Accepted Way To Install/Load Atheros Wireless Drivers

[Robert L Cochran]

John Summerfield wrote:
> Robert L Cochran wrote:
>> Endy wrote:
>>> John Summerfield wrote:
>>>> Robert L Cochran wrote:
>>>>> I have an Atheros AR5006EG card on a Toshiba Satellite P105-S6147 
>>>>> laptop computer. That's an i386 architecture but is Pentium Dual 
>>>>> Core.
>>>>>
>>>>> ifconfig doesn't show either a wlan0 or an ath0 present. I guess I 
>>>>> need to add the ATRPMS repo and then install the madwifi driver to 
>>>>> get support?
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks
>>>>
>>>> That, or download from madwifi.org. There's a src.rpm someplace, 
>>>> you need to rebuild for each new kernel. Doesn't take long.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Freshrpms has a package for the madwifi driver. 
>>> http://moonshine.freshrpms.net/rpm.html?id=453 .
>>>
>>> Install the freshrpms-release package that is listed on the left 
>>> side of the page, and then install it from yum.
>>> Endy
>>>
>> I can see the ath5k module is loaded. I could just set up an 
>> ifcfg-ath0 module and then `ifup ifcfg-ath0` and Network Manager 
>> should be able to do the rest of my work for me...does this make any 
>> sense?
>
> Not exactly. I've not used the ath5k module, I use the madwifi driver.
>
> I would try:
> # Load the driver
> modprobe ath5k
> % Check for kernel messages
> dmesg | tail -20
> # find device name
> iwconfig
>
> I don't know what the device will be, probably _not_ wifi0.
>
> Assuming you're right, netmanager should see it, and you can 
> manipulate it with the iw commands (but don't do this if you're using 
> netmanager, except to test. You need to be root)
> iwconfig ath0 essid any key s:passp rate auto
> dhclient ath0
>
> Mostly, those two commands (with correct data) associate with an AP 
> using WEP.
>
>
I think I'm all set. I got rid of the ath5k driver by renaming it, 
rebooted the laptop with the network cable plugged in. Then I set up the 
Livna repository and executed a 'yum install kmod-madwifi'. After that I 
started Network Manager, edited the wireless settings for ath0, rebooted 
the laptop without the network cable, and presto! I got a wireless 
connection! Only problem is that updating kmod-madwifi while doing a 
'yum update' runs into dependency problems.

Bob