any controller working in AP mode ?

any controller working in AP mode ?

[Ram kumar]

hi,

    It would be helpful if anyone can share some information regarding
wireless controllers that can operate in AP(access mode) with USB as a
connecting interface.

1.I can see controllers supporting AP mode in linux wireless
website,but many are discontinued products....
2.Marvell 8388 controller supports AP mode,but it seems marvell has
not released the AP mode firmware.
3.Any info on wireless controller that supports AP mode will be helpful to me.

Regards,
Ram

Re: any controller working in AP mode ?

[Andrey Yurovsky]

On Tue, Jul 14, 2009 at 10:21 PM, Ram kumar<ramkumar.research@gmail.com> wrote:
> 2.Marvell 8388 controller supports AP mode,but it seems marvell has
> not released the AP mode firmware.

http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/libertastf

> 3.Any info on wireless controller that supports AP mode will be helpful to me.

Perhaps the rt2x00 driver?  I've used the USB variant (rt73usb) in AP
mode before but haven't tried it recently.

 -Andrey

Re: any controller working in AP mode ?

[Javier Cardona]

Ram,

On Tue, Jul 14, 2009 at 10:21 PM, Ram kumar<ramkumar.research@gmail.com> wrote:
> 2.Marvell 8388 controller supports AP mode,but it seems marvell has
> not released the AP mode firmware.

The thin firmware that allows using the 8383 with mac80211 and
implement an AP with hostapd is available here:
http://dev.laptop.org/pub/firmware/libertas/thinfirm/

Javier

Re: any controller working in AP mode ?

[Ram kumar]

hi,

> The thin firmware that allows using the 8383 with mac80211 and
> implement an AP with hostapd is available here:
> http://dev.laptop.org/pub/firmware/libertas/thinfirm/

Thanks for the reply.It looks like currently there are only two
devices support AP mode with USB as an interface.

1.MARVELL 8388.
2.RALINK - RT73USB.

But in the linux wireless website it says RT73USB doesn't support AP
mode.I am assuming that site is not updated with recent
information,please correct me if i am wrong.

It would be very helpful if anyone can guide me,how to get the
hardware for MARVELL 8388.I am aware that the XO OLPC laptop is fitted
with the MARVEL 8388 controller with USB interface.But i am assuming
that the controller is not plug play and it is physically soldered to
the motherboard.

Ofcourse i will try my level best to get the hardware from Marvel also.

I am not sure how to buy the laptop and i am not sure whether we can
detach the wifi marvel 8388 module from the laptop and use it in my
target board.

Please guide me how to get the hardware for marvel 8388 chip.

Regards,
Ram

Re: any controller working in AP mode ?

[Pavel Roskin]

On Thu, 2009-07-16 at 12:08 +0530, Ram kumar wrote:
> hi,
> 
> > The thin firmware that allows using the 8383 with mac80211 and
> > implement an AP with hostapd is available here:
> > http://dev.laptop.org/pub/firmware/libertas/thinfirm/
> 
> Thanks for the reply.It looks like currently there are only two
> devices support AP mode with USB as an interface.
> 
> 1.MARVELL 8388.
> 2.RALINK - RT73USB.
> 
> But in the linux wireless website it says RT73USB doesn't support AP
> mode.I am assuming that site is not updated with recent
> information,please correct me if i am wrong.

It's hard to say if it's intentional or not.  rt2500usb is listed as
having AP support, and it's closely related to rt73usb.

I did a quick test with rt73usb.  hostapd starts sucessfully, and a
client using ath5k can connect and transmit data.  A client using ath9k
can connect (wpa_supplicant enters state CONNECTED), but no data goes
through.  The same client connects fine to a normal AP (D-Link DIR-615).

I don't have time to debug that issue right now, but you get the idea.
The AP mode can be enabled, but be prepared to some issues.

> It would be very helpful if anyone can guide me,how to get the
> hardware for MARVELL 8388.

5 minute search finds that Zonet ZEW2502 is what you need.  There is
only one driver for that device on the Zonet site, and it's clearly for
Marvell.

-- 
Regards,
Pavel Roskin

Re: any controller working in AP mode ?

[Bob Copeland]

On Fri, Jul 17, 2009 at 11:19 AM, Pavel Roskin<proski@gnu.org> wrote:
> I did a quick test with rt73usb.  hostapd starts sucessfully, and a
> client using ath5k can connect and transmit data.  A client using ath9k
> can connect (wpa_supplicant enters state CONNECTED), but no data goes
> through.  The same client connects fine to a normal AP (D-Link DIR-615).

Sounds like the AP doesn't buffer frames properly -- ath9k does power
saving but ath5k does not, yet.

-- 
Bob Copeland %% www.bobcopeland.com

Re: any controller working in AP mode ?

[Ram kumar]

hi,

> 5 minute search finds that Zonet ZEW2502 is what you need.  There is
> only one driver for that device on the Zonet site, and it's clearly for
> Marvell.
>
Thanks for the reply.
but when i visited the zonet website the ZEW2502 is under discontinued
products.But they have come up with higher versions of wireless usb
adapters like.

1.ZEW2542
http://www.zonetusa.com/products-140.aspx

ZEW2542 it uses Ralink RT2770+RT2720.
When i study the user manual of ZEW2542 it says it can support
software AP mode.The device uses Ralink wireless configuration tool
instead of the native windows wireless configuration tool to configure
the device.

but linux wireless website doesn't specify any info about RT2770.It
would he helpful if you can tell me whether the ZEW2542 can be
configured with hostapd ?

