driver for CompUSA wireless card?

[Bill Paul]

> > wpaul at FreeBSD.ORG (Bill Paul) wrote:
> >
> > > > I just picked up CompUSA's generic PCI 802.11g card.  FreeBSD did
> > > > not recognize it after my install.   I was able to get it to
> > > > install using windows drivers.  However, if possible I would like
> > > > to use one of the native FreeBSD drivers.  I've never done this
> > > > sort of thing before.
> >
> > > Until such time as you do pciconf -lv to show us the PCI vendor/device
> > > ID for the card, there's no way anyone can help you.
> >
> > Brian mailed to freebsd-questions as well, but with another subject and
> > slightly more information. The card seems to work with ndis, but the
> > netmask was wrong.
> >
> > Fabian
> > --
> > http://www.fabiankeil.de/
> >
> >
> 
> Yes, I did also post to freebsd-questions about a different thing.  I try
> to keep my specialized questions to their respective lists.  Sorry about
> not giving more detail about the card, I wasn't sure how to get the info
> you needed.

You're forgiven in this case. Normally I'd say "just look at the chip on the
card" but with PCI wifi cards it's become standard practice to cover most
of the circuitry with a metal RF shield. So you really can't tell what
you have until you open the box and plut it in.

> Anyway, I did the 'pciconf -lv' and the output is below.  It
> would be cool if I could stop using the ndis driver if it's possible.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> /Brian
> 
> pciconf output:
> ndis0 at pci0:10:0:        class=0x020000 card=0x818510ec chip=0x818510ec
> rev=0x20 hdr=0x00
>     vendor   = 'Realtek Semiconductor'
>     class    = network
>     subclass = ethernet
> 
> 

Ah, you have a RealTek RTL8185. I should have known. (The 'CompUSA'
10/100 is a RealTek too.) Well, you've got a couple of problems:

1) There exists a RealTek wifi driver, but it's in NetBSD, not FreeBSD
2) That driver is for the RealTek 8180 chip which is 802.11b only,
   not the 8185.

So you're "stuck" with the NDISulator for the time being. But look at
it this way: at least the card works. :)

-Bill

--
=============================================================================
-Bill Paul            (510) 749-2329 | Senior Engineer, Master of Unix-Fu
                 wpaul at windriver.com | Wind River Systems
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              <adamw> you're just BEGGING to face the moose
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