HOW-TO Install Madwifi, Linux device driver for wireless LAN chipsets from Atheros

Madwifi is project provides a Linux kernel device driver for Atheros chipset based Wireless LAN device. We have Madwifi-old, Madwifi-ng and official release Madwifi-0.9.x drivers.
Web :
http://www.madwifi.org/
http://www.madwifi.net/

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My system :
- RHEL 4 with kernel 2.6.9-5 and 2.6.13-5
- SUSE Linux 10.0 with kernel 2.6.13
Wireless driver : Madwifi-ng , Madwifi-old , Madwifi-0.9.2
Wireless device : ATERM WL54AG
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Зайлшгүй шаардагдах нөхцөл:
- GCC compiler collection
- Ашиглаж буй системийн цөм (kernel)-ийн эх код ("source -> /usr/src/linux-XXXXX" байдлаар холбоос үүссэн байх.)
- Ашиглаж буй системийн цөмд "Wireless Extensions" дэмжигдсэн байх.

1. Download the Madwifi wireless driverCheckout current Madwifi driver (madwifi-ng) from madwifi.org with subversion

# cd /usr/local/src
# svn list http://svn.madwifi.org/trunk
# svn checkout http://svn.madwifi.org/trunk madwifi-0.9.2
or
# svn checkout http://svn.madwifi.org/branches/madwifi-old

2. Compile Madwifi driver

# cd madwifi-ng
# make
# make install

3. After compile, Madwifi drivers are loaded at: /lib/modules/`uname -r`/net

# ls -ls /lib/modules/`uname -r`/net
ath_hal.ko
ath_pci.ko
ath_rate_sample.ko
wlan_acl.ko
wlan_ccmp.ko
wlan.ko
wlan_scan_ap.ko
wlan_scan_sta.ko
wlan_tkip.ko
wlan_wep.ko
wlan_xauth.ko

4. Installing Madwifi modules
We need to use the countrycode option (exm: Japan = 392) when loading the madwifi driver.

# modprobe ath_pci countrycode=392
# lsmod
. . . . . . . . .
ath_pci 110628 0
ath_rate_sample 13056 1 ath_pci
wlan 199004 6 wlan_scan_sta,ath_pci,ath_rate_sample
ath_hal 189008 5 ath_pci,ath_rate_sample
. . . . . . . . .

5. To make this happen during boot, add the following to modprobe config file “/etc/modprobe.conf”.

options ath_pci countrycode=392 (Japan:392)

6. Configuring device (athX) interface

- Wireless network interface name : "ath0"
- Operation mode = master/station/adhoc
- Channel = between 1 and 14
- ESSID = "TEST"

- Destroy madwifi device which detected automaticly

# wlanconfig ath0 destroy

- Create new madwifi-ng driver

# wlanconfig ath0 create wlandev wifi0 wlanmode ap

- ESSID , channel, ... setup

# iwconfig ath0 essid CAP11 channel 3

- Network IP, Netmask, ... setup

# ifconfig ath0 192.168.61.1 broadcast 192.168.61.255 netmask 255.255.255.0 up

7. Display wireless network Interface configuration

Display network interface configuration

# ifconfig ath0

Display wireless network interface configuration

# iwconfig ath0

8. Some usefull commands to display wireless information

# cardctl ident
Socket 0:product info: "NEC AccessTechnica, Ltd.", "AtermWL54AG(PA-WL/54AG)", "1.0", " "manfid: 0x0010, 0x0012function: 6 (network)

# lspci
...........
05:02.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c475 (rev 80)06:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5212 802.11abg NIC (rev 01)

HOW-TO Install Host AP driver for Intersil Prism2/2.5/3

Host AP is a Linux driver for Intersil Prism 2/2.5/3 chipset based wireless network card. More information and current version of Host AP driver and hostap-utils can be acquiring following site: http://hostap.epitest.fi/

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My system :
- RHEL 4 with kernel 2.6.9-5 and 2.6.13-5
- SUSE Linux 10.0 with kernel 2.6.13
Wireless driver : Hostap-driver-0.4.7.tar.gz
Hostap-Util : Hostap-utils-0.4.7.tar.gz
Wireless card : PLANEX GW-CF11X
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1. Building Host AP driver.

# tar -zxvf hostap-driver-0.4.7.tar.gz
# cd hostap-driver-0.4.7

We have to change Makefile before compile Host AP driver. Edit the kernel path “KERNEL_PATH” in Makefile to math current system. Our case, we compiled kernel from the path “/usr/src/linux (KERNEL_PATH=/usr/src/linux).

# make
# make install

2. Add hostap modules to kernel.

# modprobe hostap_pci
or
# modprobe hostap
# modprobe hostap_cs

3. Check the kernel modules list.

# lsmod grep hostap
hostap_pci 67609 0
hostap 121096 1 hostap_pci
or
# lsmod grep hostap
hostap_cs 75288 3
hostap 141192 1 hostap_cs
pcmcia 42548 9 hostap_cs

4. After load the Host AP modules, we need to add wireless network PCMCIA card model information into config file (/etc/pcmcia/hostap_cs.conf). Identify the current plugged wireless card.

# cardctl ident
Socket 0: product info: "PLANEX COMMUNICATIONS INC.", "PLANEX GW-CF11X Wireless CF Card", "", ""
manfid: 0xd601, 0x0010
function: 6 (network)

5. Add following string into config file "/etc/pcmcia/hostap_cs.conf".

card "PLANEX GW-CF11X Wireless CF Card"
manfid 0xd601, 0x0010
bind "hostap_cs"

6. Installing Hostap-utils
Unpack the package and run the “make all” to build Hostap-utils.

# tar -zxvf hostap-utils-0.4.7.tar.gz
# cd hostap-utils-0.4.7
# make all

Copy following files to "/usr/bin" folder after built Hostap-utils.

- hostap_crypt_conf
- hostap_diag
- hostap_fw_load
- hostap_io_debug
- hostap_rid
- prism2_param

7. Check the wireless card

# iwconfig wlan0

Wifi0 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:""
Mode: Managed . . . . . .

wlan0 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:""
Mode: Managed . . . . .

8. THE END

HOW-TO install Orinoco wireless driver

The Linux Orinoco Driver supports a wide range of wireless network interface cards implementing 802.11b standard.

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My system :
- Redhat 9 Linux with kernel 2.4.20
- Wireless card :“BUFFALO WLI-CF-S11G”.
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1. Download and compile "orinoco" wireless PCMCIA card driver.
Download site : http://sourceforge.net/projects/orinoco

# tar xvfz orinoco-0.15rc2.tar.gz
# cd orinoco-0.15rc2
# make all
# make install

# /etc/init.d/pcmcia restart

2. Check the card type.

# cardctl ident
Socket 0: product info: "BUFFALO", "WLI-CF-S11G", "", ""
manfid: 0x026f, 0x030b
function: 6 (network)

3. Add following string inside the config file "/etc/pcmcia/config".

card "Buffalo WLI-CF-S11G"
manfid 0x026f, 0x030b
bind "orinoco_cs"

4. Restart PCMCIA

# /etc/init.d/pcmcia restart

5. Check the list of installed modules, command : "lsmod" You can see module column "orinoco*"

# lsmod
....
orinoco_cs .........

6. THE END