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Guy Harris (talk | contribs) →{{Anchor|MAC80211|MLME|FULLMAC|SOFTMAC|HARDMAC}}FullMAC and SoftMAC devices: Improve labeling of links. |
Guy Harris (talk | contribs) →{{Anchor|MAC80211|MLME|FULLMAC|SOFTMAC|HARDMAC}}FullMAC and SoftMAC devices: Combine two uses of the SoftMAC entry in the Linux Wireless glossary. |
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{{Main|Comparison of open-source wireless drivers}}
In an 802.11 WNIC, the ''MAC Sublayer Management Entity'' (MLME) can be implemented either in the NIC's hardware or firmware, or in host-based software that is executed on the main CPU. A WNIC that implements the MLME function in hardware or firmware is called a ''FullMAC'' WNIC or a ''HardMAC'' NIC<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wireless.kernel.org/en/developers/Documentation/Glossary#FullMAC|title=Linux Wireless glossary|at=Definition of FullMAC|accessdate=1 June 2016}}</ref> and a NIC that implements it in host software is called a ''SoftMAC'' NIC.<ref name="glossary-softmac">{{cite web|url=http://wireless.kernel.org/en/developers/Documentation/Glossary#SoftMAC|title=Linux Wireless glossary|at=Definition of SoftMAC|accessdate=1 June 2016}}</ref>
A FullMAC device hides the complexity of the 802.11 protocol from the main CPU, instead providing an [[802.3]] (Ethernet) interface; a SoftMAC design implements only the timing-critical part of the protocol in hardware/firmware and the rest on the host.<ref name="Pathan2010">{{cite book|author=Al-Sakib Khan Pathan|title=Security of Self-Organizing Networks: MANET, WSN, WMN, VANET|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=ZtBnZoijaDcC&pg=PA28|year=2010|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-4398-1919-7|page=28}}</ref>
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* the chip vendor has tighter control of the MLME.
[[Linux kernel]]'s ''mac80211'' framework provides capabilities for SoftMAC devices and additional capabilities (such as mesh networking, which is known as the [[IEEE 802.11s]] standard) for devices with limited functionality.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://wireless.kernel.org/en/developers/Documentation/mac80211 |title=mac80211 documentation |work=[[kernel.org]]}}</ref><ref
[[FreeBSD]] also supports SoftMAC drivers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unix.com/man-page/FreeBSD/4/upgt/|title=FreeBSD 11.0 - man page for upgt (freebsd section 4) - Unix & Linux Commands|publisher=|accessdate=1 June 2016}}</ref>
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