xref: /openbsd-src/share/man/man4/ral.4 (revision f2da64fbbbf1b03f09f390ab01267c93dfd77c4c)
1.\" $OpenBSD: ral.4,v 1.110 2016/08/17 11:52:29 stsp 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: August 17 2016 $
18.Dt RAL 4
19.Os
20.Sh NAME
21.Nm ral
22.Nd Ralink Technology/MediaTek IEEE 802.11a/b/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, RT3090 and RT3900E 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
67The RT3900E chipset is a single-chip 802.11n adapter from Ralink.
68The MAC/Baseband Processor can be an RT5390 or RT5392.
69The RT5390 chip operates in the 2GHz spectrum and supports one transmit path
70and one receiver path (1T1R).
71The RT5392 chip operates in the 2GHz spectrum and supports up to two transmit
72paths and two receiver paths (2T2R).
73.Pp
74These are the modes the
75.Nm
76driver can operate in:
77.Bl -tag -width "IBSS-masterXX"
78.It BSS mode
79Also known as
80.Em infrastructure
81mode, this is used when associating with an access point, through
82which all traffic passes.
83This mode is the default.
84.It IBSS mode
85Also known as
86.Em IEEE ad-hoc
87mode or
88.Em peer-to-peer
89mode.
90This is the standardized method of operating without an access point.
91Stations associate with a service set.
92However, actual connections between stations are peer-to-peer.
93.It Host AP
94In this mode the driver acts as an access point (base station)
95for other cards.
96.It monitor mode
97In this mode the driver is able to receive packets without
98associating with an access point.
99This disables the internal receive filter and enables the card to
100capture packets from networks which it wouldn't normally have access to,
101or to scan for access points.
102.El
103.Pp
104The
105.Nm
106driver can be configured to use
107Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) or
108Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK).
109WPA is the current encryption standard for wireless networks.
110It is strongly recommended that WEP
111not be used as the sole mechanism
112to secure wireless communication,
113due to serious weaknesses in it.
114.Pp
115The
116.Nm
117driver relies on the software 802.11 stack for both encryption and
118decryption of data frames on the RT2500, RT2501 and RT2600 chipsets.
119On the RT2700 and RT2800 chipsets, the
120.Nm
121driver offloads both encryption and decryption of data frames to the
122hardware for the WEP40, WEP104, TKIP(+MIC) and CCMP ciphers.
123.Pp
124The transmit speed is user-selectable or can be adapted automatically by the
125driver depending on the number of hardware transmission retries.
126.Pp
127The
128.Nm
129driver can be configured at runtime with
130.Xr ifconfig 8
131or on boot with
132.Xr hostname.if 5 .
133.Sh FILES
134The RT2501, RT2600, RT2700 and RT2800 chipsets require the following firmware
135files to be loaded when an interface is brought up:
136.Pp
137.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
138.It /etc/firmware/ral-rt2561
139.It /etc/firmware/ral-rt2561s
140.It /etc/firmware/ral-rt2661
141.It /etc/firmware/ral-rt2860
142.El
143.Pp
144The RT2500 chipset does not require a firmware file to operate.
145.Sh HARDWARE
146The following PCI adapters should work:
147.Bd -filled
148A-Link WL54H.
149AirLive WN-5000PCI.
150Amigo AWI-926W.
151AMIT WL531P.
152AOpen AOI-831.
153ASUS WL-130G.
154ASUS WL-130N.
155ASUS WIFI-G-AAY.
156Atlantis Land A02-PCI-W54.
157Belkin F5D7000 v3.
158Canyon CN-WF511.
159CNet CWP-854.
160Compex WLP54G.
161Conceptronic C54Ri.
162Corega CG-WLPCI54GL.
163Digitus DN-7006G-RA.
164Dynalink WLG25PCI.
165E-Tech WGPI02.
166Edimax EW-7128g.
167Edimax EW-7628Ig.
168Edimax EW-7728In.
169Eminent EM3037.
170Encore ENLWI-G-RLAM.
171Eusso UGL2454-VPR.
172Fiberline WL-400P.
173Foxconn WLL-3350.
174Gigabyte GN-WPKG.
175Gigabyte GN-WP01GS.
176Gigabyte GN-WI02GM.
177Gigabyte GN-WP01GM.
178Hawking HWP54GR.
179Hercules HWGPCI-54.
180iNexQ CR054g-009 (R03).
181JAHT WN-4054PCI.
182KCORP LifeStyle KLS-660.
183LevelOne WNC-0301 v2.
184Linksys WMP54G v4.
185Longshine LCS-8031N.
186Micronet SP906GK.
187Minitar MN54GPC-R.
188MSI MS-6834.
189MSI PC54G2.
190OvisLink EVO-W54PCI.
191PheeNet HWL-PCIG/RA.
192Planex PCI-GW-DS300N.
193Pro-Nets PC80211G.
194Repotec RP-WP0854.
195SATech SN-54P.
196Signamax 065-1798.
197Sitecom WL-115.
198SparkLAN WL-660R.
