Jacek Pliszka's wireless hints: 802.11b / Wi-Fi Linux USB
Jeśli znasz polski to możesz zajrzeć tutaj - jest to FAQ opisujący sieci bezprzewodowe (Wi-Fi).
Things that have moved to separate pages
- How to get running Prism2 802.11b devices with linux-wlan driver (example for Linksys WUSB11 v2.5 USB adapter)
- Information about ATMEL AT76C503A devices
- most USB cards are of this type
- Information about AT76C510 based APs
- Information about TI ACX100 devices
Contents
- Short description of a few 802.11b devices
- 802.11b drivers for Linux
- USB 802.11b devices under Linux - drivers, how to
identify your hardware etc.
Sveasoft +shaper and frottle
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20040527.html
PrismGT drivers - now they even have
Master mode working (AP mode)
There is also a similar one but commercial made by Linuxant.
I use connector definitions from: http://www.hyperlinktech.com they
have photos of all the types!
You can find a large table with different devices
here.
Below is a list of
devices I or a person I know tried. Careful! RP means reversed sex!
Access points (some of them work as clients)
- separate page about AT76C510 units like Linksys WAP11, Belkin F5D6130 FCC Id: K7SF5D6130,Addtron AWS-110 (FCC: PD5-LMWS120),
Smartbridges Outdoor Pro, D-link 900AP (FCC: KA2-DW1150) , SMC 2655W (FCC ID: LLM 0102WA3001A) v1 etc.
- Trendware/Trendnet TEW-310APBX - same as D-link 900AP+ (TI ACX100)
with two
advantages: 2 RP-SMA connectors instead of one and 50mW power instead of 32mW.
- Linksys WAP11 v2.2 (FCC ID: O7J-GL2422AP) - from the outside it looks
like WAP11 but inside it is very different. 1. It does not have USB
port. 2. It is not AT76C510 !!!! - it is TI ACX100 !!!
so it is possibly firmware compatible with D-link 900AP+ /Trendware/Trnednet
TEW-310APBX (TI ACX100 as well). Acording to Linksys at the moment (June 2002)
WAP11 v2.2 is not compatible in Client Access Point mode with v1.x.
They claim they will fix it in the upcoming firmware. The configuration
is much simpler but less convenient: a) AP is not always found by the tools
b) even with right setup it not only works - I had to turn off and
on everything to get it working. Overall - I like the old WAP11 more.
- Linksys BEFW11S4: antenna connectors as WAP11 - good combo but IMHO
d-link 713P has better configuration options
- Siemens SpeedStream SS2624 - nice unit,
RP-SMA antenna connector,print server FCC ID: M4Y-000325
- Microsoft MN-500 (Yeah, I know they have crappy soft but hardware is OK):
FCC ID: HEDACC300568, combo: 4 ethernet ports, 120V only
- D-link 711P (FCC ID: MXF-R900316): no external antenna connectors.
Just single local LAN ethernet port. But setup options are very sweet.
It has firewall, port redirection,fixed IP assignment based on MAC.
- D-link 713P (FCC ID: MXF-C900924):
newer model has external antenna connectors: RP-SMA male
(plug) - wire in the middle, not most external(thread outside)
(you need antenna RP-SMA female (jack) -
with hole in the middle and most external (thread inside)).
Older model has no external connectors,
but card inside the case (warranty voided) has two female MMCX connectors.
(see above WUSB11 for the description of f MMCX).
- D-link 900AP+ (FCC ID: O7J-GL242204-0T) - looks like d-link changed
the manufacturer to the same one as Linksys uses. On this unit
there is one chip TI ACX100 - same one as used in Trendware/Trendnet
TEW-310APBX or Linksys WAP11 v2.2.
And it is not compatible at the moment (4th July 2002) with 900AP.
Thoguh newer firmware is supposed to fix it. The really cool feature about
this device can be found in new firmware
that allows the extension of the wireless network throgh
wireless2wireless repeating. It works with dlink products, some people
reported it works with some Linksys and SMC products (though I believe
they were ether AT76C510 that are same as 900AP or TI ACX100 that are
the same as 900AP+). The drawback is that the speed is reduced by half.
Also it does not repeat to wired port then (use OpenAP instead or more
expensive Intel/Cisco products). As I was pointed out there is
Tom's Hardware review
- D-link DWL-1000AP - it was reported on BAWUG that WAP11 can
associate in cAP mode to this unit
- SMC 2655W v2 - SMC follows the nasty habit of Linksys and D-link
giving same name to completely different products. SMC 2655W is not AT76C510,
has worse range and is smaller. I do not know if it is compatible
with AT76C510 in all modes. However I suspect TI ACX100 here so comments
for D-link 900AP+ apply. Thanks to Chris BEaumont for this info.
Also it looks like this is manufactured by Z-COM - it is identical
to Z-COM LANEscape/XI-1250. Thanks to Carsten for this info.
