xref: /openbsd-src/share/man/man4/ral.4 (revision 50b7afb2c2c0993b0894d4e34bf857cb13ed9c80)
1.\" $OpenBSD: ral.4,v 1.106 2014/02/15 20:28:19 tedu Exp $
2.\"
3.\" Copyright (c) 2005-2010 Damien Bergamini <damien.bergamini@free.fr>
4.\"
5.\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
6.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
7.\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
8.\"
9.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
10.\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
11.\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
12.\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
13.\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
14.\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
15.\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
16.\"
17.Dd $Mdocdate: February 15 2014 $
18.Dt RAL 4
19.Os
20.Sh NAME
21.Nm ral
22.Nd Ralink Technology IEEE 802.11a/g/n wireless network device
23.Sh SYNOPSIS
24.Cd "ral* at cardbus?"
25.Cd "ral* at pci?"
26.Sh DESCRIPTION
27The
28.Nm
29driver supports PCI/PCIe/CardBus wireless adapters based on the Ralink RT2500,
30RT2501, RT2600, RT2700, RT2800 and RT3090 chipsets.
31.Pp
32The RT2500 chipset is the first generation of 802.11b/g adapters from Ralink.
33It consists of two integrated chips, an RT2560 MAC/BBP and an RT2525 radio
34transceiver.
35.Pp
36The RT2501 chipset is the second generation of 802.11a/b/g adapters from
37Ralink.
38It consists of two integrated chips, an RT2561 MAC/BBP and an RT2527 radio
39transceiver.
40This chipset provides support for the IEEE 802.11e standard with multiple
41hardware transmission queues and allows scatter/gather for efficient DMA
42operations.
43.Pp
44The RT2600 chipset consists of two integrated chips, an RT2661 MAC/BBP and an
45RT2529 radio transceiver.
46This chipset uses the MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) technology with
47multiple radio transceivers to extend the operating range of the adapter and
48to achieve higher throughput.
49However, the RT2600 chipset does not support any of the 802.11n features.
50.Pp
51The RT2700 chipset is a low-cost version of the RT2800 chipset.
52It supports a single transmit path and two receiver paths (1T2R).
53It consists of two integrated chips, an RT2760 or RT2790 (PCIe) MAC/BBP and
54an RT2720 (2.4GHz) or RT2750 (2.4GHz/5GHz) radio transceiver.
55.Pp
56The RT2800 chipset is the first generation of 802.11n adapters from Ralink.
57It consists of two integrated chips, an RT2860 or RT2890 (PCIe) MAC/BBP and
58an RT2820 (2.4GHz) or RT2850 (2.4GHz/5GHz) radio transceiver.
59The RT2800 chipset supports two transmit paths and up to three receiver
60paths (2T2R/2T3R).
61It can achieve speeds up to 144Mbps (20MHz bandwidth) and 300Mbps (40MHz
62bandwidth.)
63.Pp
64The RT3090 chipset is the first generation of single-chip 802.11n adapters
65from Ralink.
66.Pp
67These are the modes the
68.Nm
69driver can operate in:
70.Bl -tag -width "IBSS-masterXX"
71.It BSS mode
72Also known as
73.Em infrastructure
74mode, this is used when associating with an access point, through
75which all traffic passes.
76This mode is the default.
77.It IBSS mode
78Also known as
79.Em IEEE ad-hoc
80mode or
81.Em peer-to-peer
82mode.
83This is the standardized method of operating without an access point.
84Stations associate with a service set.
85However, actual connections between stations are peer-to-peer.
86.It Host AP
87In this mode the driver acts as an access point (base station)
88for other cards.
89.It monitor mode
90In this mode the driver is able to receive packets without
91associating with an access point.
92This disables the internal receive filter and enables the card to
93capture packets from networks which it wouldn't normally have access to,
94or to scan for access points.
95.El
96.Pp
97The
98.Nm
99driver can be configured to use
100Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) or
101Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK).
102WPA is the current encryption standard for wireless networks.
103It is strongly recommended that WEP
104not be used as the sole mechanism
105to secure wireless communication,
106due to serious weaknesses in it.
