Re: ralink wireless (run/rt2870)

[jnemeth%victoria.tc.ca@localhost (John Nemeth)]

On Jun 7, 10:11am, Ricky Thomson wrote:
}
} Hello, i am interested in installing NetBSD onto my main desktop
} computer, the one thing stopping me is that i cannot find "if" there is
} a working module/driver for the Ralink based chipsets of wireless
} dongles.

     NetBSD uses ral and rum for Ralink based chipsets.

} I cannot connect the computer via ethernet so i "need" a wireless
} connection after the install, the specific dongle i have is:
} 
} Belkin Components F5D8053 N Wireless USB Adapter v1000/v4000

     Unfortunately most wireless N devices aren't supported at this
time.  Fixing this requires updating the ieee80211 stack in the kernel,
which is a fair bit of work.  Volunteers welcome :-)

} This works beautifully on Linux with the "rt2870sta" module, and also
} under FreeBSD which it uses the "run" module.

     NetBSD is fairly early in becoming modular and most device drivers
are not modules at this point, but are built into GENERIC kernels.
There is active on-going work on modules though and there are a couple
of projects in the works to make it easier to have device driver
modules including making better ways for the kernel to find the
appropriate module for a particular device.

} I understand that kernel modules are loaded with `modload' in NetBSD,

     Correct, although in some cases, the kernel can load the
appropriate module itself.

}-- End of excerpt from Ricky Thomson