199Surecom EP-9321-g.
200Surecom EP-9321-g1.
201Sweex LC700030.
202TekComm NE-9321-g.
203Tonze PC-6200C.
204Unex CR054g-R02.
205Zinwell ZWX-G361.
206Zonet ZEW1600.
207.Ed
208.Pp
209The following CardBus adapters should work:
210.Bd -filled
211A-Link WL54PC.
212Alfa AWPC036.
213Amigo AWI-914W.
214AMIT WL531C.
215ASUS WL-107G.
216Atlantis Land A02-PCM-W54.
217Belkin F5D7010 v2.
218Canyon CN-WF513.
219CC&C WL-2102.
220CNet CWC-854.
221Compex WL54.
222Conceptronic C54RC.
223Corega CG-WLCB54GL.
224Digiconnect WL591C.
225Digitus DN-7001G-RA.
226Dynalink WLG25CARDBUS.
227E-Tech WGPC02.
228E-Tech WGPC03.
229Edimax EW-7108PCg.
230Edimax EW-7708PN.
231Eminent EM3036.
232Encore ENPWI-G-RLAM.
233Eusso UGL2454-01R.
234Fiberline WL-400X.
235Gigabyte GN-WMKG.
236Gigabyte GN-WM01GS.
237Gigabyte GN-WM01GM.
238Hawking HWC54GR.
239Hercules HWGPCMCIA-54.
240JAHT WN-4054P(E).
241KCORP LifeStyle KLS-611.
242LevelOne WPC-0301 v2.
243Micronet SP908GK V3.
244Minitar MN54GCB-R.
245MSI CB54G2.
246MSI MS-6835.
247Pro-Nets CB80211G.
248Repotec RP-WB7108.
249SATech SN-54C.
250Sitecom WL-112.
251SparkLAN WL-611R.
252SparkLAN WPCR-501.
253Surecom EP-9428-g.
254Sweex LC500050.
255TekComm NE-9428-g.
256Tonze PW-6200C.
257Unex MR054g-R02.
258Zinwell ZWX-G160.
259Zonet ZEW1500.
260.Ed
261.Pp
262The following Mini PCI adapters should work:
263.Bd -filled
264Amigo AWI-922W.
265Billionton MIWLGRL.
266Gigabyte GN-WIKG.
267Gigabyte GN-WI01GS.
268Gigabyte GN-WI02GM.
269MSI MP54G2.
270MSI MS-6833.
271SparkLAN WMIR-215GN.
272Tonze PC-620C.
273Zinwell ZWX-G360.
274.Ed
275.Sh EXAMPLES
276The following example scans for available networks:
277.Pp
278.Dl # ifconfig ral0 scan
279.Pp
280The following
281.Xr hostname.if 5
282example configures ral0 to join network
283.Dq mynwid ,
284using WPA key
285.Dq mywpakey ,
286obtaining an IP address using DHCP:
287.Bd -literal -offset indent
288nwid mynwid
289wpakey mywpakey
290dhcp
291.Ed
292.Pp
293The following
294.Xr hostname.if 5
295example creates a host-based access point on boot:
296.Bd -literal -offset indent
297mediaopt hostap
298nwid mynwid
299wpakey mywpakey
300inet 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0
301.Ed
302.Sh SEE ALSO
303.Xr arp 4 ,
304.Xr cardbus 4 ,
305.Xr ifmedia 4 ,
306.Xr intro 4 ,
307.Xr netintro 4 ,
308.Xr pci 4 ,
309.Xr hostname.if 5 ,
310.Xr hostapd 8 ,
311.Xr ifconfig 8
312.Sh HISTORY
313The
314.Nm
315driver first appeared in
316.Ox 3.7 .
317Support for the RT2501 and RT2600 chipsets was added in
318.Ox 3.9 .
319Support for the RT2800 chipset was added in
320.Ox 4.3 .
321Support for the RT2700 chipset was added in
322.Ox 4.4 .
323Support for the RT3090 chipset was added in
324.Ox 4.9 .
325.Sh AUTHORS
326The
327.Nm
328driver was written by
329.An Damien Bergamini Aq Mt damien.bergamini@free.fr .
330.Sh CAVEATS
331The
332.Nm
333driver does not make use of the hardware cryptographic engine present on
334the RT2500, RT2501 and RT2600 chipsets.
335.Pp
336The
337.Nm
338driver does not support any of the 802.11n capabilities offered by
339the RT2700, RT2800 and RT3090 chipsets.
340Additional work is required in
341.Xr ieee80211 9
342before those features can be supported.
343.Pp
344On the RT2500, RT2501 and RT2600 chipsets, host AP mode doesn't
345support power saving.
346Clients attempting to use power saving mode may experience significant
347packet loss (disabling power saving on the client will fix this).
348.Pp
349Some PCI
350.Nm
351adapters seem to strictly require a system supporting PCI 2.2 or greater and
352will likely not work in systems based on older revisions of the PCI
353specification.
354Check the board's PCI version before purchasing the card.
355