xref: /freebsd/share/man/man4/ral.4 (revision 9336e0699bda8a301cd2bfa37106b6ec5e32012e)
1.\" Copyright (c) 2005, 2006
2.\"     Damien Bergamini <damien.bergamini@free.fr>
3.\"
4.\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
5.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
6.\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
7.\"
8.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
9.\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
10.\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
11.\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
12.\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
13.\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
14.\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
15.\"
16.\" $FreeBSD$
17.\"
18.Dd September 10, 2007
19.Os
20.Dt RAL 4
21.Sh NAME
22.Nm ral
23.Nd "Ralink Technology IEEE 802.11 wireless network driver"
24.Sh SYNOPSIS
25To compile this driver into the kernel,
26place the following lines in your
27kernel configuration file:
28.Bd -ragged -offset indent
29.Cd "device ral"
30.Cd "device wlan"
31.Ed
32.Pp
33Alternatively, to load the driver as a
34module at boot time, place the following line in
35.Xr loader.conf 5 :
36.Bd -literal -offset indent
37if_ral_load="YES"
38.Ed
39.Sh DESCRIPTION
40The
41.Nm
42driver supports PCI/CardBus wireless adapters based on the Ralink Technology
43RT2500, RT2501, and RT2600 chipsets.
44.Pp
45The RT2500 chipset is the first generation of 802.11b/g adapters from Ralink.
46It consists of two integrated chips, a RT2560 MAC/BBP and a RT2525 radio
47transceiver.
48.Pp
49The RT2501 chipset is the second generation of 802.11b/g adapters from Ralink.
50It consists of two integrated chips, a RT2561 MAC/BBP and a RT2527 radio
51transceiver.
52This chipset provides support for the IEEE 802.11e standard with multiple
53hardware transmission queues and allows scatter/gather for efficient DMA
54operations.
55.Pp
56The RT2600 chipset consists of two integrated chips, a RT2661 MAC/BBP and a
57RT2529 radio transceiver.
58This chipset uses the MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) technology with
59multiple antennas to extend the operating range of the adapter and to achieve
60higher throughput.
61MIMO is the basis of the forthcoming IEEE 802.11n standard.
62.Pp
63The transmit speed is user-selectable or can be adapted automatically by the
64driver depending on the received signal strength and on the number of hardware
65transmission retries.
66.Sh HARDWARE
67The
68.Nm
69driver supports PCI/CardBus wireless adapters based on the Ralink Technology
70RT2500, RT2501, and RT2600 chipsets, including:
71.Pp
72.Bl -column -compact ".Li Atlantis Land A02-PCM-W54" "RT2561S" "CardBus"
73.It Em Card Ta Em MAC/BBP Ta Em Bus
74.It "A-Link WL54H" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
75.It "A-Link WL54PC" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
76.It "AirLink101 AWLC5025" Ta RT2661 Ta CardBus
77.It "AirLink101 AWLH5025" Ta RT2661 Ta PCI
78.It "Amigo AWI-914W" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
79.It "Amigo AWI-922W" Ta RT2560 Ta mini-PCI
80.It "Amigo AWI-926W" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
81.It "AMIT WL531C" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
82.It "AMIT WL531P" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
83.It "AOpen AOI-831" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
84.It "ASUS WL-107G" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
85.It "ASUS WL-130g" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
86.It "Atlantis Land A02-PCI-W54" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
87.It "Atlantis Land A02-PCM-W54" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
88.It "Belkin F5D7000 v3" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
89.It "Belkin F5D7010 v2" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
90.It "Billionton MIWLGRL" Ta RT2560 Ta mini-PCI
91.It "Canyon CN-WF511" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
92.It "Canyon CN-WF513" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
93.It "CC&C WL-2102" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
94.It "CNet CWC-854" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
95.It "CNet CWP-854" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
96.It "Compex WL54G" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
97.It "Compex WLP54G" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
98.It "Conceptronic C54RC" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
99.It "Conceptronic C54Ri" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
100.It "Digitus DN-7001G-RA" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
101.It "Digitus DN-7006G-RA" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
102.It "E-Tech WGPC02" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
103.It "E-Tech WGPI02" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
104.It "Edimax EW-7108PCg" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
105.It "Edimax EW-7128g" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
106.It "Eminent EM3036" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
107.It "Eminent EM3037" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
108.It "Encore ENLWI-G-RLAM" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
109.It "Encore ENPWI-G-RLAM" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
110.It "Fiberline WL-400P" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
111.It "Fibreline WL-400X" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
