BWI(4) Kernel Interfaces Manual BWI(4)
NAME
bwiBroadcom BCM430x/4318 IEEE 802.11b/g wireless network driver
DESCRIPTION
The bwi driver provides support for Broadcom BCM430x/4318 wireless network adapters. For more information on configuring this device, see ifconfig(8).
MIB Variables
The following per-interface variables are implemented in the hw.bwiX branch of the sysctl(3) MIB.
debug
Debug flags.
dwell_time
Channel dwell time during scan (msec).
fw_version
Firmware version.
led_idle
Number of ticks before LED enters idle state.
led_blink
Allow LED to blink.
txpwr_calib
Enable software TX power calibration.
HARDWARE
The following cards are among those supported by the bwi driver:
 
Card
Chip
Bus
Standard
Buffalo WLI-PCI-G54S
BCM4306
PCI
b/g
Dell Wireless 1370
BCM4318
Mini PCI
b/g
Dell Wireless 1470
BCM4318
Mini PCI
b/g
Dell Truemobile 1400
BCM4309
Mini PCI
b/g
Dell Latitude D505
BCM4306
PCI
b/g
Apple AirPort Extreme
b/g
FILES
The firmware for the adapter is not shipped with NetBSD and must be obtained separately. An archive with firmware files that are known to work can be found at:
http://leaf.dragonflybsd.org/~sephe/bwi/v3.tbz
 
The firmware files conventionally reside in /libdata/firmware/bwi and will be loaded when the interface is brought up. Note: the v3 subdirectory in the above firmware archive should exist in the firmware folder. The full list of paths checked for firmware can be found in the hw.firmware.path sysctl(3) node.
SEE ALSO
HISTORY
The bwi driver first appeared in NetBSD 6.0.
AUTHORS
The bwi driver was written by Sepherosa Ziehau for Dragonfly BSD. It was ported to NetBSD by Taylor R. Campbell <campbell@mumble.net>.
 
The hardware specification was reverse engineered by the people at http://bcm-specs.sipsolutions.net. Thanks go also to johill and mb on the #bcm-specs channel.
BUGS
BCM4306 and BCM4309 chips do not work properly on channel 1, 2, and 3.
 
The NetBSD driver does not yet support cardbus devices.