- SMC 2652W. This device is OpenAP compatible! this means you can put Linux on it and have routing/bridging
and whatever you wish! Hint: in case of trouble get the on-line version
of the manual - the way to restore facory settings is much more detaile there.
Also if you do not use OpenAP - older releases of 2652W had very buggy
firmware. Here is newer firmware.
- Cnet CNAP711: AT76C510 - co z firmware ???
USB cards
Most of them are based on ATMEL AT76C503A - if you do not find your card below,
see the link at the top for Linux drivers.
Another popular chipset is Prism2 - also see another link at the top of this
page for information about running these cards under Linux.
- Trendware TEW-224UB - FCC ID: MQ4WUB1K5 -
works fine with AT76C503A driver
- see link at the top, output power: 40mW (20% more that typical AT76C503A),
no screws - push 4 small plastic hooks on the sides and use force to
take off the plastic casing. Inside there is an additional antenna connector
- very tiny one - 1mm radius(2mm diameter) - it has wire in the middle -
possibly MMCX (unconfirmed, let me know if you know it)
- it is clearly smaller than one on ORINOCO cards (CM card one).
Nice thing is that it uses
standard USB connector so inf you break the cable - you just
get a standard one.
- Linksys WUSB11 v2.5 (FCC ID:PKW-WUSB11-V2):
MMCX female (jack)- hole in the middle, most external
(you need male MMCX (plug)
antenna - one with wire in the middle and not most external). Connector
hidden inside case.FCC info with photos.
- Actiontec HWU01170-01 (FCC ID: LNQ-802UI3):
very cute, very small (smaller than a credit card).
Electronics identical to WUSB11 v2.5 - works great
with Linux. Unfortunately it has only internal integrated antenna
so connecting an external one is much harder than for Linksys
(unless it would work to use the card as a converter in a parabolic dish).
USB cable is miniUSB as for Sony/Kodak and other digital cameras and video
cameras.
However if you do not care
about these two things than it is much nicer than Linksys as it
is much smaller (usefull if you have to carry it with your notebook).
Go to FCC page mentioned below to see the internal photos.
- Microsoft MN510 ( MN-510 )- Prism2.5, firmware 1.1.2/1.5.1,
internal antenna jack: Hirose U.FL SMT i(I had no time to check it,
this is what I was told on some mailing list, personally I would
rather expect MMCX connector inside) FCC ID: HEDACCWN330168
- Compaq iPaq wireless cards, Addtron AWU-120, Linksys WUSB11 v2.6
(FCC ID: PKW WUSB11-V26). I did not dissasemble these.
These are ATMEL AT76C503A devices - see at the top of this page.
- Linksys WUSB11 v2.6 - this is completely different hardware than v2.6
see AT76C503A for Linux drivers (much worse than for v2.5 at the moment).
Since it is At76C503A - the sensitivity is weak, output power - 32mW
32mW is taken from
datasheet. However we ere told that there are two other lines
of WUSB11 v2.6 - with 40mW and 80mW output power.
No idea how to distinguish between them.
- Belkin F5D6050 - another AT76C503A card. FCC ID: K7SF5D6050
- cheap noname card, model UNC-0102W, sold under various names
as Dynalink,
Link-max, Hp-link, Robanton and several others. FCC ID: H8N-WLL013,
VendorId 069a Product Id 0321 - this is yet another AT76C503A (???) device
PCMCIA cards
- Lucent ORINOCO PCMCIA (my is branded as HP FCC ID: IMRWLPCE24H):
SMZ/MC/MC-card - hole in the middle
(you need antenna with wire in the middle) - no problems with Linux
at all
- D-link DWL-650 - older version are based on Prism2 and Prism2.5
chipsets and work great with Linux, see my ntoes about USB Prism2 cards
- lilnk is at the top of this page. Newest version - which
has H/W version A1 and F/W version 2.0 or higher is based on TI ACX100
chipset. Binary
driver for Linux for this newer DWL-650 as well as DWL-650+ can be found
here or, possibly different version is at
D-link FTP site. I haven't tested it so I do not know if it works.
- Robanton - no idea about chipet yet. No antenna connector.
CompactFlash (CF, Compact Flash ) cards
- D-link DCF-660W - works fine with Sharp Zaurus SL-5500,
it has easy to take of plastic case - just take off the top part
- it has 4 delicate plastic latche s- 2 on top and 1 on each side.
Inside there is some kind of antenna connector. I wonder if card indeed
has 200mW as Z reports ...
PCI/ISA cards
- TI ACX100 - based cards: Trendware TEW-303PI, D-link DWL-520+
and couple of others. I made a
separate page about them.
- PCMCIA ORINOCO works great in ISA/PCI controllers.
For PCI use either true controller (expensive) or PLX bridge (cheap)
- but first look in the orinoco_plx.c in teh kernel sources to ensure which
PLX broidges are supported.
