does iwl3945 support master mode?

[Fulko Hew]

I've been trying to figure out how to use and whether or not
iwl3945 supports master/AP mode?

I'm using Fedora 8 with the iwl3945 driver and I get: the following
which implies its doesn't work:

# iwconfig wlan0 mode Master
Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :
SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.

I've seen some places where people have asked for it to be added
and others that said, try it, it should work now.

Which is it?
If not, when will it? Will it ever?
Is this documented anywhere?

TIA
Fulko

[Zhu Yi]

Post by Fulko Hew
# iwconfig wlan0 mode Master
SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.

I don't think mac80211 permit you enable it in that way.

Tomas, do you have a quite README for how to use AP mode with hostapd?

Thanks,
-yi

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[Winkler, Tomas]

We've enabled only iwl4965, not so ever effort was done for iwl3945 as
it sits on PCIe-WX bus which cannot be found in any embedded device,
unlike 4965 that sits on standard PCIe. In general there should not
problem to extend AP mode also for 3945 on PC platform. It is unlikely
that we put any direct development effort to enable it but of course we
support any such effort from outside.
The other problem is that we are not synced with current mac80211, I
don't now what is the status of AP mode there, it yet to be tested.
We've patched mac80211 heavily to support 802.11n.

To enable it, in general you've just run hostapd above it.

Tomas

-----Original Message-----
From: Zhu, Yi
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 7:25 AM
To: Fulko Hew; Winkler, Tomas
Subject: Re: [ipw3945-devel] does iwl3945 support master mode?

Post by Fulko Hew
# iwconfig wlan0 mode Master
SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.

I don't think mac80211 permit you enable it in that way.
Tomas, do you have a quite README for how to use AP mode with hostapd?
Thanks,
-yi

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[Fulko Hew]

Post by Winkler, Tomas
We've enabled only iwl4965, not so ever effort was done for iwl3945 as
it sits on PCIe-WX bus which cannot be found in any embedded device,
unlike 4965 that sits on standard PCIe.

I think I read out of that statement:
"...therefore the 3945 will never be found in an embedded device and
therefore the 3945 will never be used in AP mode, therefore AP mode
doesn't need to be supported."

In general there should not

Post by Winkler, Tomas
problem to extend AP mode also for 3945 on PC platform. It is unlikely
that we put any direct development effort to enable it but of course we
support any such effort from outside.
The other problem is that we are not synced with current mac80211, I
don't now what is the status of AP mode there, it yet to be tested.
We've patched mac80211 heavily to support 802.11n.
To enable it, in general you've just run hostapd above it.

My interpretation of what you said (and reading between the lines is)

To turn my Fedora 8 into a form of an AP, I need to:

a) run hostapd
b) get the iwl/max802... layer to forward packets to hostapd

Does this mean that by backporting host/ap mode from iwl4945 to iwl3945
it will send the appropriate packets to hostapd?

It sounds like host/ap mode is similar to monitor mode in that
hostapd needs to get 'all' the packets instead of only
those explicitly addressed to it (in managed mode).

Or in other words its the difference between promiscuous versus
mac-filtered.

So let me see if I get this straight, I can attempt to:

a) use the older iwl and mac80211 (pre 'n') as a starting point
b) backport host/ap mode from iwl4945 to iwl3945.
c) invoke hostapd,

I haven't looked at anything 802.11 related before, although it
doesn't scare me as an embedded software developer, but
I don't know where to start. Any hints and URLs would be welcome.

TIA
Fulko

(PS. I'm not committing to tackling it just yet, looking for more info,
and considering it.)

[Ian Schram]

Post by Winkler, Tomas
We've enabled only iwl4965, not so ever effort was done for iwl3945 as
it sits on PCIe-WX bus which cannot be found in any embedded device,
unlike 4965 that sits on standard PCIe. In general there should not
problem to extend AP mode also for 3945 on PC platform. It is unlikely
that we put any direct development effort to enable it but of course we
support any such effort from outside.
The other problem is that we are not synced with current mac80211, I
don't now what is the status of AP mode there,

AFAIK the latest status report can be found in the linux-wireless thread
"[FYI] hostapd state with mac80211 on linux"
http://lists.shmoo.com/pipermail/hostap/2007-October/016223.html

Post by Winkler, Tomas
it yet to be tested.
We've patched mac80211 heavily to support 802.11n.
To enable it, in general you've just run hostapd above it.
Tomas

-----Original Message-----
From: Zhu, Yi
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 7:25 AM
To: Fulko Hew; Winkler, Tomas
Subject: Re: [ipw3945-devel] does iwl3945 support master mode?

Post by Fulko Hew
# iwconfig wlan0 mode Master
SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.

I don't think mac80211 permit you enable it in that way.
Tomas, do you have a quite README for how to use AP mode with hostapd?
Thanks,
-yi

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