107.Pp
108The
109.Nm
110driver relies on the software 802.11 stack for both encryption and
111decryption of data frames on the RT2500, RT2501 and RT2600 chipsets.
112On the RT2700 and RT2800 chipsets, the
113.Nm
114driver offloads both encryption and decryption of data frames to the
115hardware for the WEP40, WEP104, TKIP(+MIC) and CCMP ciphers.
116.Pp
117The transmit speed is user-selectable or can be adapted automatically by the
118driver depending on the number of hardware transmission retries.
119.Pp
120The
121.Nm
122driver can be configured at runtime with
123.Xr ifconfig 8
124or on boot with
125.Xr hostname.if 5 .
126.Sh FILES
127The RT2501, RT2600, RT2700 and RT2800 chipsets require the following firmware
128files to be loaded when an interface is brought up:
129.Pp
130.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
131.It /etc/firmware/ral-rt2561
132.It /etc/firmware/ral-rt2561s
133.It /etc/firmware/ral-rt2661
134.It /etc/firmware/ral-rt2860
135.El
136.Pp
137The RT2500 chipset does not require a firmware file to operate.
138.Sh HARDWARE
139The following PCI adapters should work:
140.Bd -filled
141A-Link WL54H.
142AirLive WN-5000PCI.
143Amigo AWI-926W.
144AMIT WL531P.
145AOpen AOI-831.
146ASUS WL-130G.
147ASUS WL-130N.
148ASUS WIFI-G-AAY.
149Atlantis Land A02-PCI-W54.
150Belkin F5D7000 v3.
151Canyon CN-WF511.
152CNet CWP-854.
153Compex WLP54G.
154Conceptronic C54Ri.
155Corega CG-WLPCI54GL.
156Digitus DN-7006G-RA.
157Dynalink WLG25PCI.
158E-Tech WGPI02.
159Edimax EW-7128g.
160Edimax EW-7628Ig.
161Edimax EW-7728In.
162Eminent EM3037.
163Encore ENLWI-G-RLAM.
164Eusso UGL2454-VPR.
165Fiberline WL-400P.
166Foxconn WLL-3350.
167Gigabyte GN-WPKG.
168Gigabyte GN-WP01GS.
169Gigabyte GN-WI02GM.
170Gigabyte GN-WP01GM.
171Hawking HWP54GR.
172Hercules HWGPCI-54.
173iNexQ CR054g-009 (R03).
174JAHT WN-4054PCI.
175KCORP LifeStyle KLS-660.
176LevelOne WNC-0301 v2.
177Linksys WMP54G v4.
178Longshine LCS-8031N.
179Micronet SP906GK.
180Minitar MN54GPC-R.
181MSI MS-6834.
182MSI PC54G2.
183OvisLink EVO-W54PCI.
184PheeNet HWL-PCIG/RA.
185Planex PCI-GW-DS300N.
186Pro-Nets PC80211G.
187Repotec RP-WP0854.
188SATech SN-54P.
189Signamax 065-1798.
190Sitecom WL-115.
191SparkLAN WL-660R.
192Surecom EP-9321-g.
193Surecom EP-9321-g1.
194Sweex LC700030.
195TekComm NE-9321-g.
196Tonze PC-6200C.
197Unex CR054g-R02.
198Zinwell ZWX-G361.
199Zonet ZEW1600.
200.Ed
201.Pp
202The following CardBus adapters should work:
203.Bd -filled
204A-Link WL54PC.
205Alfa AWPC036.
206Amigo AWI-914W.
207AMIT WL531C.
208ASUS WL-107G.
209Atlantis Land A02-PCM-W54.
210Belkin F5D7010 v2.
211Canyon CN-WF513.
212CC&C WL-2102.
213CNet CWC-854.
214Compex WL54.
215Conceptronic C54RC.
216Corega CG-WLCB54GL.
217Digiconnect WL591C.
218Digitus DN-7001G-RA.
219Dynalink WLG25CARDBUS.
220E-Tech WGPC02.
221E-Tech WGPC03.
222Edimax EW-7108PCg.
