8) to manipulate private ioctls 💅 go off.

📊 Quality and level threshold

this one lets you define the quality and level threshold used by the modem — and any packet below that level gets discarded 🗑️ harsh but fair.

📈 Histogram

this functionality makes it possible to set a number of signal level intervals and to count the number of packets received in each of those defined intervals 📊✨. and that distribution might be used to calculate the mean value and standard deviation of the signal level — math girlies rise up 🧮👑

⚠️ Specific notes

• this driver fails to detect some non-NCR/AT&T/Lucent Wavelan cards 😭 if that's your situation, you must look in the source code on how to add your card to the detection routine. DIY era fr fr.
• some of the mentioned features are optional 🌸 you may enable or disable them by changing flags in the driver header and recompile. build it your way, main character energy 💅

💀 heads up bestie: the driver is obsolete and was removed in Linux 2.6.35 — everything above is history-book lore, not a to-do list.

---

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

• wavelan_cs(4)
• ifconfig(8)
• insmod(8)
• iwconfig(8)
• iwpriv(8)
• iwspy(8)

---

and that's the whole page, bestie 🎀 this came out of Linux man-pages 6.20, dated 2025-05-17 — so you know it's the good stuff. go forth, read manpages, slay 💖✨👑