From: Jouni Malinen (jkmaline_at_cc.hut.fi)
Date: 2002-10-11 07:55:23 UTC
On Fri, Oct 11, 2002 at 09:27:28AM +0200, kjell_at_endian.se wrote:
> I was first thinking of comparing the hostap with the wlan-ng driver,
> but when I browsed the hostap code I found the stuff in the
> "hostap_download"-file, which I _think_ seems to cover more than just
> handling the PDA stuff(?)
Yes, current version of Host AP driver supports RAM download (if compiled with PRISM2_DOWNLOAD_SUPPORT defined). In other words, it can download one image (secondary (station) firmware or tertiary (AP) firmware) to wlan card RAM.
> So my questions are;
> - Does the hostap driver also support downloading and initiating a
> tertiary firmware?
Yes.
> - Does the hostap driver support working with a Prism2 chipset in
> firmware ap mode?
I wouldn't call this supported operation mode, but it might work. I have not really tested it more than confirming that the firmware AP is initialized properly.
> If the answer to my second question is negative, could anyone give me a
> hint what it would take to get the hostap driver to work together with a
> tertiary firmware?
Feel free to test it. prism2_srec should be able to download the AP firmware and initialize the card with it. After this, you should be able to associate with the AP (auth & assoc processed by the firmware). With good luck, data packets are delivered correctly even with firmware AP. If not, some minor changes might be needed for prism2_tx() and prism2_rx() functions.
There are some (more or less optional) AP firmware functionality that has not been implemented in the Host AP driver, so you might want to experiment with that if you choose to use Host AP driver also for testing firmware-based AP functionality. This includes things like getting information about authenticated stations and setting up "enhanced security" features (SSID hiding), etc.
-- Jouni Malinen PGP id EFC895FA