AWUSO36H - RealTek 8187L - WPA Ad-Hoc

[Jouni Malinen]

On Sun, Nov 11, 2012 at 11:42:59AM -0600, WebDawg wrote:
> I have been trying to get two of these in WPA Ad-Hoc mode and came
> across a message on this list that WPA Ad-Hoc is broken.

> Is this true?  I want to build a wireless bridge with two USB adapters
> that take external antennas.  The AWUSO36H came with a small panel
> antenna that I wanted to use.

Some drivers do not support WPA ad-hoc. Anyway, if you are talking about
a layer 2 bridge, adhoc mode would not really work either since it does
not allow frames to be sent with foreign source address.

> I would like a USB adapter that I can set in Master mode to use hostap
> with and connect an antenna to.   I would like it to have a high
> output.
> 
> I originally purchased two of the above adapters and two of the
> AWUSO36NH's also made by alpha.  They are stated to be usable by
> backtrack on many forums but after I found out about master mode and
> how these devices do not work with it I am wondering why anyone would
> ever recommend these devices to do anything if the capabilities of
> them are limited?

That would be a question for someone who gives such recommendations
rather than this mailing list..

> I am also wondering why wpa_supplicant does not (in its man file or
> elsewhere) tell users that WPA Ap mode is broken for most drivers?

That sounds more like information that would be more in scope in places
where driver/hardware capabilities are described. Number of drivers
support AP mode and hostapd/wpa_supplicant can use that functionality if
it is available.

-- 
Jouni Malinen                                            PGP id EFC895FA