NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

The RT2500 chipset is the first generation of 802.11b/g adapters from Ralink. It consists of two integrated chips, an RT2560 or RT2570(USB) MAC/BBP and an RT2525 or RT2526(USB) radio transceiver.

The RT2501 chipset is the second generation of 802.11b/g adapters from Ralink. It consists of two integrated chips, an RT2561 MAC/BBP and an RT2527 radio transceiver. This chipset provides support for the IEEE 802.11e standard with multiple hardware transmission queues and allows scatter/gather for efficient DMA operations.

The RT2600 chipset consists of two integrated chips, an RT2661 MAC/BBP and an RT2529 radio transceiver. This chipset uses the MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) technology with multiple antennas to extend the operating range of the adapter and to achieve higher throughput. MIMO will be the basis of the future IEEE 802.11n standard.

These are the modes the ral driver can operate in:

BSS mode

Also known as infrastructure mode, this is used when associating with an access point, through which all traffic passes. This mode is the default.

IBSS mode

Also known as IEEE ad-hoc mode or peer-to-peer mode. This is the standardized method of operating without an access point. Stations associate with a service set. However, actual connections between stations are peer-to-peer.

Host AP

In this mode the driver acts as an access point (base station) for other cards.

monitor mode

In this mode the driver is able to receive packets without associating with an access point. This disables the internal receive filter and enables the card to capture packets from networks which it wouldn't normally have access to, or to scan for access points.

ral supports software WEP. Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is the de facto encryption standard for wireless networks. It can be typically configured in one of three modes: no encryption; 40-bit encryption; or 104-bit encryption. Unfortunately, due to serious weaknesses in WEP protocol it is strongly recommended that it not be used as the sole mechanism to secure wireless communication. WEP is not enabled by default.

The transmit speed is user-selectable or can be adapted automatically by the driver depending on the received signal strength and on the number of hardware transmission retries. See rssadapt(9) for more information.

CONFIGURATION

bssid bssid

Set the desired BSSID.

-bssid

Unset the desired BSSID. The interface will automatically select a BSSID in this mode, which is the default.

chan n

Set the channel (radio frequency) to be used by the driver based on the given channel ID n.

-chan

Unset the desired channel to be used by the driver. The driver will automatically select a channel in this mode, which is the default.

media media

The ral driver supports the following media types:

autoselect

Enable autoselection of the media type and options.

DS1

Set 802.11b DS 1Mbps operation.

DS2

Set 802.11b DS 2Mbps operation.

DS5

Set 802.11b DS 5.5Mbps operation.

DS11

Set 802.11b DS 11Mbps operation.

OFDM6

Set 802.11a/g OFDM 6Mbps operation.

OFDM9

Set 802.11a/g OFDM 9Mbps operation.

OFDM12

Set 802.11a/g OFDM 12Mbps operation.

OFDM18

Set 802.11a/g OFDM 18Mbps operation.

OFDM24

Set 802.11a/g OFDM 24Mbps operation.

OFDM36

Set 802.11a/g OFDM 36Mbps operation.

OFDM48

Set 802.11a/g OFDM 48Mbps operation.

OFDM54

Set 802.11a/g OFDM 54Mbps operation.

mediaopt opts

The ral driver supports the following media options:

hostap

Select Host AP operation.

ibss

Select IBSS operation.

monitor

Select monitor mode.

-mediaopt opts

Disable the specified media options on the driver and return it to the default mode of operation (BSS).

mode mode

The ral driver supports the following modes:

11a

Force 802.11a operation.

11b

Force 802.11b operation.

11g

Force 802.11g operation.

nwid id

Set the network ID. The id can either be any text string up to 32 characters in length, or a series of hexadecimal digits up to 64 digits. An empty id string allows the interface to connect to any available access points. By default the ral driver uses an empty string. Note that network ID is synonymous with Extended Service Set ID (ESSID).

nwkey key

Enable WEP encryption using the specified key. The key can either be a string, a series of hexadecimal digits (preceded by ‘0x’), or a set of keys of the form “n:k1,k2,k3,k4”, where ‘n’ specifies which of the keys will be used for transmitted packets, and the four keys, “k1” through “k4”, are configured as WEP keys. If a set of keys is specified, a comma (‘,’) within the key must be escaped with a backslash. Note that if multiple keys are used, their order must be the same within the network. ral is capable of using both 40-bit (5 characters or 10 hexadecimal digits) or 104-bit (13 characters or 26 hexadecimal digits) keys.

-nwkey

Disable WEP encryption. This is the default mode of operation.

FILES

/libdata/firmware/ral/ral-rt2561

/libdata/firmware/ral/ral-rt2561s

/libdata/firmware/ral/ral-rt2661

RT2500 adapters do not require a firmware to operate.

HARDWARE

The following CardBus adapters should work:

The following Mini PCI adapters should work:

The following USB 2.0 adapters should work:

EXAMPLES

inet 192.168.1.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 media autoselect \ 
	mediaopt hostap nwid my_net chan 11

Configure ral0 for WEP, using hex key “0x1deadbeef1”:

# ifconfig ral0 nwkey 0x1deadbeef1

Return ral0 to its default settings:

# ifconfig ral0 -bssid -chan media autoselect \ 
	nwid "" -nwkey

Join an existing BSS network, “my_net”:

# ifconfig ral0 192.168.1.1 netmask 0xffffff00 nwid my_net

DIAGNOSTICS

ral%d: could not read microcode %s

For some reason, the driver was unable to read the microcode file from the filesystem. The file might be missing or corrupted.

ral%d: could not load 8051 microcode

An error occurred while attempting to upload the microcode to the onboard 8051 microcontroller unit.

ral%d: timeout waiting for MCU to initialize

The onboard 8051 microcontroller unit failed to initialize in time.

ral%d: device timeout

A frame dispatched to the hardware for transmission did not complete in time. The driver will reset the hardware. This should not happen.

SEE ALSO

Ralink Technology

HISTORY

AUTHORS

CAVEATS

The USB ral driver supports automatic control of the transmit speed in BSS mode only. Therefore the use of a USB ral adapter in Host AP mode is discouraged.