Laptop Wi-Fi Cards (m.2)

Tproc

Tproc

Hello.

I am a long time RHEL user in the ISP space, alongside running hobby game servers.

I have recently taken an interest in FreeBSD or at least giving it a shot as a hobbyist, I have made an installation and was made aware Wi-Fi Support on BSD isn't the best and didn't support my current Wi-Fi card.

Although I find little to no comprehensive hardware lists for working Wi-Fi cards, I respect the ideal scenario for BSD is not on a laptop,
but I am curious to know if there are any supported M.2 Style Wi-Fi cards, any recommendations?

Thank you kindly,
Tom.
 
sko said:
www.freebsd.org

FreeBSD 14.1 Hardware Notes

FreeBSD is an operating system used to power modern servers, desktops, and embedded platforms.
www.freebsd.org www.freebsd.org
Click to expand...

The whole quote would be "Although I find little to no comprehensive hardware lists for working Wi-Fi cards"
I presume if M.2 / NGFF was supported the bus row would display as such or am I suffering from a critical lack of understanding?
I see no reference to M.2 / NGFF in the document you have provided which is exactly my point.
 
Tproc said:
I see no reference to M.2 / NGFF in the document you have provided which is exactly my point.
Click to expand...
I agree that list is very old and stinky.
For Atheros modules they list AR5000. Those are miniPCI cards from wayback. Only AR9380 is mentioned. Not available in M.2
 
Tproc said:
The whole quote would be "Although I find little to no comprehensive hardware lists for working Wi-Fi cards"
I presume if M.2 / NGFF was supported the bus row would display as such or am I suffering from a critical lack of understanding?
I see no reference to M.2 / NGFF in the document you have provided which is exactly my point.
Click to expand...
doesn't matter. m.2 is just a form factor, the devices are still normal PCIe devices (some are actually just USB controllers with a piggyback wireless chipset). The only thing that matters is the chipset and if there's a driver for it.

The "known working" lists in the hardware notes are often incomplete and quite outdated. apropos wireless should catch the manpages of pretty much all available drivers, their manpages usually contain more comprehensive compatibility lists.

In general, most current intel chipsets will work with the iwlwifi(4) driver; Broadcom and atheros are also relatively well supported; Realtek is always a 'hit-or-miss' just like with their wired ethernet chipsets and mostly their firmware is buggy in some way or another - so it's always best to avoid realtek if possible.
 
Just some more information, I am using an Acer A515-44 it's my usual tinker machine.
It comes with an Atheros card (QCA6174 reported from lscpi) from the factory, now I picked up an Intel AX201NGW which for some odd reason caused Keyboard functionality to be lost.
Restoring the original Atheros card keyboard functionality was restored, switched them 2 more times just to verify it's a repeat problem.

So yes, this is something I was not expecting...
I'm thinking I should look for some other Atheros mPCIE card that is supported on freeBSD...

[made a quick switch up for testing]
Oracle Linux when installed I would have no keyboard functionally until booted then drivers would take over.
Any attempt in BIOS time keystrokes were not seen nor in the FreeBSD installer (I got into this by nuking the drive so it was the only bootable option), no getting into bios or boot menu even after CMOS and RTC resets.

Thanks all for your help so far :)
This is probably more trouble than it's worth, but I enjoy having a project, haha. Perhaps something proprietary with acer is going on here.
 
Tproc said:
I'm thinking I should look for some other Atheros mPCIE card that is supported on freeBSD...
Click to expand...
Question is full size Mini-PCIe slot or half-mini?

AR9380 is listed on the hardware list.

It is more commonly known as AR5BXB112. Apple used these in AP's and they are good.
AR5BHB112 is the half-card equivilent.
 
Tproc said:
It comes with an Atheros card (QCA6174 reported from lscpi) from the factory, now I picked up an Intel AX201NGW which for some odd reason caused Keyboard functionality to be lost.
Restoring the original Atheros card keyboard functionality was restored, switched them 2 more times just to verify it's a repeat problem.

So yes, this is something I was not expecting...
I'm thinking I should look for some other Atheros mPCIE card that is supported on freeBSD...
Click to expand...
I thought you really meant MiniPCIe here. QA6174 is available in both MiniPCIe half-slot and M.2 slot.
So seeing how the Intel card is only available in M.2 you really meant-

"I'm thinking I should look for some other Atheros M.2 card that is supported on freeBSD..."

In which I already mentioned the only Atheros M.2 chipset that works on FreeBSD. AC cards dont work. Only 80211N
Phishfry said:
Atheros QCNFA222/AR5BWB222
Click to expand...
 
I also wanted to call attention to deviation.

Even within the AR5BWB222 cards some OEM's use a different notch in M.2 slot.

Compare these M.2 pins:

www.ebay.com

Atheros QCNFA222 AR5BWB222 2.4/5GHz BT4.0 802.11ABGN Wifi Card 4K380 M.2 Adapter | eBay

Components Included: Atheros QCNFA222 BT4.0+WIFI WLAN Card 4K380 M.2 X 1 PCS. Model :QCNFA222. ProductWireless Card. Card TypeNGFF/M.2. Condition 100% Genuine. Wireless Protocol(s)802.11a, 802.11g, 802.11n.
www.ebay.com
www.ebay.com

Atheros QCNFA222 AR5BWB222 5Ghz pci-e 802.11abgn WiFi Bluetooth 4.0 Card | eBay

Model: QCNFA222. Atheros machine supports the following models Band: 2.4GHz / 5GHz. Bluetooth: 4.0. South Afica,Asia countries and small countries. Type: wireless card. Laptop Interface Type: NGFF.
www.ebay.com

Since you are already swapping cards take notice of the Atheros QC6174 module.
You want an Atheros AR5BWB222 with same pin/notch arrangment.
Acer should use the standard.
It seems only Dell and IBM modules are custom.
 
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