>From owner-majordomo Mon Feb 12 17:08:04 1996
Received: from cs.pdx.edu (root@cs.pdx.edu [131.252.20.183])
by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) with ESMTP id RAA18283
for <freebsd-announce@freebsd.org>; Mon, 12 Feb 1996 17:08:01
-0800 (PST)
Received: from sirius.cs.pdx.edu (root@sirius.cs.pdx.edu [131.252.20.199])
by cs.pdx.edu (8.7.3/CATastrophe-2/10/96-P) with ESMTP
id RAA17714; Mon, 12 Feb 1996 17:06:38 -0800 (PST) for
<freebsd-announce@freebsd.org>
Received: from localhost (jrb@localhost [127.0.0.1])
by sirius.cs.pdx.edu (8.7.3/CATastrophe-9/18/94-C) with ESMTP
id RAA14633; Mon, 12 Feb 1996 17:06:37 -0800 (PST) for
<freebsd-announce@freebsd.org>
Message-Id: <199602130106.RAA14633@sirius.cs.pdx.edu>
To: freebsd-announce@freebsd.org
Subject: wavelan (radio lan) drivers/freebsd
Date: Mon, 12 Feb 1996 17:06:36 -0800
From: Jim Binkley <jrb@cs.pdx.edu>
Announcement:
I have ported two drivers for ATT/GIS (originally NCR) wavelan cards
to FreeBSD from the original Mach/BSDI versions, Mach done by
Anders Klemets (and others) and BSDI ported by Robert Morris.
(btw: Anders gave me permission to change the copyright notice on the if_wlp.c
driver so that the "noncommercial" part was removed.)
The code can be obtained from
ftp://zymurgy.cs.pdx.edu/pub/mobility/wavelan.freebsd.tar.gz
via anonymous ftp.
One driver is for the current PCMCIA wavelan card. The main file for
it is if_wlp.c (wlp0 device)) The other is for the ISA bus card based
on the old Intel i82586 controller. The main file for it is if_wl.c (wl0).
The idea is that you can use the ISA card to plug into your wired
infrastructure and talk to it via the PCMCIA wavelan card. The wavelan
card looks like an ethernet card and to some extent behaves like one.
It runs at 2 mbits on paper (I've gotten around 1.4 mbit in practice).
I have run nv over wavelan. You configure the cards in fairly similar
fashion to other ethernet/isa cards. On paper, using omni-directional
antennae (supplied) the cards can reach about 800 feet. Metal cabinets
and walls (especially cement walls) cut down the distance obtained.
Still, unlike infrared (and sometimes wires) the radio can penetrate a
number of walls.
This should be considered alpha sw but I have tested it for a couple of
weeks and it hasn't failed me yet. The ISA card hangs occasionally on
transmit but there is watchdog timer that kicks it going again (judging
from if_ie.c, where I borrowed the watchdog timer from, not unusual for
i82586s, but maybe I need to make the DELAY longer). I managed to get
promiscuous mode working on both drivers at least as far as tcpdump is
concerned. (I am interesting in developing some simple bridging
software). I haven't tested multicast yet or turned it on. broadcast
certainly works. arp works of course -- remember that these radio cards
(somewhat) simulate an ethernet. They are really CSMA/CA (collision
avoidance) as opposed to CSMA/CD. What I did to the pcmcia module for
that card was a terrible hack, but I wasn't interested in trying to
make it "plug and play" at this point. I thought I might as well
wait
until the folks working on pcmcia released some code and then maybe
this card could be integrated. The pcmcia module might be eliminated
so that this driver like if_ze.c, etc., could just use David's pcic.c
module.
Note: I am not associated with ATT/GIS/NCR! :->. Below is an url for
more wavelan info. You can also call 1-800-WAVE for info as to where
to buy it if you are interested.
http://ncrinfo.attgis.com/pub/products/wavelan
p.s. one rather cute configuration I've tried is to run one box
on the wired infrastructure with a proxy web server (e.g., CERN httpd)
and then simply access that box via wavelan and netscape running
in proxy mode. This can allow you to work around not having Internet
routing access.
regards,
Jim Binkley
jrb@cs.pdx.edu