xref: /netbsd-src/share/man/man4/ral.4 (revision e5548b402ae4c44fb816de42c7bba9581ce23ef5)
1.\" $NetBSD: ral.4,v 1.2 2005/07/14 12:54:23 wiz Exp $
2.\" $OpenBSD: ral.4,v 1.37 2005/07/07 15:01:11 jsg Exp $
3.\"
4.\" Copyright (c) 2005
5.\"	Damien Bergamini <damien.bergamini@free.fr>
6.\"
7.\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
8.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
9.\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
10.\"
11.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
12.\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
13.\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
14.\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
15.\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
16.\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
17.\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
18.\"
19.Dd February 15, 2005
20.Os
21.Dt RAL 4
22.Sh NAME
23.Nm ral
24.Nd Ralink Technology RT25x0 IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless network driver
25.Sh SYNOPSIS
26.Cd "ral* at cardbus?"
27.Cd "ral* at pci?"
28.Cd "ral* at uhub? port ?"
29.Sh DESCRIPTION
30The
31.Nm
32driver supports PCI/CardBus wireless adapters based on the Ralink RT2500
33chipset
34and USB 2.0 wireless adapters based on the Ralink RT2500USB
35chipset.
36.Pp
37The RT2500 chipset consists of two integrated chips, a RT2560 or RT2570 MAC/BBP
38and a radio transceiver (the model of which depends on the card revision).
39.Pp
40The RT2522, RT2523, RT2524, RT2525, RT2525e and RT2526 radio transceivers
41operate in the 2.4GHz band (802.11b/g) whereas the RT5222 is a dual-band radio
42transceiver that can operate in the 2.4GHz and 5.2GHz bands (802.11a).
43.Pp
44The transmit speed is user-selectable or can be adapted automatically by the
45driver depending on the received-signal strength.
46See
47.Xr rssadapt 9
48for more information.
49.Pp
50These are the modes the
51.Nm
52driver can operate in:
53.Bl -tag -width "IBSS-masterXX"
54.It BSS mode
55Also known as
56.Em infrastructure
57mode, this is used when associating with an access point, through
58which all traffic passes.
59This mode is the default.
60.It IBSS mode
61Also known as
62.Em IEEE ad-hoc
63mode or
64.Em peer-to-peer
65mode.
66This is the standardized method of operating without an access point.
67Stations associate with a service set.
68However, actual connections between stations are peer-to-peer.
69.It Host AP
70In this mode the driver acts as an access point (base station)
71for other cards.
72.It monitor mode
73In this mode the driver is able to receive packets without
74associating with an access point.
75This disables the internal receive filter and enables the card to
76capture packets from networks which it wouldn't normally have access to,
77or to scan for access points.
78.El
79.Pp
80.Nm
81supports software WEP.
82Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is the de facto encryption standard
83for wireless networks.
84It can be typically configured in one of three modes:
85no encryption; 40-bit encryption; or 104-bit encryption.
86Unfortunately, due to serious weaknesses in WEP protocol
87it is strongly recommended that it not be used as the
88sole mechanism to secure wireless communication.
89WEP is not enabled by default.
90.Sh CONFIGURATION
91The
92.Nm
93driver can be configured with
94.Xr ifconfig 8
95using the following parameters:
96.Bl -tag -width Ds
97.It Cm bssid Ar bssid
98Set the desired BSSID.
99.It Fl bssid
100Unset the desired BSSID.
101The interface will automatically select a BSSID in this mode, which is
102the default.
103.It Cm chan Ar n
104Set the channel (radio frequency) to be used by the driver based on
105the given channel ID
106.Ar n .
107.It Fl chan
108Unset the desired channel to be used by the driver.
109The driver will automatically select a channel in this mode, which is
110the default.
111.It Cm media Ar media
112The
113.Nm
114driver supports the following
115.Ar media
116types:
117.Pp
118.Bl -tag -width autoselect -compact
119.It Cm autoselect
120Enable autoselection of the media type and options.
121.It Cm DS1
122Set 802.11b DS 1Mbps operation.
123.It Cm DS2
124Set 802.11b DS 2Mbps operation.
125.It Cm DS5
126Set 802.11b DS 5.5Mbps operation.
127.It Cm DS11
128Set 802.11b DS 11Mbps operation.
129.It Cm OFDM6
130Set 802.11a/g OFDM 6Mbps operation.
