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Date:      Sun, 30 May 2004 09:46:23 +0100
From:      Doug Rabson <dfr@nlsystems.com>
To:        wpaul@FreeBSD.ORG (Bill Paul)
Cc:        freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Project Evil APs
Message-ID:  <200405300946.23882.dfr@nlsystems.com>
In-Reply-To: <20040530053703.0169216A4CF@hub.freebsd.org>
References:  <20040530053703.0169216A4CF@hub.freebsd.org>

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On Sunday 30 May 2004 06:37, Bill Paul wrote:
> > Is 'mediaopt hostap' supposed to with the Project Evil ndis driver?
>
> ...
>
> No, not even a little. I can't even believe you asked. HostAP mode
> requires the ability to send and receive non-data frames in most
> cases (beacon frames, management frames, etc...). Some NICs have
> firmware that let you use hostAP features without having to implement
> all the logic in software. But all Windows 802.11 drivers all pretend
> to be 802.3 link layer drivers, because Windows doesn't have any
> 802.11 protocol support. NDIS has no API for doing monitor mode or
> any hostAP tricks. So no, it's not supported, and it never will be.
>
> > I
> > just acquired a Linksys WMP54G card which appears to use the
> > Broadcom 43xx chipset. I was originally intending to build a
> > home-made access point out of the thing but I can't set the hostap
> > mode.
> >
> > Project Evil likes this thing just fine with the drivers that came
> > in the box and happily sends and receives packets in adhoc mode.
> > When I try something like 'ifconfig ndis0 mediaopt hostap' I just
> > get a 'Device not configured' error:
>
> <jedi mind trick>
> You want to use ad-hoc mode. You don't want to bother me with silly
> questions about hostap mode because it doesn't really let you do
> anything you can't do with ad-hoc mode anyway. Use IPSec with
> ad-hoc mode and you'll probably get better security than any
> access point can give you in the first place.
> </jedi mind trick>

Probably. Only if I can get this silly little WinME laptop to do ad-hoc 
as well though. The main reason for doing this is that my AP died and 
my gf wants to use the laptop in the garden :-).

Interestingly, the inf file lists a registry key named "EnableSoftAP" 
which appears to suggest that support might be possible in windows with 
the right software. Probably involves custom drivers using private 
interfaces with the driver though :-(.

Any chance of a native driver for the Broadcom 43xx stuff?



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