ath9k
ath9k is a completely FOSS wireless driver for Atheros IEEE 802.11n WLAN based chipsets.
Contents
Mailing list
Our mailing list for this driver is:
https://lists.ath9k.org/mailman/listinfo/ath9k-devel
Get the code
ath9k is part of wireless-testing now.
To build wireless-testing, use the instructions in this page: http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Download
Enabling ath9k
To enable ath9k, you must first enable mac80211:
Networking ---> Wireless ---> <M> Improved wireless configuration API <M> Generic IEEE 802.11 Networking Stack (mac80211)
You can then enable ath9k in the kernel configuration under
Device Drivers ---> [*] Network device support ---> Wireless LAN ---> <M> Atheros 802.11n wireless cards support
supported chips
- AR5418+AR5133
- AR5416+AR5133
- AR5416+AR2133
- AR9160
- AR9280
- AR9281
Products in the retail market containing Atheros AR5008-based solutions
Belkin
- N1 Wireless Notebook Card
D-Link
DWA-642 RangeBooster N Notebook Adapter
DWA-645 RangeBooster N650 Notebook Adapter
DWA-542 RangeBooster N Desktop Adapter
DWA-547 RangeBooster N650 Desktop Adapter
- DWA-652 XtremeN Notebook Adapter
- DWA-552 XtremeN Desktop Adapter
DWA-643 Xtreme N ExpressCard Notebook Adapter
- DWA-556 Xtreme N PCIe Desktop Adapter
Linksys
- WPC300Nv2
- WMP300Nv2
- WPC100N
- WMP110N
NEC
- WL300NC
Netgear
- WNHDE111 Video Bridge
- WN711, Wireless-N eXpresscard adapter
working
Station Mode
TODO
Things on our TODO list.
Being worked on
- IBSS/Mesh - IBSS should work, needs testing with WPA (any user
- interested in help testing?)
- AP - This is being worked on, expect to see a lot of changes in
- beacon.c
- Give regulatory a good scrubbing, specially once CRDA goes in.
- Pending additions for CRDA are moving the call to CRDA to use udev uevent helpers and to allow drivers to pass their own built regulatory domain structure.
- Cleanup ath_hal and ath_hal_5416.
- RX Filter - has to be completely revamped. (remove ath_scan_end, ath_scan_start)
- Virtual Interfaces ( embed ath_vap in the private area of ieee80211_vif )
Cleanup
- Merge ath_tx_status, ath_rx_status, ath_desc with ar5416_desc.
- HW capabilities is still too convoluted.
ChannelFlags are still a bit ugly.
- Node usage ( usage of sta_info was suggested )
- Move aggregation away from rc.c
Minor
- Enhance link quality reporting (also use noise floor calculation
- from hardware, instead of a static value of ATH_DEFAULT_NOISE_FLOOR, which is -95)
- Identify macros that can be moved to mac80211 ( look at ath9k.h )
- Use Bitfields wherever appropriate
- Review inline usage.
- Kerneldoc usage.
- Everything else that were pointed out by Johannes.
In the long run
- WDS - Already part of mac80211, probably can be added after AP
- Merge struct ath_hal and struct ath_softc (probably best for 2.6.28)
- LED
- RKILL
- Power management – needs work and integration on mac80211/cfg80211,
- see Johanne's e-mails
- Periodic noise floor calibration and ANI (Adaptive Noise Immunity)
- for better performance.
Distributions picking this up
OpenWrt became the first distribution to pick up ath9k and contribute to it.