URTWN(4) - Device Drivers Manual

URTWN(4) - Device Drivers Manual #

URTWN(4) - Device Drivers Manual

NAME #

urtwn - Realtek RTL8188CU/RTL8188EU/RTL8188FTV/RTL8192CU/RTL8192EU USB IEEE 802.11b/g/n wireless network device

SYNOPSIS #

urtwn* at uhub? port ?

DESCRIPTION #

The urtwn driver supports USB 2.0 wireless network devices based on Realtek RTL8188CU, RTL8188CE-VAU, RTL8188EU, RTL8188FTV, RTL8188RU, RTL8192CU and RTL8192EU chipsets.

The RTL8188CU, RTL8188EU and RTL8188FTV are highly integrated 802.11n adapters that combine a MAC, a 1T1R capable baseband and an RF in a single chip. They operate in the 2GHz spectrum only. The RTL8188RU is a high-power variant of the RTL8188CU. The RTL8188CE-VAU is a PCI Express Mini Card adapter that attaches to the USB interface.

The RTL8192CU and RTL8192EU are highly integrated multiple-in, multiple-out (MIMO) 802.11n adapters that combine a MAC, a 2T2R capable baseband and an RF in a single chip. They operate in the 2GHz spectrum only.

These are the modes the urtwn driver can operate in:

BSS mode

Also known as infrastructure mode, this is used when associating with an access point, through which all traffic passes. This mode is the default.

monitor mode

In this mode the driver is able to receive packets without associating with an access point. This disables the internal receive filter and enables the card to capture packets from networks which it wouldn’t normally have access to, or to scan for access points.

The urtwn driver can be configured to use Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) or Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA1 and WPA2). WPA2 is the current encryption standard for wireless networks. It is strongly recommended that neither WEP nor WPA1 are used as the sole mechanism to secure wireless communication, due to serious weaknesses. WPA1 is disabled by default and may be enabled using the option “wpaprotos wpa1,wpa2”. For standard WPA networks which use pre-shared keys (PSK), keys are configured using the “wpakey” option. WPA-Enterprise networks require use of the wpa_supplicant package.

The urtwn driver can be configured at runtime with ifconfig(8) or on boot with hostname.if(5).

FILES #

The adapter needs firmware files to run, which are loaded on demand by the driver when the device is attached:

/etc/firmware/urtwn-rtl8192cT

/etc/firmware/urtwn-rtl8192cU

/etc/firmware/urtwn-rtl8192eu

/etc/firmware/urtwn-rtl8188eu

/etc/firmware/urtwn-rtl8188ftv

HARDWARE #

The following adapters should work:

Airlink101 AWLL5088

Alfa AWUS036NHR

Approx APPUSB300NANO V1

Aus. Linx AL-9604R1S

Asus USB-N10 NANO

Asus USB-N10 NANO B1

B-Link BL-LW05-5R

Belkin F7D1102 Surf Wireless Micro

Comfast CF-WU710N v4

D-Link DWA-121

D-Link DWA-123 rev D1

D-Link DWA-125 rev D1

D-Link DWA-131 rev B, E1

D-Link DWA-133

D-Link DWA-135

Digitus DN-7042

Edimax EW-7811Un

Edimax EW-7811Un v2

EDUP EP-N8508

Elecom WDC-150SU2M

Full River FR-W100NUL

Hercules Wireless N USB Pico HWNUp-150

IO-DATA WN-G150UM

ISY IWL4000 USB Wireless Micro Adapter

Mercusys MW150US V2

Netgear WNA1000A

Netgear WNA1000M

Netgear WNA1000Mv2

On Networks N300MA

Patriot PCUSBW1150

Planex GW-USEco300

Planex GW-USNano2

Planex GW-USValue-EZ

Planex GW-USWExtreme

POWCHIP POW-N18

Prolink WN2201

Sitecom WL-365

Sitecom WLA-2100 v2

Solwise NET-WL-UMD-606N

TP-LINK TL-WN722N v2

TP-LINK TL-WN723N v3

TP-LINK TL-WN725N v2

TP-LINK TL-WN821N v4

TP-LINK TL-WN821N v5

TP-LINK TL-WN822N v4

TP-LINK TL-WN822N v5

TRENDnet TEW-648UBM

EXAMPLES #

The following example scans for available networks:

# ifconfig urtwn0 scan

The following hostname.if(5) example configures urtwn0 to join network “mynwid”, using WPA key “mywpakey”, obtaining an IP address using DHCP:

join mynwid wpakey mywpakey
inet autoconf

DIAGNOSTICS #

urtwn0: error N, could not read firmware … For some reason, the driver was unable to read the microcode file from the filesystem. The file might be missing or corrupted.

urtwn0: device timeout A frame dispatched to the hardware for transmission did not complete in time. The driver will reset the hardware. This should not happen.

SEE ALSO #

arp(4), ifmedia(4), intro(4), netintro(4), usb(4), hostname.if(5), ifconfig(8)

HISTORY #

The urtwn driver first appeared in OpenBSD 4.9.

AUTHORS #

The urtwn driver was written by Damien Bergamini <damien.bergamini@free.fr>.

CAVEATS #

The urtwn driver does not support any of the 802.11n capabilities offered by the adapters. Additional work is required in ieee80211(9) before those features can be supported.

This driver does not support powersave mode.

OpenBSD 7.5 - June 12, 2023