why two different radios?

[leathalinjexion]

Total newb question I know, I'm learning pen testing to help my company.

Why are the radios different? I was trying to set up ICS between wlan0 and wlan1 but for the life of me I can't get wlan1 to do anything but scan for broadcasts which got me thinking perhaps it's not in the proper mode or it serves a specific purpose other than acting as an AP.

So does any one know the reason behind the choice of radios and or the purpose of each?

[telot]

One (the AR) is also the processor. The other (the realtek RTL) is a common and much beloved chip well supported by various wifi hacking tools. Both should be able to be put into monitor mode for sniffing, and certainly managed mode for connecting to a wifi accesspoint for ICS. I would go with the AR chip for ICS and use the realtek for sniffing/deauthing/scanning. The realteks are known to be a bit finicky if you try and use them as acutal wifi cards (as you are when you do ICS).

I don't have my mark5 yet (stupid me cheaped out on the shipping) so I'm sorry I don't know which is which by default (is AR wlan0? that would be my guess anyways). Maybe someone who actually has one can chime in :)

telot

[Darren Kitchen]

If there are two WiFi chipsets most loved by the hacker community it would be the ar9331 and rtl8187 - so we went with those. They both have some amazing strengths that compliment each other beautifully.

The AR is in fact wlan0 - it's the SoC (CPU) and does the AP mode. The RTL is great for just about anything from sniffing to injecting to client mode for ICS. Yes, it's stable as a client. The only thing it isn't great at is being an AP - which is what the AR is for.

They're unlocked and make a great duo.

[leathalinjexion]

Shiny!