URAL(4) | Device Drivers Manual | URAL(4)

# NAME

`ural` — Ralink Technology/MediaTek USB IEEE 802.11b/g wireless network device

# SYNOPSIS

`ural* at uhub? port ?`

# DESCRIPTION

The `ural` driver supports USB 2.0 wireless adapters based on the Ralink RT2500USB chipset.

The RT2500USB chipset is the first generation of 802.11b/g adapters from Ralink. It consists of two integrated chips, an RT2570 MAC/BBP and an RT2526 radio transceiver.

These are the modes the `ural` 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.

The `ural` driver can be configured to use Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) or Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA1 and WPA2). WPA2 is currently the most secure encryption standard for wireless networks supported by OpenBSD. It is strongly recommended that neither WEP nor WPA1 are used as the sole mechanism to secure wireless communication, due to serious weaknesses. WPA1 is disabled by default and may be enabled using the option "`wpaprotos` wpa1,wpa2". For standard WPA networks which use pre-shared keys (PSK), keys are configured using the "`wpakey`" option. WPA-Enterprise networks require use of the wpa_supplicant package. The `ural` driver relies on the software 802.11 stack for both encryption and decryption of data frames.

The transmit speed is user-selectable or can be adapted automatically by the driver depending on the number of hardware transmission retries.

The `ural` driver can be configured at runtime with ifconfig(8) or on boot with hostname.if(5).

# HARDWARE

The following adapters should work:

AMIT WL532U
ASUS WL-167g v1
Belkin F5D7050 v2000
Buffalo WLI-U2-KG54
Buffalo WLI-U2-KG54-AI
Buffalo WLI-U2-KG54-YB
CNet CWD-854
Compex WLU54G 2A1100
Conceptronic C54RU
D-Link DWL-G122 (b1)
Dynalink WLG25USB
E-Tech WGUS02
Eminent EM3035
Gigabyte GN-WBKG
Hercules HWGUSB2-54
KCORP LifeStyle KLS-685
Linksys HU200-TS
Linksys WUSB54G v4
Linksys WUSB54GP v4
MSI MS-6861
MSI MS-6865
MSI MS-6869
Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector
Nova Tech NV-902W
OvisLink Evo-W54USB
SerComm UB801R
SparkLAN WL-685R
Sphairon UB801R
Surecom EP-9001-g rev 3A
Sweex LC100060
Tonze UW-6200C
Zaapa ZNWUSB-54
Zinwell ZPlus-G250
Zinwell ZWX-G261
Zonet ZEW2500P

# EXAMPLES

The following example scans for available networks:

`# ifconfig ural0 scan`

The following hostname.if(5) example configures ural0 to join network “mynwid”, using WPA key “mywpakey”, obtaining an IP address using DHCP:

    nwid mynwid wpakey mywpakey
    inet autoconf

The following hostname.if(5) example creates a host-based access point on boot:

    mediaopt hostap
    nwid mynwid wpakey mywpakey
    inet 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0

# DIAGNOSTICS

ural0: 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

arp(4), ifmedia(4), intro(4), netintro(4), usb(4), hostname.if(5), hostapd(8), ifconfig(8)

# HISTORY

The `ural` driver first appeared in OpenBSD 3.7.

# AUTHORS

The `ural` driver was written by Damien Bergamini <damien.bergamini@free.fr>.

# CAVEATS

The `ural` driver supports automatic control of the transmit speed in BSS mode only. Therefore the use of an `ural` adapter in Host AP mode is discouraged.

Host AP mode doesn't support power saving. Clients attempting to use power saving mode may experience significant packet loss (disabling power saving on the client will fix this).

March 25, 2025 | Debian