Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160 - not working

[+DS_DV+]

Hello OPNsense Devs and Community,

i run a Zotac ZBOX C323 which uses an Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160.

Which according to the hardware list of FreeBSD (Strg+F Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 3160) is fully supported!

But when i install OPNsense i cant figure out a way to get it notecing the interface.

At boot it says that it failed to get bluetooth running - which  i dont really care about (but it may be a hint).



can you guys help me get it running or fix it? (as far as i know its supported for a long time) but also in 17.x release it doesnt work!


with best  +DS_DV+


PS: sorry for my bad english.

[bartjsmit]

The fact that FreeBSD supports the hardware does not mean that it is supported in AP mode. Most only work as WiFi clients.

Bart...

[+DS_DV+]

The fact that FreeBSD supports the hardware does not mean that it is supported in AP mode. Most only work as WiFi clients.

Bart...

ok so where is a list of supported cards for ap ?

in IPFire Untangle and SophosUTM the card seems to work perfectly as AP

[chemlud]

...I tried to find dongles/cards. It's pointless. Even if someone recommends here some brand/name of hardware that works for him, the chipset might have changed until you order it and nothing works in the end. FreeBSD and wifi is a mess...

[bartjsmit]

in IPFire Untangle and SophosUTM the card seems to work perfectly as AP

That is because those are based on Linux, and as chemlud said, FreeBSD is rather poor in supporting WiFi.

Have you tried the 18.1 release candidate?

Bart...

[alphastar]

ok so where is a list of supported cards for ap ?

For OPNsense, your best bet is the Hardware and Performance forum board, after checking the OPNsense User Manual.

Further to bartjsmit's reply, note that the list you are looking for is ultimately the FreeBSD kernel.  In the case of the 18.1 series this is the latest FreeBSD 11.1-RELEASE Hardware Notes you already linked to above. 

As for the "iwm(4)" (driver) capabilities under FreeBSD (which supports the Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 3160), while it *is* supported in 11.1-RELEASE and prior, it is only supported in "station mode" i.e. as a wireless client connecting to an existing router/AP. 

On a related note, the FreeBSD kernel (up to 11.1-RELEASE) unlike Linux, does not yet have complete support for 802.11ac, so ANY supported WiFi Interfaces will be limited to 802.11n.  AFAIK, the best supported FreeBSD hardware running "hostap mode" (a.k.a. routers) INTERNALLY, use the "ath(4)" driver and Atheros AR hardware.

USB adapters under FreeBSD do work, but tend to be limited to 802.11b/g/a (or any supported combination thereof) - although the hardware may support higher, as per chemlud's comment.


Taken together, these limitations are why the defacto choice (standard?) is to use an external router or AP for WiFi with FreeBSD firewalls.

[monstermania]

I can recommend you to use an external AP too!
The whole last week i try to get wifi to work stable into my box (Atheros AR 9280 Chipset = ath(4) driver). It seems to work with acceptable speeds for me (https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=6691.0).
But the crap won't work stable! 
TV streams often lost connection and the wifi speed break down dramatic only some meters from the box!

So, I've installed yesterday an AP and everything works fine!

best regards
Dirk