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Atheros AR5005G 802.11abg NIC on Cent OS 4.3

Thu, 05/04/2006 - 22:25 — sandip

Install the RPM file madwifi-*.i386.rpm (or x86_64 respectively) plus the RPM kernel module packages (kmdl) appropriate for your kernel version and architecture, madwifi-kmdl-*.rpm and madwifi-hal-kmdl-*.rpm.

Use `uname -r` to determine which kmdl you need to download. If you use a depsolver like smart/yum/apt, all you have to do is point it to ATrpms and use

# smart install madwifi madwifi-kmdl-`uname -r`

Replace smart with yum or apt as appropriate. Note that you will have to install a new pair of madwifi*-kmdl packages for each kernel update, as the depsolvers aren't yet capable to automate this.

Read up more details at madwifi.org

You can download the respective rpms from http://atrpms.net/dist/el4/madwifi/ directly and install via:

# rpm -ivh madwifi*.rpm

After you have installed madwifi, reboot and the HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) deamon should automatically pick the card up for configuration. If you skip this configuration on boot, you can set up networking as below:

  1. Type `iwconfig`, which should show up a wireless network interface "ath0".
  2. Configure the interface for the access point to be used:
      # iwconfig ath0 essid <ESSID of Access Point> key <hex key>
  3. Activate and bring up the wireless interface: 
      # ifconfig ath0 <IP Address>
  # route add default gw <IP of Gateway>
  # ifconfig ath0 up
  4. `ifconfig` should now list out ath0 with an inet address.
  5. Setup the network script paramerters for ath0
      # cat <<EOF > /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ath0
  DEVICE=ath0
  BOOTPROTO=dhcp
  ONBOOT=yes
  GATEWAY=<IP of Gateway>
  TYPE=Wireless
  ESSID=<ESSID of Access Point>
  CHANNEL=<CHANNEL # of your AP>
  MODE=Managed
  KEY=<hex key>
  EOF

    Note: you can also put your wep key in "/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/keys-ath0".

  6. You should now be able to restart the network and get an IP address dynamically assigned via dhcp.
    # service network restart
  7. Below is what I have for a static IP: 
    DEVICE=ath0
ONBOOT=yes
BOOTPROTO=fixed
HWADDR=00:11:50:6F:8E:BF
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
#DHCP_HOSTNAME=
IPADDR=192.168.2.5
#DOMAIN=
TYPE=Wireless
ESSID=LINUXweblog
CHANNEL=11
MODE=Managed
RATE=Auto
GATEWAY=192.168.2.1

ENJOY your newly configured wireless card!!

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Sat, 11/03/2007 - 20:35 — sandip easy madwifi on CentOS 5

Create atrpms repo in file: /etc/yum.repos.d/atrpms.repo

[atrpms]
name=CentOS $releasever - $basearch - ATrpms
baseurl=http://dl.atrpms.net/el$releasever-$basearch/atrpms/stable
gpgkey=http://ATrpms.net/RPM-GPG-KEY.atrpms
gpgcheck=1
enabled=0

Import gpg key:

# rpm --import http://ATrpms.net/RPM-GPG-KEY.atrpms

Install via:

# yum --enablerepo=atrpms install madwifi

If updating the kernel install the new modules prior to rebooting to the new kernel release, via:

# yum --enablerepo=atrpms update madwifi
# yum --enablerepo=atrpms install madwifi-hal-kmdl-`uname -r` madwifi-kmdl-`uname -r`

where `uname -r` is the latest kernel just installed.

Other settings:

In file "/etc/modules.conf":

alias ath0 ath_pci

Tue, 06/20/2006 - 22:06 — sandip Upgrading MadWifi to current kernel 2.6.9-34.0.1.EL
  1. Prior to booting to the current kernel after updating kernel via yum, download the needed rpms for the wireless Atheros card:
    $ wget http://dl.atrpms.net/all/madwifi-0.9.0-23.el4.at.i386.rpm
$ wget http://dl.atrpms.net/all/madwifi-kmdl-2.6.9-34.0.1.EL-0.9.0-23.el4.at.i686.rpm
$ wget http://dl.atrpms.net/all/madwifi-hal-kmdl-2.6.9-34.0.1.EL-0.9.0-23.el4.at.i686.rpm
  2. Reboot to the latest kernel.
  3. Make sure to keep the network configuration, in case you are prompted to remove the configuration for the wireless card.
  4. Upgrade to the downloaded madwifi rpms:
    # rpm -Uvh madwifi-*0.9.0-23*.rpm
  5. The card should automatically get picked up on reboot and if you still have your network configuration for the wireless card, it should be working as before.
Sun, 07/30/2006 - 19:18 — wizap Upgrading MadWifi to latest kernel modules

It is recommeded to do install instead of upgrade as with newer kernels so you can fall back to the old if the new does not work.

Once the madwifi rpms are downloaded, install via:

# rpm -ivh madwifi*.rpm

You should now be able to boot to the latest or older kernels and still have your wireless working.

Mon, 07/16/2007 - 09:53 — Rick Sivernell (not verified) Atheros 5005g

I have reinstalled madwifi as per your instructions, when I perform a modprobe ath_pci, I get a failure stating no such file or directory. I am running Fedora 7 on a Acer Aspire 5100 laptop, set all scripts as per madwifi. I have a hard wire installed but need wireless for travel.

[root@RickSivernell madwifi]# ll /lib/modules/2.6.21-1.3228.fc7/extra/madwifi/
total 1008
-rwxr--r-- 1 root root 282744 2007-06-14 06:20 ath_hal.ko
-rwxr--r-- 1 root root 143088 2007-06-14 06:20 ath_pci.ko
-rwxr--r-- 1 root root 21176 2007-06-14 06:20 ath_rate_amrr.ko
-rwxr--r-- 1 root root 20280 2007-06-14 06:20 ath_rate_onoe.ko
-rwxr--r-- 1 root root 27144 2007-06-14 06:20 ath_rate_sample.ko
-rwxr--r-- 1 root root 16720 2007-06-14 06:20 wlan_acl.ko
-rwxr--r-- 1 root root 20784 2007-06-14 06:20 wlan_ccmp.ko
-rwxr--r-- 1 root root 301032 2007-06-14 06:20 wlan.ko
-rwxr--r-- 1 root root 18032 2007-06-14 06:20 wlan_scan_ap.ko
-rwxr--r-- 1 root root 29992 2007-06-14 06:20 wlan_scan_sta.ko
-rwxr--r-- 1 root root 25240 2007-06-14 06:20 wlan_tkip.ko
-rwxr--r-- 1 root root 18600 2007-06-14 06:20 wlan_wep.ko
-rwxr--r-- 1 root root 12168 2007-06-14 06:20 wlan_xauth.ko

[root@RickSivernell /]# modprobe ath_pci
FATAL: Module ath_pci not found.
[root@RickSivernell /]#

vi /etc/modprobe.conf
alias scsi_hostadapter pata_atiixp
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel
options snd-card-0 index=0
options snd-hda-intel index=0
##options 8139too
alias eth0 8139too
##options 3c501 irq=21
options rtl8129 irq=21
alias eth1 ath0_pci
options ath0_pci irq=22

Any ideas

Rick

Mon, 07/16/2007 - 10:33 — sandip check kernel and corresponding madwifi package

Most probably, the kernel got updated and you did not update the madwifi package for the corresponding kernel.

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