223Edimax EW-7708PN.
224Eminent EM3036.
225Encore ENPWI-G-RLAM.
226Eusso UGL2454-01R.
227Fiberline WL-400X.
228Gigabyte GN-WMKG.
229Gigabyte GN-WM01GS.
230Gigabyte GN-WM01GM.
231Hawking HWC54GR.
232Hercules HWGPCMCIA-54.
233JAHT WN-4054P(E).
234KCORP LifeStyle KLS-611.
235LevelOne WPC-0301 v2.
236Micronet SP908GK V3.
237Minitar MN54GCB-R.
238MSI CB54G2.
239MSI MS-6835.
240Pro-Nets CB80211G.
241Repotec RP-WB7108.
242SATech SN-54C.
243Sitecom WL-112.
244SparkLAN WL-611R.
245SparkLAN WPCR-501.
246Surecom EP-9428-g.
247Sweex LC500050.
248TekComm NE-9428-g.
249Tonze PW-6200C.
250Unex MR054g-R02.
251Zinwell ZWX-G160.
252Zonet ZEW1500.
253.Ed
254.Pp
255The following Mini PCI adapters should work:
256.Bd -filled
257Amigo AWI-922W.
258Billionton MIWLGRL.
259Gigabyte GN-WIKG.
260Gigabyte GN-WI01GS.
261Gigabyte GN-WI02GM.
262MSI MP54G2.
263MSI MS-6833.
264SparkLAN WMIR-215GN.
265Tonze PC-620C.
266Zinwell ZWX-G360.
267.Ed
268.Sh EXAMPLES
269The following example scans for available networks:
270.Pp
271.Dl # ifconfig ral0 scan
272.Pp
273The following
274.Xr hostname.if 5
275example configures ral0 to join network
276.Dq mynwid ,
277using WPA key
278.Dq mywpakey ,
279obtaining an IP address using DHCP:
280.Bd -literal -offset indent
281nwid mynwid
282wpakey mywpakey
283dhcp
284.Ed
285.Pp
286The following
287.Xr hostname.if 5
288example creates a host-based access point on boot:
289.Bd -literal -offset indent
290inet 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0
291mediaopt hostap
292nwid mynwid
293wpakey mywpakey
294.Ed
295.Sh SEE ALSO
296.Xr arp 4 ,
297.Xr cardbus 4 ,
298.Xr ifmedia 4 ,
299.Xr intro 4 ,
300.Xr netintro 4 ,
301.Xr pci 4 ,
302.Xr hostname.if 5 ,
303.Xr hostapd 8 ,
304.Xr ifconfig 8
305.Pp
306Ralink Technology:
307.Lk http://www.ralinktech.com/
308.Sh HISTORY
309The
310.Nm
311driver first appeared in
312.Ox 3.7 .
313Support for the RT2501 and RT2600 chipsets was added in
314.Ox 3.9 .
315Support for the RT2800 chipset was added in
316.Ox 4.3 .
317Support for the RT2700 chipset was added in
318.Ox 4.4 .
319Support for the RT3090 chipset was added in
320.Ox 4.9 .
321.Sh AUTHORS
322The
323.Nm
324driver was written by
325.An Damien Bergamini Aq Mt damien.bergamini@free.fr .
326.Sh CAVEATS
327The
328.Nm
329driver does not make use of the hardware cryptographic engine present on
330the RT2500, RT2501 and RT2600 chipsets.
331.Pp
332The
333.Nm
334driver does not support any of the 802.11n capabilities offered by
335the RT2700, RT2800 and RT3090 chipsets.
336Additional work is required in
337.Xr ieee80211 9
338before those features can be supported.
339.Pp
340On the RT2500, RT2501 and RT2600 chipsets, host AP mode doesn't
341support power saving.
342Clients attempting to use power saving mode may experience significant
343packet loss (disabling power saving on the client will fix this).
344.Pp
345Some PCI
346.Nm
347adapters seem to strictly require a system supporting PCI 2.2 or greater and
348will likely not work in systems based on older revisions of the PCI
349specification.
350Check the board's PCI version before purchasing the card.
351