# WiFi Driver for Intel 6E AX210



## rpowell47 (Sep 27, 2021)

I've looked through the 13.0 compatible hardware list for WiFi drivers. Needless to say I did not come across any compatible diver for the Intel WiFi 6EAX210 chipset that is on my MSI motherboard. If anyone has found a FreeBSD driver or a current one that is compatible for the Intel 6EAX210 please post.


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## T-Daemon (Sep 27, 2021)

There is work in progress on the "iwlwifi" driver, but you need to run 14.0-CURRENT to test:





						244261 – Add support for Intel AX200 (iwx) wireless devices
					






					bugs.freebsd.org
				






			Intel Wireless Driver Snapshot 2 + initial rtw88 testing
		


Looking at the Support-Matrix (page last edited 2021-09-24) the AX210 is not functional yet.
https://wiki.freebsd.org/WiFi/Iwlwifi#Support-Matrix 

But it's expected to have a working driver in the future: 
"The Foundation is funding developer Bjoern Zeeb to integrate support for current-generation Intel WiFi devices"





						WiFi update – Intel drivers and 802.11ac | FreeBSD Foundation
					

The FreeBSD WiFi stack needs ongoing maintenance and development to keep up with new standards and devices. The Foundation is funding Bjoern Zeeb to integrate support for current-generation Intel WiFi devices by migrating to the dual-licensed upstream driver in the Linux kernel. We will also...




					freebsdfoundation.org


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## rpowell47 (Sep 27, 2021)

Thanks T-Daemon, I did run across some of Bjoern's posts and felt that probably with the next RELEASE, that is 14.0, the issues with drivers for my new MSI Motherboard would kinda go away. What a great family of BSDer's. I feel very fortunate and am honored to donate to the foundation.


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## jbo (Sep 27, 2021)

T-Daemon any reason to believe that this driver will be "back-ported" to 13.0(-RELEASE) ?


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## T-Daemon (Sep 27, 2021)

From https://lists.freebsd.org/archives/freebsd-wireless/2021-September/000068.html:


> I haven't tested them on stable/13 yet (not sure they even apply).
> So unless you know what you are doing, support for HEAD only.


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## T-Daemon (Sep 28, 2021)

jbodenmann said:


> T-Daemon any reason to believe that this driver will be "back-ported" to 13.0(-RELEASE) ?





T-Daemon said:


> From https://lists.freebsd.org/archives/freebsd-wireless/2021-September/000068.html:
> I haven't tested them on stable/13 yet (not sure they even apply).
> So unless you know what you are doing, support for HEAD only.



B.Zeeb's mail states the "iwlwifi" is supported on HEAD (main, CURRENT) only. I think this is because of the present LinuxKPI infrastructure state of the development branches stable and main. Reading the WiFi / Iwlwifi wiki more thorough, the "Availability" and "FAQ" sections implies that the driver will be available on stable/13 also.


> About 70 MFCs to stable/13 were done (and while main gets the latest changes stable/13 will get MFCs timely now so people can also test on stable/13, not 13.0-RELEASE)
> 
> Q: Will you support FreeBSD 13 or 12?
> A: FreeBSD 12 will most likely not be supported any time soon. stable/13 should be in a few weeks once most of the LinuxKPI changes are merged.



Looking at the stable/13 logs regarding "iwlwifi", there are MFC's and cherry-pickings from main. If the driver runs on stable/13 it might run on 13.0-RELEASE (releng/13.0) as well, but that remains to be tested. For sure it won't be easy. The driver needs the LinuxKPI infrastructure, that infrastructure needs to be updated first.

It should be mentioned the state of the driver is in "testing", not fully developed yet.


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## pebkac (Sep 28, 2021)

Until your card is supported by FreeBSD, you could try net/wifibox/...


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## jbo (Sep 28, 2021)

pebkac said:


> Until your card is supported by FreeBSD, you could try net/wifibox/...


Thank you for pointing me to this. I will certainly try that on my Thinkpads!
I am a bit curious that the author went for Alpine instead of OpenWRT tho.


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