RUN(4)

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

💖 NAME 💖

run — the Ralink Technology USB IEEE 802.11a/g/n wireless network device, bestie. yes that's a whole mouthful and yes it's iconic.

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

okay so if you wanna compile this driver into the kernel (very main character of you), drop these lines in your kernel configuration file:

device ehci
device uhci
device ohci
device usb
device run
device wlan
device wlan_amrr

and you also need the firmware, which is provided by:

device runfw

alternatively — and honestly this is the low-effort slay — you can load the driver as a module at boot time. just put these lines in loader.conf(5):

if_run_load="YES"
runfw_load="YES"

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so the run driver supports USB 2.0 wireless adapters based on the Ralink RT2700U, RT2800U, RT3000U and RT3900E chipsets. let's break that down fr fr.

the RT2700U chipset consists of two integrated chips: an RT2770 MAC/BBP and an RT2720 (1T2R) or RT2750 (dual-band 1T2R) radio transceiver.

the RT2800U chipset consists of two integrated chips: an RT2870 MAC/BBP and an RT2820 (2T3R) or RT2850 (dual-band 2T3R) radio transceiver.

the RT3000U is a single-chip solution based on an RT3070 MAC/BBP and an RT3020 (1T1R), RT3021 (1T2R) or RT3022 (2T2R) single-band radio transceiver.

the RT3900E is a single-chip USB 2.0 802.11n solution. the MAC/Baseband Processor can be an RT3593, RT5390, RT5392 or an RT5592. the radio can be an RT3053, RT5370, RT5372 or an RT5572. the RT3053 chip operates in the 2GHz and 5GHz spectra and supports up to 3 transmit paths and 3 receiver paths (3T3R). the RT5370 chip operates in the 2GHz spectrum and supports 1 transmit path and 1 receiver path (1T1R). the RT5372 chip operates in the 2GHz spectrum and supports up to 2 transmit paths and 2 receiver paths (2T2R). the RT5572 chip operates in the 2GHz and 5GHz spectra and supports up to 2 transmit paths and 2 receiver paths (2T2R). 💅

🎀 the modes, bestie 🎀

these are the modes the run 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. she's the moment, no notes.
  • Host AP mode — in this mode the driver acts as an access point (base station) for other cards. you're literally the queen bee now 👑
  • 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. sneaky. we love her. 🙈

the run driver can be configured to use Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) or Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK). WPA is the de facto encryption standard for wireless networks.

⚠️ it is strongly recommended that WEP not be used as the sole mechanism to secure wireless communication, due to serious weaknesses in it. like genuinely bestie, do NOT. WEP is giving "password123" energy and not in a cute way. 💀

the run driver offloads both encryption and decryption of data frames to the hardware for the WEP40, WEP104, TKIP(+MIC) and CCMP ciphers. hardware doing the heavy lifting so you don't have to. periodt.

the run driver can be configured at runtime with ifconfig(8).

🌈 HARDWARE 🌈

the run driver supports the following wireless adapters — full roster, no skips:

  • Airlink101 AWLL6090
  • ASUS USB-N11
  • ASUS USB-N13 ver. A1
  • ASUS USB-N66
  • ASUS WL-160N
  • Belkin F5D8051 ver 3000
  • Belkin F5D8053
  • Belkin F5D8055
  • Belkin F6D4050 ver 1
  • Belkin F9L1103
  • Buffalo WLI-UC-AG300N
  • Buffalo WLI-UC-G300HP
  • Buffalo WLI-UC-G300N
  • Buffalo WLI-UC-G301N
  • Buffalo WLI-UC-GN
  • Buffalo WLI-UC-GNM
  • Buffalo WLI-UC-GNM2
  • Corega CG-WLUSB2GNL
  • Corega CG-WLUSB2GNR
  • Corega CG-WLUSB300AGN
  • Corega CG-WLUSB300GNM
  • D-Link DWA-130 rev B1
  • D-Link DWA-140 rev B1, B2, B3, D1
  • D-Link DWA-160 rev B2
  • D-Link DWA-162
  • DrayTek Vigor N61
  • Edimax EW-7711UAn
  • Edimax EW-7711UTn
  • Edimax EW-7717Un
  • Edimax EW-7718Un
  • Edimax EW-7733UnD
  • Gigabyte GN-WB30N
  • Gigabyte GN-WB31N
  • Gigabyte GN-WB32L
  • Hawking HWDN1
  • Hawking HWUN1
  • Hawking HWUN2
  • Hercules HWNU-300
  • Linksys WUSB54GC v3
  • Linksys WUSB600N
  • Logitec LAN-W150N/U2
  • Mvix Nubbin MS-811N
  • Panda Wireless PAU06
  • Planex GW-USMicroN
  • Planex GW-US300MiniS
  • Sitecom WL-182
  • Sitecom WL-188
  • Sitecom WL-301
  • Sitecom WL-302
  • Sitecom WL-315
  • SMC SMCWUSBS-N2
  • Sweex LW303
  • Sweex LW313
  • TP-LINK TL-WDN3200
  • TP-LINK TL-WN321G v4
  • TP-LINK TL-WN727N v3
  • Unex DNUR-81
  • Unex DNUR-82
  • ZyXEL NWD2705
  • ZyXEL NWD210N
  • ZyXEL NWD270N

if your dongle is on this list, she's compatible and she's ready. 💖

🍓 EXAMPLES 🍓

join an existing BSS network (i.e., connect to an access point):

ifconfig wlan create wlandev run0 inet 192.168.0.20 \
    netmask 0xffffff00

join a specific BSS network with network name “my_net”:

ifconfig wlan create wlandev run0 ssid my_net up

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

ifconfig wlan create wlandev run0 ssid my_net \
        wepmode on wepkey 0x1234567890 weptxkey 1 up

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

ifconfig wlan create wlandev run0 wlanmode adhoc ssid my_net \
    wepmode on wepkey 0x01020304050607080910111213 weptxkey 1

(remember what we said about WEP tho. the examples are here, the warning stands. 🫶)

😭 DIAGNOSTICS 😭

  • run%d: faild load firmware of file runfw — for some reason, the driver was unable to read the microcode file from the filesystem. the file might be missing or corrupted. (and yes, the typo is canon, we do not fix her.)
  • run%d: could not load 8051 microcode — an error occurred while attempting to upload the microcode to the onboard 8051 microcontroller unit.
  • run%d: 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 👑

intro(4), netintro(4), runfw(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/

🌸 HISTORY 🌸

the run driver first appeared in OpenBSD 4.5. vintage. retro. a classic. 💅

🧚 AUTHORS 🧚

the run driver was written by Damien Bergamini <damien@openbsd.org>. absolute legend behavior, we stan. 💖

💜 CAVEATS 💜

the run driver supports some of the 11n capabilities found in the RT2800, RT3000 and RT3900 chipsets. some, not all — read that twice bestie, manage your expectations accordingly. 🙈

and that's the whole page!! this one's from the <strong>Debian</strong> manual set, dated <strong>June 16, 2020</strong> — mwah, slay, go connect to some wifi ✨🦋💖

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