AXE(4) | Device Drivers Manual | AXE(4)

# NAME

`axe` — ASIX Electronics AX88172/AX88178/AX88772 10/100/1Gb USB Ethernet device

# SYNOPSIS

`axe* at uhub?`
`rgephy* at mii?`
`rlphy* at mii?`
`eephy* at mii?`

# DESCRIPTION

The `axe` driver provides support for USB Ethernet adapters based on the ASIX Electronics AX88172, AX88178, and AX88772 USB 2.0 chipsets, including the following:

Apple USB Ethernet Adapter A1277
ATEN UC-210T
BAFO BF-320
Billionton Systems USB2AR
Buffalo(MELCO) LUA-U2-GT
Buffalo(MELCO) LUA-U2-KTX
Corega FEther USB2-TX
D-Link DUB-E100
Delock Gigabit USB 2.0 Ethernet Adapter
Good Way GWUSB2E
Hawking UF200
Intellinet USB 2.0 to Ethernet (rev A)
IO-Data ETG-US2
JVC MP-PRX1
Konig CMP-NWUSB20
Lenovo USB 2.0 Ethernet
Level One USB-0200
Level One USB-0301
Linksys USB200M
Linksys USB1000
Logitec LAN-GTJ/U2
Netgear FA120
Nintendo Wii USB Lan Ethernet Adapter RVL-015
OQO model 01+ Ethernet
Sitecom LN-029
SMC 2209USB/ETH
SnapPort USB 2.0 LAN Adapter
ST Lab USB 2.0 Fast Ethernet
Surecom EP-1427X-2
System TALKS SGC-X2UL
TRENDnet TU2-ET100
Z-TEK ZK-R01-2

The AX88172, AX88178, and AX88772 are USB 2.0 devices designed to work with either Ethernet or HomePNA transceivers. The AX88172 and AX88772 contain 10/100 Ethernet MACs with MII interfaces. The AX88178 contains a 10/100/1Gb Ethernet MAC with a GMII/MII interface. All adapters will operate with either USB 1.x or USB 2.0 controllers, however performance with 1.x controllers will be limited since the USB 1.x standard specifies a maximum transfer speed of 12Mbps. Users with USB 1.x controllers should therefore not expect to actually achieve 100Mbps speeds with these devices.

A 64-bit multicast hash table is supported, single perfect filter entry for the station address, all-multicast mode, and promiscuous mode. Packets are received and transmitted over separate USB bulk transfer endpoints.

The `axe` driver supports the following media types:

autoselect
  Enable autoselection of the media type and options (this is the default). The user can manually override the autoselected mode by adding media options to the appropriate hostname.if(5) file.
10baseT
  Set 10Mbps operation.
100baseTX
  Set 100Mbps (Fast Ethernet) operation.
1000baseT
  Set 1000Mbps (Gigabit Ethernet) operation (AX88178 only).

The `axe` driver supports the following media options:

full-duplex
  Force full-duplex operation.
half-duplex
  Force half-duplex operation.

The interface will operate in half-duplex mode if no media option is specified.

For more information on configuring this device, see ifconfig(8).

# DIAGNOSTICS

axe0: watchdog timeout
  A packet was queued for transmission and a transmit command was issued, however the device failed to acknowledge the transmission before a timeout expired.
axe0: no memory for rx list
  The driver failed to allocate an mbuf for the receiver ring.

# SEE ALSO

arp(4), eephy(4), ifmedia(4), intro(4), netintro(4), rgephy(4), rlphy(4), usb(4), hostname.if(5), ifconfig(8)

ASIX AX88172 data sheet, https://www.asix.com.tw.

# HISTORY

The `axe` device driver first appeared in OpenBSD 3.6.

# AUTHORS

The `axe` driver was written by Bill Paul <wpaul@windriver.com> and ported to OpenBSD by Greg Taleck <taleck@oz.net>.

February 18, 2022 | Debian