- Linksys WMP11 - RP-SMA connector, nice, most of them were prsm2
so should work with Linux - unfortunately there is v2.7 which does
not work with Linux since it is based on different chipset
- Trendware TEW-223PI - ADMtek chipset - Trendware provides Linux
drivers on their website.
There is also driver on ADMtek site here
This is
driver I got from ADMtek. The chipset is very likely
the same as D-link DWL-520/DWL-650 v. C1 so you may also try drivers:
here or
different ones here
(both not tested)
Dedicated 802.11b - Ethernet bridges
These are dedicated devices working as clients which allow to connect
you one or more machines connected to them through Ethernet port
to briode to a distant wireless network. They are not that popular as many
APs (like mentioned above AT76C510 or TI ACX100 based ones
or OpenAP) have this feature. The distinction is that unlike
many APs you can run them in AdHoc mode and then they are
able to both bridge and repeat !!! To be more precise, when you have
Lan1--B1...B2--LAN2 tow LANs connected with bridges B1 and B@ (dots
is for wireless, minuses for ethernet) then if you run B1 and B2 in
AdHoc mode you can connect AdHoc mode wireless clients to both B1
and B2 !!! Ones I know are: Linksys WET11,
D-link DWL-810/DWL-801+,Hawking WB320
802.11g products
Looks like first 802.11g Linux drivers start to appear, this time
for Intersil Prism GT/Indigo/Duette chipset, more infor see here:
http://ruslug.rutgers.edu/~mcgrof/802.11g/
I do not know about drivers for other 802.11g chipsets.
But so far for me 11mbps is enough since my cable is 256kbps.
Amplifiers
I;ve seen just cheap Linksys WSB24. Not much use as it has 100mW
- same as many APs. USA version has 110-120V.
First read Linux Wireless HOWTO
My page how to set up
linux-wlan-ng driver
Red Hat Linux (may be useful for ohers as well).
My page (obsolete - see link on the page for more
info ) about drivers for AT76C503A devices.
AP on Linux with Prism2 card
I made a sperate page about it here
802.11b USB devices under Linux and some general hints for linux-wlan driver(useful also for non-USB devices)
First you may want to look at
linux-wlan FAQ.
Second you may want to read my general info about USB and module compilation
here
For status see for example www.qbik.ch
and www.linux-wlan.org
(bottom of the page). Also you may look at
Intersil web page.
Also look inside the prism2sta.c file in the most
current release o the drivers and look through records in usb_id_tbl
table. Generic info is such that working devices are:
Linksys WUSB11 v2.5, Actiontec HWU01170-01, Siemens SpeedStream 1022 and
Compaq Evo N600C multiport
(not Compaq iPaq!!!) - see for info about them below - even if my setup
describes inksys WUSB11 v2.5 - setup for other cards supported by linux-wlan
is very similar.
For devices based on AT76C503A see here.
Wireless soft under Linux
Apart from dirvers above I know about:
- korinoco for ORINOCO cards
- some soft for AT76C510
- Wi-Find
- Kismet
- Wellenreiter
How to tell your hardware
- Check the above site (linux-wlan,atmel drivers site, qbik etc.)
for yours. If your is not there - compare
VendorId and ProductId as most vendors do not change them. VendorId and
ProductId can be read by usbview,lsusb or from /proc/bus/usb/devices,
/var/log/messages or from dmesg output
- search web for your device
- look inside windows drivers - download them install/unpack (someitmes
you can do it with wine) and look inside. They often have something like
AT76C503A or similar thing inside.
- go to
FCC webpage and look at photos/description of your device.
Alternatively you can use FCC ID with
this form.
On internal photos - look for chips specs. On external photos - compare
them to photos of well known devices (almost all ORINOCO-based
devices look the same even if branded by different companies like HP).
- ask on the discussion lists/newsgroups (linux-wlan,BAWUG etc.) -
remember to search their archives first!!!!
- try adding your ProductId and VendorID to linux-wlan driver - maybe
it will work
- void warranty and dissassemble it
General debugging
- Start with putting your devices next to each otehr
- Be patient, sometimes some things take a minute or two
- When resetting - remember, som devices require the reset button
to be pressed for couple of seconds - read the manual
- Ensure the hardware you bought can do the things you imagine,
it is common for our imagination to surpass the reality
- Use static IPs first - at leas you will know it is not DHCP
problem
- Make notes - write down what you enteres in what, pick
SSID you can be sure it is unique, if you stick with default
- some day your neighbour may have it too!!
- Start with most "forgiving" configuration: "Open System", no WEP
- Set same options like preamble (more common is long)
- if you can not get the signal - ensure there is no metal or
other obstruction between (even steel rods in the walls, if dense enough
can stop the signal completely), also try to move yoru antennas and change
their orientation
Security
to be written: WEP, SSH, VPN, MAC filtering
Jacek Pliszka
Last modified: Fri Mar 19 15:08:36 CET 2004