1.\" $OpenBSD: ral.4,v 1.98 2010/11/05 18:45:11 damien 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: November 5 2010 $ 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 de facto 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 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 270.Xr hostname.if 5 271example configures ral0 to join whatever network is available on boot, 272using WEP key 273.Dq 0x1deadbeef1 , 274channel 11, obtaining an IP address using DHCP: 275.Bd -literal -offset indent 276dhcp NONE NONE NONE nwkey 0x1deadbeef1 chan 11 277.Ed 278.Pp 279The following 280.Xr hostname.if 5 281example creates a host-based access point on boot: 282.Bd -literal -offset indent 283inet 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0 NONE media autoselect \e 284 mediaopt hostap nwid my_net chan 11 285.Ed 286.Pp 287Configure ral0 to join network 288.Dq my_net 289using WPA with passphrase 290.Dq my_passphrase : 291.Bd -literal -offset indent 292# ifconfig ral0 nwid my_net wpakey my_passphrase 293.Ed 294.Pp 295Join an existing BSS network, 296.Dq my_net : 297.Bd -literal -offset indent 298# ifconfig ral0 192.168.1.1 netmask 0xffffff00 nwid my_net 299.Ed 300.Sh DIAGNOSTICS 301.Bl -diag 302.It "ral%d: error %d, could not read firmware %s" 303For some reason, the driver was unable to read the firmware image from the 304filesystem. 305The file might be missing or corrupted. 306.It "ral%d: could not load 8051 microcode" 307An error occurred while attempting to upload the microcode to the onboard 8051 308microcontroller unit. 309.It "ral%d: timeout waiting for MCU to initialize" 310The onboard 8051 microcontroller unit failed to initialize in time. 311.It "ral%d: device timeout" 312A frame dispatched to the hardware for transmission did not complete in time. 313The driver will reset the hardware. 314This should not happen. 315.El 316.Sh SEE ALSO 317.Xr arp 4 , 318.Xr cardbus 4 , 319.Xr ifmedia 4 , 320.Xr intro 4 , 321.Xr netintro 4 , 322.Xr pci 4 , 323.Xr hostname.if 5 , 324.Xr hostapd 8 , 325.Xr ifconfig 8 326.Pp 327Ralink Technology: 328.Pa http://www.ralinktech.com/ 329.Sh HISTORY 330The 331.Nm 332driver first appeared in 333.Ox 3.7 . 334Support for the RT2501 and RT2600 chipsets was added in 335.Ox 3.9 . 336Support for the RT2800 chipset was added in 337.Ox 4.3 . 338Support for the RT2700 chipset was added in 339.Ox 4.4 . 340Support for the RT3090 chipset was added in 341.Ox 4.9 . 342.Sh AUTHORS 343The 344.Nm 345driver was written by 346.An Damien Bergamini Aq damien@openbsd.org . 347.Sh CAVEATS 348The 349.Nm 350driver does not make use of the hardware cryptographic engine present on 351the RT2500, RT2501 and RT2600 chipsets. 352.Pp 353The 354.Nm 355driver does not support any of the 802.11n capabilities offered by 356the RT2700 and RT2800 chipsets. 357Additional work is required in 358.Xr ieee80211 9 359before those features can be supported. 360.Pp 361Host AP mode doesn't support power saving. 362Clients attempting to use power saving mode may experience significant 363packet loss (disabling power saving on the client will fix this). 364.Pp 365Some PCI 366.Nm 367adapters seem to strictly require a system supporting PCI 2.2 or greater and 368will likely not work in systems based on older revisions of the PCI 369specification. 370Check the board's PCI version before purchasing the card. 371