Kismet Wardriving Software - WardrivingOnline.com

Linux Orinoco RFMon 2.6 Kernel HOWTO
Mike Kershaw
dragorn@kismetwireless.net
August 17 2004

1. Introduction

The 2.6.x kernel series includes the Orinoco 0.13 driver chain. These drivers
do not contain monitor mode internally, but fortunately they're the same code
base as the 2.4.x 0.13e standalone driver package, which means the same diffs
can be applied.

2. Who this is for

This HOWTO is for users of the 2.6.x kernel tree who want to get Orinoco
cards working with monitor mode.

This is NOT for users of the 2.4.x kernel tree (use orinoco_cs 0.13e) or for
users of other wireless cards.

3. Fetching what you need

3.1 Getting the Kernel

Firstly, you need the kernel source. If you are running a distribution with
strong packaging or custom kernels (such as Redhat, SuSE, etc) you will
probably want to get the source package for your distribution.

Users who wish to roll their own kernel or who use vanilla kernel sources can
download the source from kernel.org:
ftp://kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/

3.2 Unpacking the source

If you use a source package from your distribution, simply install it. The
kernel source should be in /usr/src/linux-<version>.

If you are unpacking a vanilla kernel, simply untar it to /usr/src/.

3.3 Getting the Patches

There are several patches which could be applied, however (currently) the most
up-to-date patches are on the Kismet download page:
http://www.kismetwireless.net/download.shtml

There are variants of these patches on the shmoo site, but the most up to date
ones are on the Kismet download page.

The 0.13-dragorn-rfmon patch includes all of the rfmon code from Snax of
the Shmoo group, as well as important bugfixes:
Fixed "Error -5 writing to BAP" message floods
Fixed long spinlocks on firmware reset leading to corrupted serial data,
sound stuttering, and high CPU loads
Various other minor cleanups

4. Testing and applying the patch

The 0.13 orinoco driver patches apply to the kernel network driver path
directly.

First, test the patch with a dry run:

cd /usr/src/linux-<version>/drivers/net/wireless/
patch -p1 --dry-run < /path/to/downloaded/orinoco-0.13e-dragorn-rfmon.diff

The patch should apply with only warnings about fuzz offsets. These are not
errors, however, the 2.6 tree may change the code at some point, so be on the
lookout for 'FAIL' errors.

If the patch applies with --dry-run with no errors, apply it fully:

patch -p1 < /path/to/downloaded/orinoco-0.13e-dragorn-rfmon.diff

5. Configuring your kernel

To enable to drivers, configure your kernel with the configuration of your
choice, and enable:

Bus Options ->
PCMCIA/Cardbus Support
Device Drivers ->
Networking Support ->
Wireless LAN ->
Hermes Chipset 802.11 support

They can be either enabled as modules or integrated.

6. Compiling

Compile your kernel and modules. If you have exactly the source for your
running kernel (ie, using only distribution kernels and matching source
packages) you can do simply:

make modules
make modules_install

Otherwise you will need to compile your whole kernel and modules:
make bzImage
make modules
make modules_install

and then install your kernel into your bootloader via whatever methods your
bootloader uses (Grub and LILO do this differently, see their man pages.)

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