2.ZEW2507
http://www.zonetusa.com/products-54.aspx

ZEW2507 uses Chipset  	Ralink RT2571 + RT2528

I am assuming this device can be easily configured in linux using
hostapd.please correct me if i am wrong.

Regards,
Ram

Re: any controller working in AP mode ?

[Pavel Roskin]

On Mon, 2009-07-20 at 17:33 +0530, Ram kumar wrote:
> hi,
> 
> > 5 minute search finds that Zonet ZEW2502 is what you need.  There is
> > only one driver for that device on the Zonet site, and it's clearly for
> > Marvell.
> >
> Thanks for the reply.
> but when i visited the zonet website the ZEW2502 is under discontinued
> products.But they have come up with higher versions of wireless usb
> adapters like.
> 
> 1.ZEW2542
> http://www.zonetusa.com/products-140.aspx
> 
> ZEW2542 it uses Ralink RT2770+RT2720.
> When i study the user manual of ZEW2542 it says it can support
> software AP mode.The device uses Ralink wireless configuration tool
> instead of the native windows wireless configuration tool to configure
> the device.
> 
> but linux wireless website doesn't specify any info about RT2770.It
> would he helpful if you can tell me whether the ZEW2542 can be
> configured with hostapd ?

I think it's in staging now.  See drivers/staging/rt2870/rt2870.h:

       {USB_DEVICE(0x148F,0x2770)}, /* Ralink */               \

I don't know the status of that driver and whether it will be converted
to a regular driver any time soon, but since it's a modern device,
chances are high.

> 2.ZEW2507
> http://www.zonetusa.com/products-54.aspx
> 
> ZEW2507 uses Chipset  	Ralink RT2571 + RT2528
> 
> I am assuming this device can be easily configured in linux using
> hostapd.please correct me if i am wrong.

Yes, this should work.  But I'm not sure it would work in AP mode with
clients using power saving.  There was a recent discussion about it.

-- 
Regards,
Pavel Roskin

Re: any controller working in AP mode ?

[Pavel Roskin]

On Fri, 2009-07-17 at 11:19 -0400, Pavel Roskin wrote:

> > It would be very helpful if anyone can guide me,how to get the
> > hardware for MARVELL 8388.
> 
> 5 minute search finds that Zonet ZEW2502 is what you need.  There is
> only one driver for that device on the Zonet site, and it's clearly for
> Marvell.

Just for the record, it turns out the device is not supported, even
though it's Marvell:

Bus 001 Device 005: ID 1286:1fab Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. 

Both libertas drivers support only 1286:2001 and 05a3:8388.

Web search for 1286:1fab doesn't find anything useful other than
recommendations to use ndiswrapper.

I should have checked the ID in the *.inf files against the kernel
sources.

-- 
Regards,
Pavel Roskin

Re: any controller working in AP mode ?

[Holger Schurig]

> Web search for 1286:1fab doesn't find anything useful other
> than recommendations to use ndiswrapper.

It might be some 802.11n (marketing speak "Top Dog") thingy ???

-- 
http://www.holgerschurig.de

Re: any controller working in AP mode ?

[Pavel Roskin]

On Thu, 2009-07-23 at 08:46 +0200, Holger Schurig wrote: 
> > Web search for 1286:1fab doesn't find anything useful other
> > than recommendations to use ndiswrapper.
> 
> It might be some 802.11n (marketing speak "Top Dog") thingy ???

That's very unlikely.  ZEW2502 is advertised as 802.11b/g and it's dirt
cheap ($20).  Besides, its ID 1286:1fab suggests that it's probably a
predecessor of 1286:2001 that is supported by the kernel drivers.

In case it matters, its FCC ID is T58331GU2006M1.  Some sites say its
chipset is "Marvell 88W8338 + 88W8010", see e.g.
http://www.xpcgear.com/zew2502.html

I modified both libertas drivers to support that ID.  usb8xxx asks for
usb8388.bin.  After I installed that firmware, usb8xxx started panicking
with so many messages that the interesting part scrolls from the screen.
I could try to capture that with a serial console.  It's clearly not the
right way to react to bad hardware.

As for libertas_tf_usb, it does something strange.  It registers a phy
that only supports monitor mode.  No network device is registered.  I
can add it using iw.  If I try to bring the interface up, the driver
requests lbtf_usb.bin.  Whether that file is present of not, ifconfig
hangs, and all subsequent network commands on other terminals hang too.

Apparently, error handling in libertas drivers needs some improvement,
regardless of whether ZEW2502 is a potentially supported device.

The device is supported by ndiswrapper with the x86_64 WinXP driver.
Scanning works, but wpa_supplicant fails.  That's just to verify that
the device is functional.

-- 
Regards,
Pavel Roskin

Re: any controller working in AP mode ?

[Pavel Roskin]

On Thu, 2009-07-23 at 12:32 -0400, Pavel Roskin wrote:

> In case it matters, its FCC ID is T58331GU2006M1.  Some sites say its
> chipset is "Marvell 88W8338 + 88W8010", see e.g.
> http://www.xpcgear.com/zew2502.html

I've cracked it open.  The big chips are Marvell 88W8338-BDK1 and
Marvell 88W8010-NNB.  Thus, the above site is correct.

libertas and libertastf support 88W8388, which must be newer than
88W8338.

-- 
Regards,
Pavel Roskin