devnp-ral.so, devnp-ural.so

Driver for Ralink RT2500, RT2501, RT2600, and RT2500USB wireless adapters

Syntax:

io-pkt-variant -d ral ... &
io-pkt-variant -d ural ... &

where variant is one of v4, v4-hc, or v6-hc.

Runs on:

Neutrino

Options:

None

Description:

The devnp-ral.so driver supports PCI/CardBus wireless adapters based on the Ralink RT2500, RT2501, and RT2600 chipsets. The devnp-ural.so driver supports USB 2.0 wireless adapters based on the Ralink RT2500USB chipset. These are ported NetBSD drivers; their interface names are in the form ralX and uralX, where X is an integer.

The RT2500 chipset is the first generation of 802.11b/g adapters from Ralink. It consists of two integrated chips, an RT2560 or RT2570(USB) MAC/BBP and an RT2525 or RT2526(USB) radio transceiver.

The RT2501 chipset is the second generation of 802.11b/g adapters from Ralink. It consists of two integrated chips, an RT2561 MAC/BBP and an RT2527 radio transceiver. This chipset provides support for the IEEE 802.11e standard with multiple hardware transmission queues and allows scatter/gather for efficient DMA operations.

The RT2600 chipset consists of two integrated chips, an RT2661 MAC/BBP and an RT2529 radio transceiver. This chipset uses the MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) technology with multiple antennas to extend the operating range of the adapter and to achieve higher throughput.

These drivers can operate in these modes:

BSS mode

Also known as infrastructure mode, this is used when associating with an access point, through which all traffic passes. This mode is the default.

IBSS mode

Also known as IEEE ad-hoc mode or peer-to-peer mode. This is the standardized method of operating without an access point. Stations associate with a service set. However, actual connections between stations are peer-to-peer.

Host AP

In this mode, the driver acts as an access point (base station) for other cards.

Monitor mode

In this mode, the driver is able to receive packets without associating with an access point. This disables the internal receive filter and enables the card to capture packets from networks which it wouldn't normally have access to, or to scan for access points.

The devnp-ral.so and devnp-ural.so drivers support software WEP. Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is the de facto encryption standard for wireless networks. It can be typically configured in one of three modes: no encryption; 40-bit encryption; or 104-bit encryption. Unfortunately, due to serious weaknesses in WEP protocol it is strongly recommended that it not be used as the sole mechanism to secure wireless communication. WEP is not enabled by default. You can also use the driver in conjunction with wpa_supplicant to provide WPA / WPA2 encryption.

You can use ifconfig to configure the devnp-ral.so and devnp-ural.so drivers at runtime:

bssid bssid

Set the desired BSSID.

-bssid

Unset the desired BSSID. The interface automatically selects a BSSID in this mode, which is the default.

chan n

Set the channel (radio frequency) to be used by the driver based on the given channel ID n.

-chan

Unset the desired channel to be used by the driver. The driver automatically selects a channel in this mode, which is the default.

media media

These drivers support the following media types:

• autoselect — enable autoselection of the media type and options.
• DS1 — 802.11b DS 1Mbps operation.
• DS2 — 802.11b DS 2Mbps operation.
• DS5 — 802.11b DS 5.5Mbps operation.
• DS11 — 802.11b DS 11Mbps operation.
• OFDM6 — 802.11a/g OFDM 6Mbps operation.
• OFDM9 — 802.11a/g OFDM 9Mbps operation.
• OFDM12 — 802.11a/g OFDM 12Mbps operation.
• OFDM18 — 802.11a/g OFDM 18Mbps operation.
• OFDM24 — 802.11a/g OFDM 24Mbps operation.
• OFDM36 — 802.11a/g OFDM 36Mbps operation.
• OFDM48 — 802.11a/g OFDM 48Mbps operation.
• OFDM54 — 802.11a/g OFDM 54Mbps operation.

mediaopt opts

These drivers support the following media options:

• hostap — select Host AP operation.
• ibss — select IBSS operation.
• monitor — select monitor mode.

-mediaopt opts

Disable the specified media options on the driver and return it to the default mode of operation (BSS).

mode mode

These drivers support the following modes:

• 11a — force 802.11a operation.
• 11b — force 802.11b operation.
• 11g — force 802.11g operation.

nwid id

Set the network ID. The id can either be any text string up to 32 characters in length, or a series of hexadecimal digits up to 64 digits. An empty ID string (the default) allows the interface to connect to any available access points. Note that network ID is synonymous with Extended Service Set ID (ESSID).

nwkey key

Enable WEP encryption using the specified key. The key can either be a string, a series of hexadecimal digits (preceded by 0x), or a set of keys of the form n:k1,k2,k3,k4, where n specifies which of the keys to use for transmitted packets, and the four keys, k1 through k4, are configured as WEP keys. If a set of keys is specified, a comma (,) within the key must be escaped with a backslash.

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If you use multiple keys, their order must be the same within the network. These drivers can use both 40-bit (5 characters or 10 hexadecimal digits) or 104-bit (13 characters or 26 hexadecimal digits) keys.

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-nwkey

Disable WEP encryption. This is the default mode of operation.

See also:

devn-*, devnp-*, ifconfig, io-pkt