Re: Looking for a well supported wireless card

[Stefan Moran via misc]

On Thu, 14 Mar 2024 11:41:22 +0100
Stefan Sperling  wrote:

> On Thu, Mar 14, 2024 at 12:01:40AM -0400, Stefan Moran via misc wrote:
> > On Wed, 13 Mar 2024 20:58:12 +0100
> > Stefan Sperling  wrote:
> > 
> > > ...
> > > 
> > > iwm should work just fine.
> > 
> > I don't doubt it. I did some more research on my device (Intel AC
> > 7260, should have put it in my original message but I forgot to),
> > and it doesn't support MU-MIMO, which the router in the residence
> > I'm staying was set to use.
> 
> Interesting. This could be an interop issue, though in general the
> AP should be backwards compatible with 11ac MIMO.
> 
> There is a flag you can use to disable the use of MIMO in the driver:
> 
>   ifconfig iwm0 nwflag nomimo
> 
> This flag is generally only required if the second antenna is absent
> or damaged. Neither the driver nor firmware attempt to detect "dead"
> antennas. Apparently, this is too difficult to do reliably.

I notice the black antenna wire is very loose no matter how well I
connect it, so it could very well be an antenna issue, I could try
disconnecting it intentionally and see if my issues are the same to
verify.

> 
> > I got the admin to disable this on the router, and it
> > seems to be working better.
> 
> And the router is still using regular MIMO now?

Yes.

> 
> Plesae run this while associated:
> 
>   tcpdump -n -i iwm0 -y IEEE802_11_RADIO -v -s 4096 type mgt subtype
> beacon
> 
> And show the following fields:
> 
>   htcaps=<...> htop=<...> vhtcaps=<...> vhtop=<...>

htcaps=<20/40MHz,LDPC,SGI@20MHz,SGI@40MHz,TXSTBC,RXSTBC 1 stream,A-MSDU 
7935,A-MPDU max 65535,A-MPDU spacing 4.00us,RxMCS 0x>

htop=<40MHz chan 149:153,htprot 20MHz,non-greenfield STA,non-HT STA,basic MCS 
set 0x>

vhtcaps=

vhtop=<80MHz chan,center chan 155,basic MCS set 0-7@1SS 0-7@2SS 0-7@3SS 0-7@4SS 
0-7@5SS 0-7@6SS 0-7@7SS>

> ... 

Re: Looking for a well supported wireless card

[Stefan Moran via misc]

On Wed, 13 Mar 2024 20:58:12 +0100
Stefan Sperling  wrote:

> ...
> 
> iwm should work just fine.

I don't doubt it. I did some more research on my device (Intel AC 7260,
should have put it in my original message but I forgot to), and it
doesn't support MU-MIMO, which the router in the residence I'm staying
was set to use. I got the admin to disable this on the router, and it
seems to be working better. Either way, I decided to order an Intel
AX210, which appears to be supported by iwx(4). I would have gone for
an Atheros device, but it seems 802.11ac support hasn't been added for
those yet (looking at ath(4) and athn(4)).

> Please make sure that both antennas are connected properly.

I reconnected the antennas, no different results.

Looking for a well supported wireless card

[Stefan Moran via misc]

I'm looking for a new M.2 wireless card for my Framework laptop (no
bios restrictions), and I'm wondering what would be the best supported
for use on OpenBSD. Currently I'm using an old intel device with the
iwm(4) driver, and I'm finding it's having trouble (lots of dropped
packets (even with a strong signal), weak signal) on newer network
configurations. Only requirements for the new device is that it must
support at least the 802.11ac standard (preferably 802.11ax), and be
the M.2 2230 form factor (See here:
https://guides.frame.work/Guide/WiFi+Replacement+Guide/96).

Bonus things I would want, if you know of any:
802.11ax support, for whenever that's added
Requires no badly licensed/proprietary firmware
Open hardware
a modem??? :D