xref: /dragonfly/share/man/man4/ral.4 (revision ab709bfb) 
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: src/share/man/man4/ral.4,v 1.10 2006/03/13 21:24:28 damien Exp $
17.\" $DragonFly: src/share/man/man4/ral.4,v 1.8 2008/07/26 16:25:40 swildner Exp $
18.\"
19.Dd July 26, 2008
20.Os
21.Dt RAL 4
22.Sh NAME
23.Nm ral
24.Nd "Ralink Technology IEEE 802.11 wireless network driver"
25.Sh SYNOPSIS
26To compile this driver into the kernel,
27place the following lines in your
28kernel configuration file:
29.Bd -ragged -offset indent
30.Cd "device ral"
31.Cd "device wlan"
32.Cd "device wlan_ratectl_onoe"
33.Cd "device wlan_ratectl_sample"
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.Sh HARDWARE
70The
71.Nm
72driver supports the following adapters:
73.Pp
74.Bl -column -compact ".Li Atlantis Land A02-PCM-W54" "RT2561S" "CardBus"
75.It Em Card Ta Em MAC/BBP Ta Em Bus
76.It Li "A-Link WL54H" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
77.It Li "A-Link WL54PC" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
78.It Li "AirLink101 AWLC5025" Ta RT2661 Ta CardBus
79.It Li "AirLink101 AWLH5025" Ta RT2661 Ta PCI
80.It Li "Amigo AWI-914W" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
81.It Li "Amigo AWI-922W" Ta RT2560 Ta mini-PCI
82.It Li "Amigo AWI-926W" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
83.It Li "AMIT WL531C" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
84.It Li "AMIT WL531P" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
85.It Li "AOpen AOI-831" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
86.It Li "ASUS WL-107G" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
87.It Li "ASUS WL-130g" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
88.It Li "Atlantis Land A02-PCI-W54" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
89.It Li "Atlantis Land A02-PCM-W54" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
90.It Li "Belkin F5D7000 v3" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
91.It Li "Belkin F5D7010 v2" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
92.It Li "Billionton MIWLGRL" Ta RT2560 Ta mini-PCI
93.It Li "Canyon CN-WF511" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
94.It Li "Canyon CN-WF513" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
95.It Li "CC&C WL-2102" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
96.It Li "CNet CWC-854" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
97.It Li "CNet CWP-854" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
98.It Li "Compex WL54G" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
99.It Li "Compex WLP54G" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
100.It Li "Conceptronic C54RC" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
101.It Li "Conceptronic C54Ri" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
102.It Li "Digitus DN-7001G-RA" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
103.It Li "Digitus DN-7006G-RA" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
104.It Li "E-Tech WGPC02" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
105.It Li "E-Tech WGPI02" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
106.It Li "Edimax EW-7108PCg" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
107.It Li "Edimax EW-7128g" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
108.It Li "Eminent EM3036" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
109.It Li "Eminent EM3037" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
110.It Li "Encore ENLWI-G-RLAM" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
111.It Li "Encore ENPWI-G-RLAM" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
112.It Li "Fiberline WL-400P" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
113.It Li "Fibreline WL-400X" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
114.It Li "Gigabyte GN-WI01GS" Ta RT2561S Ta mini-PCI
115.It Li "Gigabyte GN-WIKG" Ta RT2560 Ta mini-PCI
116.It Li "Gigabyte GN-WMKG" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
117.It Li "Gigabyte GN-WP01GS" Ta RT2561S Ta PCI
118.It Li "Gigabyte GN-WPKG" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
119.It Li "Hawking HWC54GR" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
120.It Li "Hawking HWP54GR" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
121.It Li "iNexQ CR054g-009 (R03)" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
122.It Li "JAHT WN-4054P" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
123.It Li "JAHT WN-4054PCI" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
124.It Li "LevelOne WNC-0301 v2" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
125.It Li "LevelOne WPC-0301 v2" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
126.It Li "Linksys WMP54G v4" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
127.It Li "Micronet SP906GK" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
128.It Li "Micronet SP908GK V3" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
129.It Li "Minitar MN54GCB-R" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
130.It Li "Minitar MN54GPC-R" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
131.It Li "MSI CB54G2" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
132.It Li "MSI MP54G2" Ta RT2560 Ta mini-PCI
133.It Li "MSI PC54G2" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
134.It Li "OvisLink EVO-W54PCI" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
135.It Li "PheeNet HWL-PCIG/RA" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
136.It Li "Pro-Nets CB80211G" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
137.It Li "Pro-Nets PC80211G" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
138.It Li "Repotec RP-WB7108" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
139.It Li "Repotec RP-WP0854" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
140.It Li "SATech SN-54C" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
141.It Li "SATech SN-54P" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
142.It Li "Sitecom WL-112" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
143.It Li "Sitecom WL-115" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
144.It Li "SMC SMCWCB-GM" Ta RT2661 Ta CardBus
145.It Li "SMC SMCWPCI-GM" Ta RT2661 Ta PCI
146.It Li "SparkLAN WL-685R" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
147.It Li "Surecom EP-9321-g" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
148.It Li "Surecom EP-9321-g1" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
149.It Li "Surecom EP-9428-g" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
150.It Li "Sweex LC500050" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
151.It Li "Sweex LC700030" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
152.It Li "TekComm NE-9321-g" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
153.It Li "TekComm NE-9428-g" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
154.It Li "Unex CR054g-R02" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
155.It Li "Unex MR054g-R02" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
156.It Li "Zinwell ZWX-G160" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
157.It Li "Zinwell ZWX-G360" Ta RT2560 Ta mini-PCI
158.It Li "Zinwell ZWX-G361" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
159.It Li "Zonet ZEW1500" Ta RT2560 Ta CardBus
160.It Li "Zonet ZEW1600" Ta RT2560 Ta PCI
161.El
162.Pp
163An up to date list can be found at
164.Pa http://damien.bergamini.free.fr/ral/list.html .
165.Sh EXAMPLES
166Refer to the
167.Sx EXAMPLES
168section of
169.Xr wlan 4 .
170.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
171.Bl -diag
172.It "ral%d: could not load 8051 microcode"
173An error occurred while attempting to upload the microcode to the onboard 8051
174microcontroller unit.
175.It "ral%d: timeout waiting for MCU to initialize"
176The onboard 8051 microcontroller unit failed to initialize in time.
177.It "ral%d: device timeout"
178A frame dispatched to the hardware for transmission did not complete in time.
179The driver will reset the hardware.
180This should not happen.
181.El
182.Sh SEE ALSO
183.Xr arp 4 ,
184.Xr cardbus 4 ,
185.Xr ifmedia 4 ,
186.Xr netintro 4 ,
187.Xr pci 4 ,
188.Xr wlan 4 ,
189.Xr wlan_ratectl 4 ,
190.Xr hostapd 8 ,
191.Xr ifconfig 8 ,
192.Xr wpa_supplicant 8
193.Rs
194.%T "Ralink Technology"
195.%O http://www.ralinktech.com/
196.Re
197.Sh HISTORY
198The
199.Nm
200driver first appeared in
201.Ox 3.7 .
202.Sh CAVEATS
203PCI
204.Nm
205adapters seem to require a PCI 2.2 compliant motherboard and will likely not
206work with PCI 2.1 only motherboard.
207.Pp
208The
209.Nm
210driver does not implement frame aggregation.
211.Sh AUTHORS
212The
213.Nm
214driver was written by
215.An Damien Bergamini Aq damien@FreeBSD.org .
216