xref: /freebsd/share/man/man4/ral.4 (revision ad30f8e79bd1007cc2476e491bd21b4f5e389e0a) 
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 July 8, 2009
19.Dt RAL 4
20.Os
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 ralfw"
31.Cd "device wlan"
32.Cd "device wlan_amrr"
33.Cd "device firmware"
34.Ed
35.Pp
36Alternatively, to load the driver as a
37module at boot time, place the following line in
38.Xr loader.conf 5 :
39.Bd -literal -offset indent
40if_ral_load="YES"
41.Ed
42.Sh DESCRIPTION
43The
44.Nm
45driver supports PCI/CardBus wireless adapters based on the Ralink Technology
46RT2500, RT2501, and RT2600 chipsets.
47.Pp
48The RT2500 chipset is the first generation of 802.11b/g adapters from Ralink.
49It consists of two integrated chips, a RT2560 MAC/BBP and a RT2525 radio
50transceiver.
51.Pp
52The RT2501 chipset is the second generation of 802.11b/g adapters from Ralink.
53It consists of two integrated chips, a RT2561 MAC/BBP and a RT2527 radio
54transceiver.
55This chipset provides support for the IEEE 802.11e standard with multiple
56hardware transmission queues and allows scatter/gather for efficient DMA
57operations.
58.Pp
59The RT2600 chipset consists of two integrated chips, a RT2661 MAC/BBP and a
60RT2529 radio transceiver.
61This chipset uses the MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) technology with
62multiple antennas to extend the operating range of the adapter and to achieve
63higher throughput.
64MIMO is the basis of the forthcoming IEEE 802.11n standard.
65.Pp
66The transmit speed is user-selectable or can be adapted automatically by the
67driver depending on the received signal strength and on the number of hardware
68transmission retries.
69.Pp
70.Nm
71supports
72.Cm station ,
73.Cm adhoc ,
74.Cm hostap ,
75.Cm mesh ,
76.Cm wds ,
77and
78.Cm monitor
79mode operation.
80Only one
81.Cm hostap
82or
83.Cm mesh
84virtual interface may be configured at a time.
85Any number of
86.Cm wds
87virtual interfaces may be configured together with a
88.Cm hostap
89interface.
90Multiple
91.Cm station
92interfaces may be operated together with a
93.Cm hostap
94interface to construct a wireless repeater device.
95For more information on configuring this device, see
96.Xr ifconfig 8 .
97.Sh HARDWARE
98The
99.Nm
100driver supports PCI/CardBus wireless adapters based on the Ralink Technology
101RT2500, RT2501, and RT2600 chipsets, including:
102.Pp
103.Bl -column -compact ".Li Atlantis Land A02-PCM-W54" "RT2561S" "CardBus"
104.It Em Card Ta Em MAC/BBP Ta Em Bus
105.It "A-Link WL54H" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
106.It "A-Link WL54PC" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
107.It "AirLink101 AWLC5025" Ta RT2661 Ta CardBus
108.It "AirLink101 AWLH5025" Ta RT2661 Ta PCI
109.It "Amigo AWI-914W" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
110.It "Amigo AWI-922W" Ta RT2560 Ta mini-PCI
111.It "Amigo AWI-926W" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
112.It "AMIT WL531C" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
113.It "AMIT WL531P" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
114.It "AOpen AOI-831" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
115.It "ASUS WL-107G" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
116.It "ASUS WL-130g" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
117.It "Atlantis Land A02-PCI-W54" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
118.It "Atlantis Land A02-PCM-W54" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
119.It "Belkin F5D7000 v3" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
120.It "Belkin F5D7010 v2" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
121.It "Billionton MIWLGRL" Ta RT2560 Ta mini-PCI
122.It "Canyon CN-WF511" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
123.It "Canyon CN-WF513" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
124.It "CC&C WL-2102" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
125.It "CNet CWC-854" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
126.It "CNet CWP-854" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
127.It "Compex WL54G" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
128.It "Compex WLP54G" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
129.It "Conceptronic C54RC" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
130.It "Conceptronic C54Ri" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
131.It "Digitus DN-7001G-RA" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
132.It "Digitus DN-7006G-RA" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
133.It "E-Tech WGPC02" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
134.It "E-Tech WGPI02" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
135.It "Edimax EW-7108PCg" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
136.It "Edimax EW-7128g" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
137.It "Eminent EM3036" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
138.It "Eminent EM3037" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
139.It "Encore ENLWI-G-RLAM" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
140.It "Encore ENPWI-G-RLAM" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
141.It "Fiberline WL-400P" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
142.It "Fibreline WL-400X" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
143.It "Gigabyte GN-WI01GS" Ta RT2561S Ta mini-PCI
144.It "Gigabyte GN-WIKG" Ta RT2560 Ta mini-PCI
145.It "Gigabyte GN-WMKG" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
