Re: [current] hostap+wi

In message: <20030706063342.GA7846_at_sunbay.com>
            Ruslan Ermilov <ru_at_freebsd.org> writes:
: Uh sorry, it was very late in the night here; of course I meant Lucent
: chipsets when asking if they also support host-ap mode.  What are
: these add-ins you're talking about?

The add-ins that I'm talking about are what is known as a tertiary
firmware.  This firmware is downloaded by the 'host' into the card so
that it can do the ap functionality.  There's an authentication api to
the host, but I only know about it in general terms....

: I'm mostly interested in the bridge(4) functionality.

OK.  Keep in mind that 802.11 isn't the same as 802.3 ethernet.  There
are a number of different things that need to happen for devices to
work as well as special tags that bridging woul dneed to work. This is
basically the hostap functionality.

: As I understand, to do briding, the card should be able to send
: frames with arbitrary MAC addresses, and when not in host-ap mode,
: Lucent based chipsets do not allow this (i.e., you see with
: tcpdump(1) that packets is written to wi0 interface, but the other
: end doesn't receive the frame).

Some versions of lucent firmware support these sorts of things, in
addition to receiving all packets off the air, but most versions do
not.  I think that the receive all packets was the only one available
in public firmware, and then only a few select versions.

: What surprises me here, is that
: these same cards appear to work (by forwarding arbitrary Ethernet
: frames) when inserted into Lucent-based APs.  Does anyone have a
: valid explanation to this?  Is this an artificial limitation on
: these cards to limit their commercial use, or am I missing an
: obvious?

The reason they work when inserted into AP is due to the tertiary
firmware that I alluded to above...

Warner