8.0-BETA3: Cannot use iwn on Thinkpad R61

[David Horn]

On Sat, Aug 29, 2009 at 1:49 PM, Michael Ekstrand<michael at elehack.net> wrote:
> I was trying today to get 8.0-BETA3 amd64 usable on my laptop (Thinkpad
> R61, Intel 4965 wireless chipset) and so far have had no success.  iwnfw
> and if_iwn load without errors, but when I do
>
> # ifconfig iwn0 list caps
>

You can't use the iwn0 interface directly.   Starting with 8.0, there
is a new virtual interface (wlanX) that must be created for each 80.11
(wi-fi) interface that you wish to use.  (aka vap or multi-bss)

`ifconfig wlan create wlandev iwn0` will create the interface (wlan0
or wlan1, etc.), then you can do things like `ifconfig wlan0 scan`, or
`ifconfig wlan0 list caps`

If you want this done for you automatically at system boot, add the
following lines to your /etc/rc.conf file:

wlans_iwn0="wlan0"
ifconfig_wlan0="DHCP WPA"

You then just need to set your SSID and authentication data
(ssid/wpa/psk, etc in /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf)

man iwn
man wlan
man rc.conf
man wpa_supplicant.conf

> it fails with "invalid argument."  Similarly, wpa_supplicant cannot
> initialize the interface (again reporting invalid argument).  `ifconfig
> iwn0 up scan` also fails, complaining that it cannot get the scan results
>
>
> Any suggestions?

See also /usr/src/UPDATING entry from 20080420 and search the
freebsd-current archives for iwn for other discussion points.

>
> - Michael
>
>

Good Luck.

--Dave