# asus ux305ca anyone?



## jphartmann (Oct 10, 2018)

I have installed FreeBSD 11.2, on the ux305ca, but `sysctl net.wlan.devices` is empty, which indicates that it will be a stand-alone system as far as I can make out.

(No RJ45 ports.)

Am I alone?

Edit 2018-10-27:

This is what it takes in /etc/rc.conf:

```
kld_list="if_iwm"
wlans_iwm0="wlan0"
ifconfig_wlan0="WPA SYNCDHCP"
```

The first line probes the Intel wifi driver.  This populates net.wlan.devices with `iwm0`, and then I could follow *31.3.2. Quick Start* in the handbook and everything works right out of the box.

`service netif restart` configured the interface correctly after adding the last two lines, but--for me, at least--it took a reboot for IPv4 to use the adapter.


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## SirDice (Oct 10, 2018)

If you're looking for a wireless adapter, it's net.*w*lan.devices, not net.*v*lan.devices. When net.wlan.devices is empty it just means that FreeBSD doesn't recognize any wireless adapters. That doesn't necessarily indicate the machine doesn't have any, it could be a card that requires a specific module to be loaded before it's recognized. Or it's a completely unsupported wireless adapter. 

The best way to see what's actually in the machine is by using `pciconf -lv`. Hardware should always show up, even if FreeBSD itself doesn't support it.


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## jphartmann (Oct 10, 2018)

Right, wlan.  vlan got me an error message.  I'm a bit cut'n'paste challenged here.  

Eventually I saw a `...devices` variable that was empty and others that were not.


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## jphartmann (Oct 25, 2018)

The laptop accesses the wifi right out of the box on Ubuntu 18.04.  Digging a bit in the Linux kernel I find that linux-4.19/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/iwl-drv.c is used.  It has a dual BSD GPL licence, which indicates that it should be supported on FreeBSD as well. 

The driver identifies itself as 
	
	



```
iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: Detected Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless AC 7265, REV=0x210
iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: base HW address: 10:02:b5:c9:04:eb
```

The actual chip is https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...less-products/dual-band-wireless-ac-7265.html

Intell has this to say: 





> 7260, 3160, 7265, 7265D, 3165 and 3168 support
> 
> Those devices will not be supported by the newest firmware versions: the last firmware that was released for 3160, 7260 and 7265 is -17.ucode. Bug fixes will be ported to -17.ucode. 7265D, 3165 and 3168's latest firmware version is -29.ucode. In order to determine if your 7265 device is a 'D' version, you can check the dmesg output:



Thus, sys/contrib/dev/iwm/iwm-7265-16.fw.uu should be the appropriate firmware if I can translate from Linux naming to BSD.  What should I do to activate it?  And which driver loads it?


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## Phishfry (Oct 26, 2018)

The firmware is already included. You need to read iwm manual.
Also see 2.1.5 for a similar device and notice the special instructions..
https://wiki.freebsd.org/WiFi/FAQ

So you want this in /etc/rc.conf if using DHCP.

```
kld_list="if_iwm iwm7265fw"
wlans_iwm0="wlan0"
ifconfig_wlan0="WPA DHCP"
```


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## jphartmann (Oct 26, 2018)

Thanks.  I studied the iwm manual and also perused the gory details of FreeBSD `ifconfig`.

Adding the kld_list line to rc.conf gave a message in `dmesg` acknowledging the device and the correct chipset.  So far so good.

I could even `ifconfig` the device with an SSID.  `ifconfig` reports something greek that looks credible.  There certainly is an interface, but there is no carrier.

I then tried to add the WPA2 passphrase by specifying wpa2key even though the man pages offers no way to do so; this was indeed rejected as an incorrect option.  Can you confirm that wep is the only supported link encryption?

Anyhow, I figured I could try wep and approached my usually friendly network administrator and asked that she change the access point accordingly.  Her response was short and to the point, "pis af grønært!", a Danish way of saying "no" in a particular way.

I am severly cut'n'paste challenged here, so forgive that lack of specific command outputs.

Now, I visit other places and access points from time to time.  Must I do an ifconfig for each?  I should want to create a list of SSIDs and their corresponding keys and have the correct one selected by magic.  

In my final attempt, I tried in desperation to enter the WPA2 key as a WEP--after all, other systems do not need the client to specify which encryption the access point enforces; would a hotel porter in Lille know?--but `ifcconfig` reported using a 104-bit key; certainly not WPA2.

Seems that DHCP kicked in; it reports `dhclient[875]: send_packet: No buffer space available`

Mission impossible?


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## SirDice (Oct 26, 2018)

jphartmann said:


> I then tried to add the WPA2 passphrase by specifying wpa2key even though the man pages offers no way to do so; this was indeed rejected as an incorrect option. Can you confirm that wep is the only supported link encryption?


Handbook: 31.3.4.1.3. WPA


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## Phishfry (Oct 27, 2018)

There are some graphical tools for wireless connection help.
`bsdconfig wireless` using ncurses
net-mgmt/networkmgr if using Xorg.


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## scottro (Oct 27, 2018)

http://srobb.net/fbsdquickwireless.html

You create an /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf file. To have it always use wireless, you also add stuff to /etc/rc.conf


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## jphartmann (Oct 27, 2018)

I edited my original post as there was no clear-cut solution in the posts above.  Thanks to whoever is behind the avatar "Phishfry" for telling me the name of the Intel driver.  It turns out that it can figure out which firmware to load, so no point in telling it what to load.

Not that it matters: `bsdconfig wireless` attracts the error `wpa_cli(8) ping failed`.


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