Re: [NTLK] Wireless LAN FAQ

From: John Ruschmeyer (jruschme_at_mac.com)
Date: Thu Mar 07 2002 - 10:36:18 EST


Alexander Oberd=F6rster wrote:

> I think several people in this list mentioned that it would be nice to =

> have a FAQ on Wireless LAN. As most of you are quite busy at the moment=
,=20
> I thought I'd just give it a try. So -- here is my first draft for a=20
> Wireless LAN FAQ:
>=20
> http://www.deleet.de/ray/newton/802.11b-FAQ.html
>=20
> [comments are in square brackets]
>=20
> It will probably contain lots of errors, as I've only started to read=20
> about the whole thing on monday ("the whole thing" being Newtons in=20
> general). I just got my first Newton yesterday :) It's only an MP 120, =

> so I'm not yet able to test what I've written (will change soon).
>=20
> I'm especially unsure about the Computer-to-Computer network in OS X=20
> (setting up OS X as a base station is simple, as the routing=20
> functionality as already built into the BSD layer). Help with the=20
> language is also appreciated. My english is very clumsy, I fear.

I think the document needs to clarify the issue of operating modes.=20
There are basically three modes that a WaveLAN card can operate in:

1) BSS/Infrastructure/Access Point mode. This is the mode where the card =

is talking to a base station.

2) Ad-Hoc Demo Mode (AHDM). This is the older Lucent-proprietary mode=20
used for peer-to-peer connections between computers without an access=20
point. It is the same as the "computer-to-computer" mode in earlier=20
versions of Apple's Airport software and is the version supported by=20
Hiroshi's driver for the Newton.

3) Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS). This is the IEEE=20
802.11b-compliant peer-to-peer connection standard and is the standard=20
in current versions of the Lucent/Orinoco drivers and the Airport softwar=
e.

PCs running recent versions of the WaveLAN drivers, can support AHDM=20
with a registry hack. See:

        http://seattlewireless.net/archive/dev/msg02544.html

It should also be able to put a WaveLAN connected to a *BSD system into=20
AHDM by supplying the "-p 3" parameter to the wireless connection=20
configuration program (wictl or wiconfig, depending on your flavor of=20
*BSD). AFAIK, it is not possible to put a card with recent firmware that =

is connected to a Linux system into AHDM.

This, of course, brings me back to my ongoing question...

Laurent, forgive me if I missed a previous response to the question, but =

how hard would it be to hack Hiroshi's driver to set the PortType to 1,=20
instead of 3? That should put the card into a state where it could=20
connect to an IBSS or *possibly* an Access Point.

<<<john>>>

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