NetBSD urtwn help

[dnslc]

I am trying to get a wifi adapter to work on NetBSD 9.0 ARMv7 on a raspberry pi.
I am using an EdiMax EW-7811Un (which `$ man urtwn' says is supported, and it also works just fine on OpenBSD).
When I plug it in I get this:

 # dmesg
[ 100181.265897] urtwn0 at uhub1 port 3
[ 100181.265897] urtwn0: Realtek (0x7392) 802.11n WLAN Adapter (0x7811), rev 2.00/2.00, addr 5
[ 100181.345909] urtwn0: MAC/BB RTL8188CUS, RF 6052 1T1R, address 74:da:38:f1:9e:16
[ 100181.365908] urtwn0: 1 rx pipe, 2 tx pipes
[ 100181.365908] urtwn0: 11b rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps
[ 100181.365908] urtwn0: 11g rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps 6Mbps 9Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps 24Mbps 36Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps

 # ifconfig
urtwn0: flags=0x8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
        ssid ""
        powersave off
        address: 74:da:38:f1:9e:16
        media: IEEE802.11 autoselect (DS1)
        status: no network

On OpenBSD, I typically just (update firmware since urtwn is not supported by default with `# fw_update) make a file called /etc/hostname.urtwn0
with

nwid <my network>
wpakey <password>
dhcp

to get the network name I can run `# ifconfig urtwn0 scan'
but this is not the same on NetBSD.

I have tried reading both `man urtwn' and `man ifconfig.if', but I don't think I understood what they wanted.
I tried making a /etc/ifconfig.urtwn0 file with

nwkey <password>
dhcp

and then running

# ifconfig urtwn0 nwid <my network>

but the terminal just hangs and ctrl-c or ctrl-z wont even let me exit out of it. I have to yank the actual wifi adapter out, and it feels really hot.

Does anyone have experience with this?

Edit:
I'm not sure if this has done anything, but I had some luck with

# ifconfig urtwn0 ssid my_network nwkey my_password

But the network is still not active

 # ifconfig urtwn0
urtwn0: flags=0x8803<UP,BROADCAST,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
        ssid my_network nwkey my_password
        powersave off
        address: 74:da:38:f1:9e:16
        media: IEEE802.11 autoselect
        status: no network

And I have a new message when I check `dmesg'

[ 101811.686842] urtwn0: autoconfiguration error: could not load firmware page 0

[jggimi]

Disclaimer: I know nothing about NetBSD.

NetBSD's urtwn(4) man page states:

FILES 
     The driver needs the following firmware files, which are loaded when an
     interface is attached:

           /libdata/firmware/if_urtwn/rtl8188eufw.bin
           /libdata/firmware/if_urtwn/rtl8192cfw.bin
           /libdata/firmware/if_urtwn/rtl8192cfwU.bin

Are these installed? As for WPA/WPA2, you'll need to use wpa_supplicant(8).

[IdOp]

Hi, and welcome to daemonforums!

I may be able to provide a small amount of help, but should start by saying I haven't used NetBSD in a few years. Also I don't have your exact USB wireless device (though my laptop has the PCI version of it).

For ifconfig, it appears from the man page that nwkey is used to set a WEP password. I don't know if that's what you intended to use, probably not, but WEP is now deprecated for good reason. I recall having to use wpa_supplicant for WPA-type encryption on NetBSD ... I don't know if that's still a requirement or not.

Given your firmware loading error message, the possible mistaken use of nwkey may not be the primary issue. Perhaps someone else more up-to-date on these things can weigh in.

Oh, and I should add as general background, on NetBSD you may also want to familiarize with the wlanctl(8) tool .

[dnslc]

Originally Posted by jggimi

Disclaimer: I know nothing about NetBSD.

NetBSD's urtwn(4) man page states:

FILES 
     The driver needs the following firmware files, which are loaded when an
     interface is attached:

           /libdata/firmware/if_urtwn/rtl8188eufw.bin
           /libdata/firmware/if_urtwn/rtl8192cfw.bin
           /libdata/firmware/if_urtwn/rtl8192cfwU.bin

Are these installed? As for WPA/WPA2, you'll need to use wpa_supplicant(8).

Yes this was the problem, I was using the wrong tools, wpa_supplicant is what I needed.
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
I also found this guide which seems to of worked https://wiki.netbsd.org/tutorials/ho...pa_supplicant/

[dnslc]

Thanks to that guide I have manage to get it working, but after awhile the wifi adapter just goes offline.
I get this message:

armv7$ packet_write_wait: Connection to 192.168.0.117 port 22: Broken pipe

Then I have to go to the raspberry pi and unplug the adapter and then plug it in again. Then I can ssh back in and have internet access etc.

I have tried

$ apropos packet_write_wait | grep packet_write_wait

but nothing comes up.
I am going to look through some /etc/ files in the hope that setting is there somewhere, but otherwise I am not sure why this happens.