3 Copyright (c) 1998 Corey Thomas (corey@world.std.com)
5 This file is the documentation for the Raylink Wireless LAN card driver for
6 Linux. The Raylink wireless LAN card is a PCMCIA card which provides IEEE
7 802.11 compatible wireless network connectivity at 1 and 2 megabits/second.
8 See http://www.raytheon.com/micro/raylink/ for more information on the Raylink
9 card. This driver is in early development and does have bugs. See the known
10 bugs and limitations at the end of this document for more information.
11 This driver also works with WebGear's Aviator 2.4 and Aviator Pro
14 As of kernel 2.3.18, the ray_cs driver is part of the Linux kernel
15 source. My web page for the development of ray_cs is at
16 http://world.std.com/~corey/raylink.html and I can be emailed at
19 The kernel driver is based on ray_cs-1.62.tgz
21 The driver at my web page is intended to be used as an add on to
22 David Hinds pcmcia package. All the command line parameters are
23 available when compiled as a module. When built into the kernel, only
24 the essid= string parameter is available via the kernel command line.
25 This will change after the method of sorting out parameters for all
26 the PCMCIA drivers is agreed upon. If you must have a built in driver
27 with nondefault parameters, they can be edited in
28 /usr/src/linux/drivers/net/pcmcia/ray_cs.c. Searching for module_param
31 Information on card services is available at:
32 http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/
35 Card services user programs are still required for PCMCIA devices.
36 pcmcia-cs-3.1.1 or greater is required for the kernel version of
39 Currently, ray_cs is not part of David Hinds card services package,
40 so the following magic is required.
42 At the end of the /etc/pcmcia/config.opts file, add the line:
44 This will make card services read the ray_cs.opts file
45 when starting. Create the file /etc/pcmcia/ray_cs.opts containing the
48 #### start of /etc/pcmcia/ray_cs.opts ###################
49 # Configuration options for Raylink Wireless LAN PCMCIA card
51 class "network" module "misc/ray_cs"
53 card "RayLink PC Card WLAN Adapter"
57 module "misc/ray_cs" opts ""
58 #### end of /etc/pcmcia/ray_cs.opts #####################
61 To join an existing network with
62 different parameters, contact the network administrator for the
63 configuration information, and edit /etc/pcmcia/ray_cs.opts.
64 Add the parameters below between the empty quotes.
66 Parameters for ray_cs driver which may be specified in ray_cs.opts:
68 bc integer 0 = normal mode (802.11 timing)
69 1 = slow down inter frame timing to allow
70 operation with older breezecom access
73 beacon_period integer beacon period in Kilo-microseconds
74 legal values = must be integer multiple
78 country integer 1 = USA (default)
87 essid string ESS ID - network name to join
88 string with maximum length of 32 chars
89 default value = "ADHOC_ESSID"
91 hop_dwell integer hop dwell time in Kilo-microseconds
92 legal values = 16,32,64,128(default),256
94 irq_mask integer linux standard 16 bit value 1bit/IRQ
95 lsb is IRQ 0, bit 1 is IRQ 1 etc.
96 Used to restrict choice of IRQ's to use.
97 Recommended method for controlling
98 interrupts is in /etc/pcmcia/config.opts
100 net_type integer 0 (default) = adhoc network,
103 phy_addr string string containing new MAC address in
104 hex, must start with x eg
107 psm integer 0 = continuously active
108 1 = power save mode (not useful yet)
110 pc_debug integer (0-5) larger values for more verbose
111 logging. Replaces ray_debug.
113 ray_debug integer Replaced with pc_debug
115 ray_mem_speed integer defaults to 500
117 sniffer integer 0 = not sniffer (default)
118 1 = sniffer which can be used to record all
119 network traffic using tcpdump or similar,
120 but no normal network use is allowed.
122 translate integer 0 = no translation (encapsulate frames)
123 1 = translation (RFC1042/802.1)
126 More on sniffer mode:
128 tcpdump does not understand 802.11 headers, so it can't
129 interpret the contents, but it can record to a file. This is only
130 useful for debugging 802.11 lowlevel protocols that are not visible to
131 linux. If you want to watch ftp xfers, or do similar things, you
132 don't need to use sniffer mode. Also, some packet types are never
133 sent up by the card, so you will never see them (ack, rts, cts, probe
134 etc.) There is a simple program (showcap) included in the ray_cs
135 package which parses the 802.11 headers.
137 Known Problems and missing features
139 Does not work with non x86
141 Does not work with SMP
143 Support for defragmenting frames is not yet debugged, and in
144 fact is known to not work. I have never encountered a net set
145 up to fragment, but still, it should be fixed.
147 The ioctl support is incomplete. The hardware address cannot be set
148 using ifconfig yet. If a different hardware address is needed, it may
149 be set using the phy_addr parameter in ray_cs.opts. This requires
150 a card insertion to take effect.