Intel Pro/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection and FreeBSD

[David Christensen]

freebsd-questions:

I have a Dell Inspiron E1505/6400 laptop:

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/servicetag/C86YXB1/configuration


Running FreeBSD:

dpchrist at freebsd:/home/dpchrist $ grep 3945ABG /usr/src/sys/dev/wpi/if_wpi.c
  * Driver for Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG 802.11 network adapters.
  * The 3945ABG network adapter doesn't use traditional hardware as
	{ 0x8086, 0x4222,    0x0, "Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG" },
	{ 0x8086, 0x4227,    0x0, "Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG" },
dpchrist at freebsd:/home/dpchrist $ freebsd-version; uname -a
11.0-RELEASE-p7
FreeBSD freebsd 11.0-RELEASE-p1 FreeBSD 11.0-RELEASE-p1 #0 r306420: Thu 
Sep 29 03:40:55 UTC 2016 
root at releng2.nyi.freebsd.org:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC  i386


The laptop has a "DW 1390" WiFi adapter, similar to this:

https://www.parts-people.com/index.php?action=item&id=3833


The WiFi adapter has a Broadcom chipset that requires "non-free" 
firmware to work on Debian.  I have not yet attempted to get it working 
under FreeBSD.


I would prefer a WiFi adapter that is FOSS-friendly and works OOTB on 
Linux and *BSD.


The Intel 3945ABG adapter appears to be compatible with my laptop and to 
be supported by FreeBSD:


https://www.parts-people.com/index.php?action=item&id=4035

dpchrist at freebsd:/home/dpchrist $ grep 3945ABG /usr/src/sys/dev/wpi/if_wpi.c
  * Driver for Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG 802.11 network adapters.
  * The 3945ABG network adapter doesn't use traditional hardware as
     { 0x8086, 0x4222,    0x0, "Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG" },
     { 0x8086, 0x4227,    0x0, "Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG" },


Does anyone have a laptop with this adapter?  Does it work with FreeBSD 11?


TIA,

David