Support for Atheros AR9220

[onitake at gmail.com]

Hello list

I got a miniPCI card with the 802.11n capable Atheros chipset AR9220 recently.
The PCI ID is identical to the AR9280, which is already supported in FreeBSD.
Unfortunately, the Atheros HAL doesn't work correctly with the card.
Detection and basic communication is fine, but once I start setting up,
the HAL reports errors.
In hostap mode, I even experience kernel panics:

---- snip ---

Configuring WLAN interface...wlan0: changing name to 'ath0_wlan0'
ath0: unable to reset hardware; hal status 14
ath0: ath_chan_set: unable to reset channel 8 (2447 Mhz, flags 0x480), hal status 3


Fatal trap 12: page fault while in kernel mode
fault virtual address   = 0xe
fault code              = supervisor read, page not present
instruction pointer     = 0x20:0xc05bc2aa
stack pointer           = 0x28:0xc22bbbb4
frame pointer           = 0x28:0xc22bbc18
code segment            = base 0x0, limit 0xfffff, type 0x1b
                        = DPL 0, pres 1, def32 1, gran 1
processor eflags        = interrupt enabled, resume, IOPL = 0
current process         = 11 (swi4: clock)
[thread pid 11 tid 64005 ]
Stopped at      ar5416PerCalibrationN+0x2a:     movzwl  0xe(%ecx),%edx
db> bt
Tracing pid 11 tid 64005 td 0xc2438900
ar5416PerCalibrationN(c2522000,0,1,1,c22bbc38,...) at ar5416PerCalibrationN+0x2a
ath_detach(c2514000,1,c0cf3554,c251425c,6,...) at ath_detach+0x12f3
softclock(c0cf3520,0,109,c63d9d47,9,...) at softclock+0x1bc
intr_event_execute_handlers(c2436aa0,c2434300,c0b5910d,4f6,c2434370,...) at intr_event_execute_handb
intr_getaffinity(c24086b0,c22bbd38,0,0,0,...) at intr_getaffinity+0x14a
fork_exit(c080dfe0,c24086b0,c22bbd38) at fork_exit+0x90
fork_trampoline() at fork_trampoline+0x8
--- trap 0, eip = 0, esp = 0xc22bbd70, ebp = 0 ---

---- snip ---

This occured with pfSense-BETA1 from Dec 31 (the kernel is FreeBSD 8-CURRENT).
The system is a Alix 2d13 (http://www.pcengines.ch/alix2d13.htm) and the card
a Wistron DNMA92 (http://www.pcengines.ch/dnma92.htm).

I believe the topic has been brought up before, but I've been subscribed to the list
for a short time only, so I can't respond to the original thread.

According to this list, the Linux ath9k driver supports the card:
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/ath9k/products/external

What's the status of the Atheros HAL in FreeBSD?
If there's any coding/porting/testing help needed, I'll be of assistance gladly.

Best regards,
oni