rndis_wlan

The rndis_wlan driver is not yet in the stock kernel and only available in the wireless-testing.git tree and through the compat-wireless-2.6 package.

Contents

rndis_wlan
supported chips
available devices
what works
what does not
known problems

supported chips

Broadcom 4320 USB WLAN chip, which is only wireless RNDIS chip known to date. Althought rndis_wlan has vendor/device-id list, driver can also autodetect any new wireless RNDIS device.

available devices

Asus WL169gE
Belkin F5D7051
BT Voyager 1055
Buffalo WLI-U2-KG125S
Buffalo WLI-USB-G54
Eminent EM4045
Linksys WUSB54GSC
Linksys WUSB54GSv1
Linksys WUSB54GSv2
U.S. Robotics USR5420
U.S. Robotics USR5421

what works

unencrypted networks
WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK
WEP should work
ad-hoc should work, unencrypted and WEP
hidden networks, unencrypted and WEP

what does not

Hidden + WPA
not tested: any WPA except PSK, etc

known problems

Broadcom AP running OpenWRT kamikaze: WPA-PSK-TKIP fails to connect, router shows 'wl0: Invalid parameter' while trying to authenticate. With CCMP shows same error but manages connect. Using rt73usb TKIP&CCMP works without problems/errors.
Device has tx/rx stalls on poor links (less than ~30/100), workaround is present in driver (when link quality less than 30%, issue scan every 0.5sec, which releases freeze). Performance is not pair with ndiswrapper+windows driver in this case. Stalls might be happening on better links too but much more infrequently and recover much faster. Stalls do not happen using ndiswrapper, so there might be some stricter tx/rx locking present in windows driver that prevent stalls.