131.It Cm OFDM9
132Set 802.11a/g OFDM 9Mbps operation.
133.It Cm OFDM12
134Set 802.11a/g OFDM 12Mbps operation.
135.It Cm OFDM18
136Set 802.11a/g OFDM 18Mbps operation.
137.It Cm OFDM24
138Set 802.11a/g OFDM 24Mbps operation.
139.It Cm OFDM36
140Set 802.11a/g OFDM 36Mbps operation.
141.It Cm OFDM48
142Set 802.11a/g OFDM 48Mbps operation.
143.It Cm OFDM54
144Set 802.11a/g OFDM 54Mbps operation.
145.El
146.It Cm mediaopt Ar opts
147The
148.Nm
149driver supports the following media options:
150.Pp
151.Bl -tag -width monitor -compact
152.It Cm hostap
153Select Host AP operation.
154.It Cm ibss
155Select IBSS operation.
156.It Cm monitor
157Select monitor mode.
158.El
159.It Fl mediaopt Ar opts
160Disable the specified media options on the driver and return it to the
161default mode of operation (BSS).
162.It Cm mode Ar mode
163The
164.Nm
165driver supports the following modes:
166.Pp
167.Bl -tag -width 11b -compact
168.It Cm 11a
169Force 802.11a operation (RT5222 only).
170.It Cm 11b
171Force 802.11b operation.
172.It Cm 11g
173Force 802.11g operation.
174.El
175.It Cm nwid Ar id
176Set the network ID.
177The
178.Ar id
179can either be any text string up to 32 characters in length,
180or a series of hexadecimal digits up to 64 digits.
181An empty
182.Ar id
183string allows the interface to connect to any available access points.
184By default the
185.Nm
186driver uses an empty string.
187Note that network ID is synonymous with Extended Service Set ID (ESSID).
188.It Cm nwkey Ar key
189Enable WEP encryption using the specified
190.Ar key .
191The
192.Ar key
193can either be a string, a series of hexadecimal digits (preceded by
194.Sq 0x ) ,
195or a set of keys of the form
196.Dq n:k1,k2,k3,k4 ,
197where
198.Sq n
199specifies which of the keys will be used for transmitted packets,
200and the four keys,
201.Dq k1
202through
203.Dq k4 ,
204are configured as WEP keys.
205If a set of keys is specified, a comma
206.Pq Sq \&,
207within the key must be escaped with a backslash.
208Note that if multiple keys are used, their order must be the same within
209the network.
210.Nm
211is capable of using both 40-bit (5 characters or 10 hexadecimal digits)
212or 104-bit (13 characters or 26 hexadecimal digits) keys.
213.It Fl nwkey
214Disable WEP encryption.
215This is the default mode of operation.
216.El
217.Sh HARDWARE
218The following PCI adapters should work:
219.Bd -filled
220A-Link WL54H.
221Amigo AWI-926W.
222AMIT WL531P.
223AOpen AOI-831.
224ASUS WL-130g.
225ASUS WIFI-G-AAY.
226Atlantis Land A02-PCI-W54.
227Belkin F5D7000 v3.
228Canyon CN-WF511.
229CNet CWP-854.
230Compex WLP54G.
231Conceptronic C54Ri.
232Corega CG-WLPCI54GL.
233Digitus DN-7006G-RA.
234Dynalink WLG25PCI.
235E-Tech WGPI02.
236Edimax EW-7128g.
237Eminent EM3037.
238Encore ENLWI-G-RLAM.
239Eusso UGL2454-VPR.
240Fiberline WL-400P.
241Foxconn WLL-3350.
242Gigabyte GN-WPKG.
243Hawking HWP54GR.
244Hercules HWGPCI-54.
245iNexQ CR054g-009 (R03).
246JAHT WN-4054PCI.
247KCORP LifeStyle KLS-660.
248LevelOne WNC-0301 v2.
249Linksys WMP54G v4.
250Micronet SP906GK.
251Minitar MN54GPC-R.
252MSI MS-6834.
253MSI PC54G2.
254OvisLink EVO-W54PCI.
255PheeNet HWL-PCIG/RA.
256Pro-Nets PC80211G.
257Repotec RP-WP0854.
258SATech SN-54P.
259Signamax 065-1798.
260Sitecom WL-115.
261SparkLAN WL-660R.
