ath5k
ath5k is a completely FOSS wireless driver for Atheros WLAN based chipsets. It is now part of John's wireless-testing git repository.
Contents
Hacking ath5k
ath5k is currently available through different places.
- The wireless-testing git repository
The mm tree
Developers are encouraged to work using the git repository. If you are not familiar with git please check out our Linux wireless git-guide. Alternatively you can use the Linux wireless compatibility package but please be sure to post patches in unified diff format (diff -u). To learn how to submit patches please read our Submitting patches guideline.
Enabling ath5k
To enable ath5k, you must first enable mac80211:
Networking ---> Wireless ---> <M> Improved wireless configuration API <M> Generic IEEE 802.11 Networking Stack (mac80211)
Please note that there is another 802.11 networking stack:
<M> Generic IEEE 802.11 Networking Stack
You do not need this. This option enables the old SoftMAC stack we hope to kill one of these days. You can still safely enable this though.
You can then enable ath5k in the kernel configuration under
Device Drivers ---> [*] Network device support ---> Wireless LAN ---> <M> Atheros 5xxx wireless cards support
caveats
This driver is VERY new and under HEAVY development. It works quite well with older AR5212 based devices. Support for newer devices like AR5414 and PCI express is pretty new and might not work so well. Very new devices and PCI express devices might not work at all.
supported chips
ath5k is designed with support in mind for any AR5xxx device.
AR5210 - 802.11a AR5211 - 802.11ab AR5212 - 802.11abg AR5213 - 802.11abg AR5414 - 80211abg
To try the driver you can do this:
modprobe ath5k sudo ip link set wlan%d up sudo iwconfig wlan%d essid any # Make sure you get auth'd and then assoc'd # Then either set an IP manually or get it via DHCP ping gw
You'll probably see an immediate rate drop to 1M, this is because of how we currently handle rate control. You should be able to keep at least at 11M but for now set this manually:
iwconfig wlan%d rate 11M
Currently supported PCI ID list with respective status report on basic-testing as defined above.
Vendor:device Type Name Basic-testing 168c:0207 AR5210 AR5210 No tx - working on it 168c:0007 << << No tx - working on it 168c:0011 AR5211 AR5211 Should work 168c:0012 << << OK 168c:0013 AR5212 AR5212 OK (*) a727:0013 << << Should work 10b7:0013 << << << 168c:0014 << << << 168c:0015 << << << 168c:0016 << << << 168c:0017 << << << 168c:0018 << << << 168c:0019 << << << 168c:001a << RF2413 Working on it 168c:001b << RF5413 OK 168c:001c << AR5424 OK (**)
Notes on supported devices
"OK" means that card operates almost as good as with binary drivers (performance is around 25Mbits max)
"Should work" means that card hasn't been tested (we haven't received any reports) but since chipset is the same with a tested, working card, it should work as well.
(*) 0013 is used also for RF2414A parts that have problems with scanning and tx/rx for now.
(**) 001c is used also for RF2425 parts.
available devices
Please visit http://madwifi.org/wiki/Compatibility for a complete list of supported devices
features
Supports 802.11abg, depending on the chipset, and some vendor extensions such as Atheros XR and Turbo. This driver requires no firmware or binary-only HAL!
working
Station Mode
Ad-Hoc Mode
not working yet
Access Point mode
Turbo
XR
Get driver
This driver is currently only in wireless-testing.git.
ath5k kerneldoc
We have kerneldocs available for ath5k:
- General driver structure:
- Main PCI and mac80211 driver interface:
- Debug utilities:
- Hardware access:
- Initialization and PHY control:
initvals.c (warnings) (TODO)
- Regulatory:
- Hardware registers:
Project Home Page
Reported bugs on ath9k
This is a collection of bug reports both unresolved and resolved to help users track issues and to find patches for fixes which have not yet been merged.