MALO(4)

📦 version 12.2, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

🌸 MALO(4) 🌸

okay bestie, gather round, because today we're talking about malo — the Marvell Libertas IEEE 802.11b/g wireless network driver. yes it's a whole manual page. yes it's from the Kernel Interfaces Manual. no you don't have to read it alone, i got you 💖

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

so you wanna compile this driver into the kernel? iconic. drop these lines into your kernel configuration file, no notes:

device malo
device pci
device wlan
device firmware

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

if_malo_load="YES"

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

the malo driver is out here providing support for Marvell Libertas 88W8335 based PCI and Cardbus network adapters. she's serving.

malo supports station and monitor mode operation. that's the range, that's the vibe.

⚠️ lowkey important: only one virtual interface may be configured at any time. one. single. interface. she does not multitask and we respect that.

want the full tea on configuring this device? see ifconfig(8). 💅

also!! this driver requires firmware to be loaded before it will work. like, it's not optional, it's not a suggestion, it's a whole prerequisite. the ports/net/malo-firmware-kmod port needs to be installed before ifconfig(8) will work. no firmware, no vibes, no connection. periodt.

🎀 HARDWARE 🎀

here's the lineup of cards that are among those supported by the malo driver (slay):

  • Netgear WG311v3 — chip: 88W8335, bus: PCI, standard: b/g
  • Tenda TWL542P — chip: 88W8335, bus: PCI, standard: b/g
  • U-Khan UW-2054i — chip: 88W8335, bus: PCI, standard: b/g

all 88W8335, all PCI, all b/g. consistency is a flex fr fr. ✨

🔥 EXAMPLES 🔥

okay now the fun part, actual commands, copy-paste energy:

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

ifconfig wlan create wlandev malo0 inet 192.168.0.20 \
    netmask 0xffffff00

join a specific BSS network with network name “my_net”:

ifconfig wlan create wlandev malo0 ssid my_net up

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

ifconfig wlan create wlandev malo0 ssid my_net \
        wepmode on wepkey 0x1234567890 weptxkey 1 up

three little recipes, three little wins. you got this 🫶

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

go read these when you're done here, they're the supporting cast and they ate:

💜 HISTORY 💜

the malo device driver first appeared in FreeBSD 7.1. a legend from day one, no cap. 👑

and that's the whole page bestie!! this lil slice of the Debian Kernel Interfaces Manual is dated June 24, 2015 — so yes, she's vintage, she's a classic, and she still understood the assignment. mwah 💋 bye bye, go configure something 🦋✨

📦 where this page comes from