112.It "Gigabyte GN-WI01GS" Ta RT2561S Ta mini-PCI
113.It "Gigabyte GN-WIKG" Ta RT2560 Ta mini-PCI
114.It "Gigabyte GN-WMKG" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
115.It "Gigabyte GN-WP01GS" Ta RT2561S Ta PCI
116.It "Gigabyte GN-WPKG" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
117.It "Hawking HWC54GR" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
118.It "Hawking HWP54GR" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
119.It "iNexQ CR054g-009 (R03)" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
120.It "JAHT WN-4054P" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
121.It "JAHT WN-4054PCI" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
122.It "LevelOne WNC-0301 v2" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
123.It "LevelOne WPC-0301 v2" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
124.It "Linksys WMP54G v4" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
125.It "Micronet SP906GK" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
126.It "Micronet SP908GK V3" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
127.It "Minitar MN54GCB-R" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
128.It "Minitar MN54GPC-R" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
129.It "MSI CB54G2" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
130.It "MSI MP54G2" Ta RT2560 Ta mini-PCI
131.It "MSI PC54G2" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
132.It "OvisLink EVO-W54PCI" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
133.It "PheeNet HWL-PCIG/RA" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
134.It "Pro-Nets CB80211G" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
135.It "Pro-Nets PC80211G" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
136.It "Repotec RP-WB7108" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
137.It "Repotec RP-WP0854" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
138.It "SATech SN-54C" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
139.It "SATech SN-54P" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
140.It "Sitecom WL-112" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
141.It "Sitecom WL-115" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
142.It "SMC SMCWCB-GM" Ta RT2661 Ta CardBus
143.It "SMC SMCWPCI-GM" Ta RT2661 Ta PCI
144.It "SparkLAN WL-685R" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
145.It "Surecom EP-9321-g" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
146.It "Surecom EP-9321-g1" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
147.It "Surecom EP-9428-g" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
148.It "Sweex LC500050" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
149.It "Sweex LC700030" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
150.It "TekComm NE-9321-g" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
151.It "TekComm NE-9428-g" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
152.It "Unex CR054g-R02" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
153.It "Unex MR054g-R02" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
154.It "Zinwell ZWX-G160" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
155.It "Zinwell ZWX-G360" Ta RT2560 Ta mini-PCI
156.It "Zinwell ZWX-G361" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
157.It "Zonet ZEW1500" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
158.It "Zonet ZEW1600" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
159.El
160.Pp
161An up to date list can be found at
162.Pa http://damien.bergamini.free.fr/ral/list.html .
163.Sh EXAMPLES
164Join an existing BSS network (i.e., connect to an access point):
165.Pp
166.Dl "ifconfig ral0 inet 192.168.0.20 netmask 0xffffff00"
167.Pp
168Join a specific BSS network with network name
169.Dq Li my_net :
170.Pp
171.Dl "ifconfig ral0 inet 192.168.0.20 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net"
172.Pp
173Join a specific BSS network with 40-bit WEP encryption:
174.Bd -literal -offset indent
175ifconfig ral0 inet 192.168.0.20 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net \e
176    wepmode on wepkey 0x1234567890 weptxkey 1
177.Ed
178.Pp
179Join a specific BSS network with 104-bit WEP encryption:
180.Bd -literal -offset indent
181ifconfig ral0 inet 192.168.0.20 netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net \e
182    wepmode on wepkey 0x01020304050607080910111213 weptxkey 1
183.Ed
184.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
185.Bl -diag
186.It "ral%d: could not load 8051 microcode"
187An error occurred while attempting to upload the microcode to the onboard 8051
188microcontroller unit.
189.It "ral%d: timeout waiting for MCU to initialize"
190The onboard 8051 microcontroller unit failed to initialize in time.
191.It "ral%d: device timeout"
192A frame dispatched to the hardware for transmission did not complete in time.
193The driver will reset the hardware.
194This should not happen.
195.El
196.Sh SEE ALSO
197.Xr altq 4 ,
198.Xr arp 4 ,
199.Xr cardbus 4 ,
200.Xr netintro 4 ,
201.Xr pci 4 ,
202.Xr wlan 4 ,
203.Xr ifconfig 8
204.Rs
205.%T "Ralink Technology"
206.%O http://www.ralinktech.com/
207.Re
208.Sh HISTORY
209The
210.Nm
211driver first appeared in
212.Ox 3.7 .
213.Sh CAVEATS
214PCI
215.Nm
216adapters seem to require a PCI 2.2 compliant motherboard and will likely not
217work with PCI 2.1 only motherboard.
218.Pp
219The
220.Nm
221driver does not implement frame aggregation.
222.Sh AUTHORS
223The
224.Nm
225driver was written by
226.An Damien Bergamini Aq damien@FreeBSD.org .
227