RUM(4)

📦 version 12.2, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

okay so bestie, you're reading RUM(4) from the Kernel Interfaces Manual, and lemme tell you, this one is lowkey a whole era. it's giving "your wifi dongle from 2007 finally gets the respect it deserves". sit down, grab a boba, we're doing this 🧋✨

✨ NAME ✨

rum — the Ralink Technology USB IEEE 802.11a/b/g wireless network device. no cap, that's the whole name. iconic.

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

so like, if you wanna bake this driver into the kernel, you gotta drop these lines into your kernel configuration file:

device ehci
device uhci
device ohci
device usb
device rum
device wlan
device wlan_amrr

or — and this is the main character option honestly — you can just load it as a module at boot time by putting this one single line in loader.conf(5):

if_rum_load="YES"

periodt. one line. slay.

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

the rum driver supports USB 2.0 and PCI Express Mini Card wireless adapters based on the Ralink RT2501USB and RT2601USB chipsets.

fun fact bestie: Ralink PCI Express Mini Card adapters show up looking like totally normal USB 2.0 devices, so the rum driver handles them too. it's giving "no thoughts, just USB energy" 💅

the RT2501USB chipset is the second generation of 802.11a/b/g adapters from Ralink. it's made of two integrated chips: an RT2571W MAC/BBP and an RT2528 or RT5226 radio transceiver. two chips, one vibe.

the RT2601USB chipset is also two integrated chips: an RT2671 MAC/BBP and an RT2527 or RT5225 radio transceiver. this one uses MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) technology with multiple antennas to extend the operating range of the adapter and to achieve higher throughput. multi-antenna? we love a girl who can multitask 🫶

and every single chip here has hardware support for WEP, AES-CCM, TKIP, and Michael cryptographic operations. security queens only 🔐

rum supports station, adhoc, adhoc-demo, hostap, and monitor mode operation. but heads up: only one virtual interface may be configured at any time. one. just one. don't be greedy 🙈

for more info on configuring this device, go peek at ifconfig(8).

👑 HARDWARE 👑

the rum driver supports USB 2.0 wireless adapters based on the Ralink RT2501USB and RT2601USB chipsets, including:

  • 3Com Aolynk WUB320g — USB
  • Abocom WUG2700 Ta — USB
  • Airlink101 AWLL5025 — USB
  • ASUS WL-167g ver 2 — USB
  • Belkin F5D7050 ver 3 — USB
  • Belkin F5D9050 ver 3 — USB
  • Buffalo WLI-U2-SG54HP — USB
  • Buffalo WLI-U2-SG54HG — USB
  • Buffalo WLI-U2-G54HP — USB
  • Buffalo WLI-UC-G — USB
  • CNet CWD-854 ver F — USB
  • Conceptronic C54RU ver 2 — USB
  • Corega CG-WLUSB2GO — USB
  • D-Link DWA-110 — USB
  • D-Link DWA-111 — USB
  • D-Link DWL-G122 rev C1 — USB
  • D-Link WUA-1340 — USB
  • Digitus DN-7003GR — USB
  • Edimax EW-7318USG — USB
  • Gigabyte GN-WB01GS — USB
  • Gigabyte GN-WI05GS — USB
  • Hawking HWUG1 — USB
  • Hawking HWU54DM — USB
  • Hercules HWGUSB2-54-LB — USB
  • Hercules HWGUSB2-54V2-AP — USB
  • LevelOne WNC-0301USB v3 — USB
  • Linksys WUSB54G rev C — USB
  • Linksys WUSB54GR — USB
  • Planex GW-US54HP — USB
  • Planex GW-US54Mini2 — USB
  • Planex GW-USMM — USB
  • Senao NUB-3701 — USB
  • Sitecom WL-113 ver 2 — USB
  • Sitecom WL-172 — USB
  • Sweex LW053 — USB
  • TP-LINK TL-WN321G v1/v2/v3 — USB

like. that's a lot of little plastic rectangles. all of them USB. all of them ate 💀✨

💜 EXAMPLES 💜

joining an existing BSS network (aka connecting to an access point, the classic move):

ifconfig wlan create wlandev rum0 inet 192.168.0.20 \
    netmask 0xffffff00

joining a specific BSS network with the network name “my_net”:

ifconfig wlan create wlandev rum0 ssid my_net up

joining a specific BSS network with 64-bit WEP encryption:

ifconfig wlan create wlandev rum0 ssid my_net \
        wepmode on wepkey 0x1234567890 weptxkey 1 up

joining a specific BSS network with 128-bit WEP encryption:

ifconfig wlan create wlandev rum0 wlanmode adhoc ssid my_net \
    wepmode on wepkey 0x01020304050607080910111213 weptxkey 1

copy these exactly bestie, character for character, no freestyling on the hex 💅

🎀 DIAGNOSTICS 🎀

  • rum%d: could not load 8051 microcode — an error occurred while attempting to upload the microcode to the onboard 8051 microcontroller unit. the driver will reset the hardware. this should not happen. so if it happens, that's a whole moment 😭 the driver is out here resetting itself like "not me, not today".

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

intro(4), netintro(4), usb(4), wlan(4), wlan_amrr(4), wlan_ccmp(4), wlan_tkip(4), wlan_wep(4), wlan_xauth(4), hostapd(8), ifconfig(8), wpa_supplicant(8).

Ralink Technology, http://www.ralinktech.com/. iykyk 💫

🧚 HISTORY 🧚

the rum driver first appeared in OpenBSD 4.0. a legend was born, fr fr.

💖 AUTHORS 💖

the original rum driver was written by Niall O'Higgins <niallo@openbsd.org> and Damien Bergamini <damien@openbsd.org>. two icons, one driver. we stan 👑

and that's the whole page bestie!! you made it to the end, which means you now know more about rum than 99% of the group chat. main character energy, truly.

this lil masterpiece shipped as part of Debian, dated November 8, 2018, under the RUM(4) name. mwah, take care of your wifi dongles, they're doing their best 🫶💖✨

📦 where this page comes from