URAL(4)

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

💖 URAL(4) 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the manual page for ural, a.k.a. the Ralink Technology RT2500USB IEEE 802.11 driver. it lives in the Kernel Interfaces Manual, and it's literally your ticket to making old-school USB wifi dongles work. let's get into it 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

ural — Ralink Technology RT2500USB IEEE 802.11 driver

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

so to compile this driver into the kernel (the hardcore way, no cap), you drop these lines into your kernel configuration file:

device ehci
device uhci
device ohci
device usb
device ural
device wlan
device wlan_amrr

ORRR, if you'd rather load the driver as a module at boot time, put this single line in loader.conf(5):

if_ural_load="YES"

either way, she's ready. 💅

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

the ural driver supports USB 2.0 wireless adapters based on the RT2500USB chipset. iconic behavior.

the RT2500USB chipset is basically two chips in a trench coat — a RT2570 MAC/BBP and a radio transceiver (and which transceiver you get depends on the card revision, so like, vibe varies).

radio transceiver tea ☕: the RT2522, RT2523, RT2524, RT2525, RT2525e and RT2526 all operate in the 2.4GHz band (802.11b/g). meanwhile the RT5222 is that dual-band girlie who can operate in both the 2.4GHz and 5.2GHz bands (802.11a). versatile queen 👑

ural supports station, adhoc, hostap, and monitor mode operation. ⚠️ but heads up: only one virtual interface may be configured at any time. one. singular. don't try it. and if you wanna know more about configuring this device, go read ifconfig(8), bestie.

🎀 HARDWARE 🎀

the ural driver supports USB 2.0 wireless adapters based on the Ralink Technology RT2500USB chipset, including all these legends:

  • AMIT WL532U — USB
  • ASUS WL-167g — USB
  • Belkin F5D7050 v2000 — USB
  • Buffalo WLI-U2-KG54-AI — USB
  • CNet CWD-854 — USB
  • Compex WLU54G 2A1100 — USB
  • Conceptronic C54RU — USB
  • D-Link DWL-G122 b1 — USB
  • Dynalink WLG25USB — USB
  • E-Tech WGUS02 — USB
  • Gigabyte GN-WBKG — USB
  • Hercules HWGUSB2-54 — USB
  • KCORP LifeStyle KLS-685 — USB
  • Linksys WUSB54G v4 — USB
  • Linksys WUSB54GP v4 — USB
  • MSI MS-6861 — USB
  • MSI MS-6865 — USB
  • MSI MS-6869 — USB
  • NovaTech NV-902 — USB
  • OvisLink Evo-W54USB — USB
  • SerComm UB801R — USB
  • SparkLAN WL-685R — USB
  • Surecom EP-9001-g — USB
  • Sweex LC100060 — USB
  • Tonze UW-6200C — USB
  • Zinwell ZWX-G261 — USB
  • Zonet ZEW2500P — USB

and if your card isn't here, don't panic — an up to date list can be found at http://ralink.rapla.net/. slay 🌈

⭐ EXAMPLES ⭐

joining an existing BSS network (i.e., connecting to an access point) — the classic move:

ifconfig wlan create wlandev ural0 inet 192.168.0.20 \
    netmask 0xffffff00

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

ifconfig wlan create wlandev ural0 ssid my_net up

joining a specific BSS network with 64-bit WEP encryption (vintage, but okay):

ifconfig wlan create wlandev ural0 ssid my_net \
        wepmode on wepkey 0x1234567890 weptxkey 1 up

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

ifconfig wlan create wlandev ural0 wlanmode adhoc ssid my_net \
    wepmode on wepkey 0x01020304050607080910111213 weptxkey 1

👑 DIAGNOSTICS 👑

  • ural%d: device timeout — the driver will reset the hardware. this should not happen. like, if you see this, something is lowkey wrong fr fr. 😭

💜 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/.

🌈 HISTORY 🌈

the ural driver first appeared in OpenBSD 3.7. a true OG ✨

💅 AUTHORS 💅

the original ural driver was written by Damien Bergamini <damien.bergamini@free.fr>. we stan a legend 🫶

💀 BUGS 💀

Host AP mode doesn't support client power save. clients using power save mode will experience packet loss — and yeah, disabling power saving on the client will fix this. so like, just turn it off bestie, problem solved 🙈

that's the whole page, no skips, no crumbs. go forth and get your wifi online 💖

Debian · April 13, 2008 · URAL(4) — mwah, that's the source, version and date, and that's a wrap! 🎀💖✨

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