262Surecom EP-9321-g.
263Sweex LC700030.
264TekComm NE-9321-g.
265Tonze PC-6200C.
266Unex CR054g-R02.
267Zinwell ZWX-G361.
268Zonet ZEW1600.
269.Ed
270.Pp
271The following CardBus adapters should work:
272.Bd -filled
273A-Link WL54PC.
274Alfa AWPC036.
275Amigo AWI-914W.
276AMIT WL531C.
277ASUS WL-107G.
278Atlantis Land A02-PCM-W54.
279Belkin F5D7010 v2.
280Canyon CN-WF513.
281CC\*[Am]C WL-2102.
282CNet CWC-854.
283Conceptronic C54RC.
284Corega CG-WLCB54GL.
285Digitus DN-7001G-RA.
286Dynalink WLG25CARDBUS.
287E-Tech WGPC02.
288E-Tech WGPC03.
289Edimax EW-7108PCg.
290Eminent EM3036.
291Encore ENPWI-G-RLAM.
292Eusso UGL2454-01R.
293Fiberline WL-400X.
294Gigabyte GN-WMKG.
295Hawking HWC54GR.
296Hercules HWGPCMCIA-54.
297JAHT WN-4054P(E).
298KCORP LifeStyle KLS-611.
299LevelOne WPC-0301 v2.
300Micronet SP908GK V3.
301Minitar MN54GCB-R.
302MSI CB54G2.
303MSI MS-6835.
304Pro-Nets CB80211G.
305Repotec RP-WB7108.
306SATech SN-54C.
307Sitecom WL-112.
308SparkLAN WL-611R.
309Surecom EP-9428-g.
310Sweex LC500050.
311TekComm NE-9428-g.
312Tonze PW-6200C.
313Unex MR054g-R02.
314Zinwell ZWX-G160.
315Zonet ZEW1500.
316.Ed
317.Pp
318The following Mini PCI adapters should work:
319.Bd -filled
320Amigo AWI-922W.
321Billionton MIWLGRL.
322Gigabyte GN-WIKG.
323MSI MP54G2.
324MSI MS-6833.
325Tonze PC-620C.
326Zinwell ZWX-G360.
327.Ed
328.Pp
329The following USB 2.0 adapters should work:
330.Bd -filled
331AMIT WL532U.
332ASUS WL-167g.
333Belkin F5D7050.
334Buffalo WLI-U2-KG54.
335Buffalo WLI-U2-KG54-AI.
336Buffalo WLI-U2-KG54-YB.
337CNet CWD-854.
338Compex WLU54G 2A1100.
339Conceptronic C54RU.
340D-Link DWL-G122 (b1).
341Dynalink WLG25USB.
342E-Tech WGUS02.
343Eminent 3035.
344Gigabyte GN-WBKG.
345Hercules HWGUSB2-54.
346KCORP LifeStyle KLS-685.
347Linksys WUSB54G v4.
348Linksys WUSB54GP v4.
349MSI MS-6861.
350MSI MS-6865.
351MSI MS-6869.
352SerComm UB801R.
353SparkLAN WL-685R.
354Surecom EP-9001-g.
355Tonze UW-6200C.
356Zaapa ZNWUSB-54.
357Zonet ZEW2500P.
358.Ed
359.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
360.Bl -diag
361.It "ral%d: device timeout"
362The driver will reset the hardware.
363This should not happen.
364.El
365.Sh SEE ALSO
366.Xr arp 4 ,
367.Xr cardbus 4 ,
368.Xr ifmedia 4 ,
369.Xr intro 4 ,
370.Xr netintro 4 ,
371.Xr pci 4 ,
372.Xr usb 4 ,
373.\" .Xr hostapd 8 ,
374.Xr ifconfig 8
375.Pp
376Ralink Technology:
377.Pa http://www.ralinktech.com
378.Sh HISTORY
379The
380.Nm
381driver first appeared in
382.Ox 3.7 .
383.Sh AUTHORS
384The
385.Nm
386driver was written by
387.An Damien Bergamini Aq damien@openbsd.org .
388.Sh CAVEATS
389PCI
390.Nm
391adapters seem to strictly require a system supporting PCI 2.2 or greater and
392will likely not work in systems based on older revisions of the PCI
393specification.
394.Pp
395The USB
396.Nm ral
397driver does not support automatic adaptation of the transmit speed.
398