Support List of WIFI cards?

[Solaris17]

Im using the 16.7 alpha and the HBSD kernel. Im trying to get my intel wifi card to work as wifi. I have an AP which works great actually, I'm just trying to get experience configuring them, because you never know. Unfortunately while I can see my NIC enabling it is a different beast entirely, I cannot set it to access point mode. It seems only capable of finding other networks.

[packet loss]

Since OPNsense is based on Freebsd 10.2 the wireless device list link I'm providing below should be able to answer your question:

https://www.freebsd.org/releases/10.2R/hardware.html#wlan

What Intel wifi card are you using?

[Zeitkind]

Not sure if there are any Intel Wifi cards supporting hostap..
Do a "ifconfig <interfacename> list caps" and see if hostap is listed, eg.

drivercaps=6f85edc1<STA,FF,TURBOP,IBSS,HOSTAP,AHDEMO,TXPMGT,SHSLOT,SHPREAMBLE,MONITOR,MBSS,WPA1,WPA2,BURST,WME,WDS,BGSCAN,TXFRAG>
cryptocaps=1f<WEP,TKIP,AES,AES_CCM,TKIPMIC>

If hostap is not in list, this card or driver AFAIK can't work as an access point.

https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/network-wireless.html
30.3.6. FreeBSD Host Access Points

[lattera]

Im using the 16.7 alpha and the HBSD kernel. Im trying to get my intel wifi card to work as wifi. I have an AP which works great actually, I'm just trying to get experience configuring them, because you never know. Unfortunately while I can see my NIC enabling it is a different beast entirely, I cannot set it to access point mode. It seems only capable of finding other networks.

Hey Solaris17,

If you're using the HardenedBSD-based build, wireless is broken. FreeBSD 11-CURRENT switched to a new wireless networking stack that prevents OPNsense's UI from working right with regards to wireless. Fixing this is on my list of things to do, but ENOTIME.

If you're looking for wireless capabilities, I'd suggest you run vanilla OPNsense.

[Solaris17]

Nope that must be it! I am running hardened BSD. I just wanted to get my hands dirty with integrated wifi. I actually use unifi APs attached to my switch for primary wifi. In no big rush, just playing with my dev router. Thanks again for all the work!

[packet loss]

Initially Solaris17 said he was using 16.7 alpha with HBSD kernel. I'm wondering at this point which version of Freebsd the OPNsense alpha version is using. lattera my question to you is whether or not your back ported kernel patch resulting in a compatible kernel for Freebsd 10.2 causes wireless issues? I understand there is an obvious issue with the wireless stack in Freebsd 11 but what about 10.2 with your back ported kernel? While testing your kernel I didn't test wireless since I use a separate wireless access point.

Somewhat confused though as to what Solaris17 is actually using since he stated in his last reply "I am running hardened BSD". OPNsense alpha version 16.7 isn't HardenedBSD from my understanding.

[Solaris17]

Sorry A misunderstanding. I am using the ASLR Kernel. 16.1.9

https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=2690.0

I can tear it down this weekend and look to get an precise model number though I believe it is a Centrino N 6200.

My current Version numbers are

OPNsense 16.7.a_880-amd64   
FreeBSD 10.2-RELEASE-p14   
LibreSSL 2.2.6

[Zeitkind]

I believe it is a Centrino N 6200

Quite sure it won't even do ad-hoc - not to mention hostap.
Tbh, I do recommend against any WiFi from Intel, no matter if you run FreeBSD or Linux, because they often have closed microcode and therefor do not support hostap on Linux and xBSD.
Best choice is Atheros, some Ralink, Marvell and Lucent will also work. Check before buying if the card has support for hostap on open source OS's and if your hardware is not crippled in BIOS to only support some selected Wifi hardware (HP and Dell often do this crap).

[Solaris17]

No buying necessary. As I stated earlier in the thread. Just for testing. I actually have an AP handle my wireless. If Intel cards dont work (though recommend which is confusing) then so be it. I was simply looking for information. It isn't the end of the world.

[Zeitkind]

I actually have an AP handle my wireless. If Intel cards dont work (though recommend which is confusing) then so be it.

Intel WiFi cards are nice and stable and a good choice if used as client. But they lack support for hostap and sometimes even ad-hoc. I found this list for pfsense:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11cF4UoNL68Me5ZC6qhjFPmzdW7mib56dBIAKz30Qpug/edit?hl=en#gid=0

[Solaris17]

Excellent! Thanks for the list I actually have an Atheros chip lying around I can try.

[shaqan]

I'd recommend AR9280 and/or AR9462. Former has usually re-flashable firmware (can modify/rewrite firmware using software utilities. Sometimes you want to change regdom, output power slightly upwards or smth), latter is fine for abgn (can do AP for either 2,4Ghz/5-5,8Ghz band). But it's firmware can no longer be tinkered with.

[Binou]

Hi,

I just bought the Atheros AR9280 AR5BHB92  card and unfortunately it is not recognized by opnsense.
Have you had the same problem?
I installed version 17.7 of opensense and tried to recompile the ath, ath_pci and ath_hal drivers without success
There are no trace of this card in pciconf -lv and  dmesg.boot

Thanks for you support.