146.It "Gigabyte GN-WP01GS" Ta RT2561S Ta PCI
147.It "Gigabyte GN-WPKG" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
148.It "Hawking HWC54GR" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
149.It "Hawking HWP54GR" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
150.It "iNexQ CR054g-009 (R03)" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
151.It "JAHT WN-4054P" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
152.It "JAHT WN-4054PCI" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
153.It "LevelOne WNC-0301 v2" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
154.It "LevelOne WPC-0301 v2" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
155.It "Linksys WMP54G v4" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
156.It "Micronet SP906GK" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
157.It "Micronet SP908GK V3" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
158.It "Minitar MN54GCB-R" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
159.It "Minitar MN54GPC-R" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
160.It "MSI CB54G2" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
161.It "MSI MP54G2" Ta RT2560 Ta mini-PCI
162.It "MSI PC54G2" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
163.It "OvisLink EVO-W54PCI" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
164.It "PheeNet HWL-PCIG/RA" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
165.It "Pro-Nets CB80211G" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
166.It "Pro-Nets PC80211G" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
167.It "Repotec RP-WB7108" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
168.It "Repotec RP-WP0854" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
169.It "SATech SN-54C" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
170.It "SATech SN-54P" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
171.It "Sitecom WL-112" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
172.It "Sitecom WL-115" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
173.It "SMC SMCWCB-GM" Ta RT2661 Ta CardBus
174.It "SMC SMCWPCI-GM" Ta RT2661 Ta PCI
175.It "SparkLAN WL-685R" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
176.It "Surecom EP-9321-g" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
177.It "Surecom EP-9321-g1" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
178.It "Surecom EP-9428-g" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
179.It "Sweex LC500050" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
180.It "Sweex LC700030" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
181.It "TekComm NE-9321-g" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
182.It "TekComm NE-9428-g" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
183.It "Unex CR054g-R02" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
184.It "Unex MR054g-R02" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
185.It "Zinwell ZWX-G160" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
186.It "Zinwell ZWX-G360" Ta RT2560 Ta mini-PCI
187.It "Zinwell ZWX-G361" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
188.It "Zonet ZEW1500" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
189.It "Zonet ZEW1600" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
190.El
191.Pp
192An up to date list can be found at
193.Pa http://damien.bergamini.free.fr/ral/list.html .
194.Sh EXAMPLES
195Join an existing BSS network (i.e., connect to an access point):
196.Pp
197.Dl "ifconfig wlan create wlandev ral0 inet 192.168.0.20 netmask 0xffffff00"
198.Pp
199Join a specific BSS network with network name
200.Dq Li my_net :
201.Bd -literal -offset indent
202ifconfig wlan create wlandev ral0 inet 192.168.0.20 \e
203    netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net
204.Ed
205.Pp
206Join a specific BSS network with 40-bit WEP encryption:
207.Bd -literal -offset indent
208ifconfig wlan create wlandev ral0 inet 192.168.0.20 \e
209    netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net \e
210    wepmode on wepkey 0x1234567890 weptxkey 1
211.Ed
212.Pp
213Join a specific BSS network with 104-bit WEP encryption:
214.Bd -literal -offset indent
215ifconfig wlan create wlandev ral0 inet 192.168.0.20 \e
216    netmask 0xffffff00 ssid my_net \e
217    wepmode on wepkey 0x01020304050607080910111213 weptxkey 1
218.Ed
219.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
220.Bl -diag
221.It "ral%d: could not load 8051 microcode"
222An error occurred while attempting to upload the microcode to the onboard 8051
223microcontroller unit.
224.It "ral%d: timeout waiting for MCU to initialize"
225The onboard 8051 microcontroller unit failed to initialize in time.
226.It "ral%d: device timeout"
227A frame dispatched to the hardware for transmission did not complete in time.
228The driver will reset the hardware.
229This should not happen.
230.El
231.Sh SEE ALSO
232.Xr intro 4 ,
233.Xr cardbus 4 ,
234.Xr wlan 4 ,
235.Xr wlan_ccmp 4 ,
236.Xr wlan_tkip 4 ,
237.Xr wlan_wep 4 ,
238.Xr wlan_xauth 4 ,
239.Xr hostapd 8 ,
240.Xr ifconfig 8 ,
241.Xr wpa_supplicant 8 .
242.Rs
243.%T "Ralink Technology"
244.%U http://www.ralinktech.com/
245.Re
246.Sh HISTORY
247The
248.Nm
249driver first appeared in
250.Ox 3.7 .
251.Sh AUTHORS
252The original
253.Nm
254driver was written by
255.An Damien Bergamini Aq damien@FreeBSD.org .
256.Sh BUGS
257Host AP mode doesn't support client power save.
258Clients using power save mode will experience
259packet loss (disabling power saving on the client will fix this).
260