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 latest ath9k driver
If you want to get the latest ath9k driver you can get it by using the wireless-testing git tree. Read our git-guide for that. Alternatively you can simply upgrade only your Linux wireless subsystem by using compat-wireless.
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
Type of cards
HB: PCIe Half MiniCard
XB: PCIe Full MiniCard
- MB: Mini PCI card
- CB: PCI Cardbus card
- SB: Single band, 1x2, 2x2 configuration
- DB: Dual band, 2x3, 2x2 configuration
supported chipsets
- AR5418+AR5133
- AR5416+AR5133
- AR5416+AR2133
- AR9160
- AR9280
- AR9281
- AR9285
- AR9102 (AHB)
- AR9103 (AHB)
APs with Atheros 11n
WARNING of practicality: Not all models can be flashed with custom GPL software at this time, see the OpenWRT forums for latest information. However, all of these routers have been identified to use Atheros 11n radio chips.
- TRENDnet TEW-632BRP Version 1.0 and Version 1.1, AR9102
- TRENDnet TEW-652BRP, AR9102
- D-Link DIR-615 revision C1, AR9102
- Planex MZK-W300NH, AR9102
- Planex MZK-W04NU, AR9103
- Netgear WNR2000, AR9103
- Netgear WN802T version 2 (WN802Tv2)
- TP-Link TL-WR941N, AR9103
- TP-Link TL-WR941ND, AR9103
- Mercury MWR300T+, AR9103
- Zyxel NBG-420N, AR9102
- Zyxel NBG-460N, AR9103
- Zyxel X550N, AR9103
- Zyxel X550NH, AR9103
- Cameo Communications WLN2206
- Linksys WAP-4410N
- Unex RNRA-83
- Unex RNEA-81
- Atlantiland A02-RB-W300N
Products in the retail market containing Atheros 11n solutions
Acer
<AR9281/XB91, 1x2 SB>
- Aspire 6530
- Aspire 4530
Apple
<AR5416>
MacBook 2.1
MacBookPro 2.1
MacBookPro 3.1
Asus
<AR9281/XB91, 1x2 SB>
- Eee PC S101
Belkin
<AR5416+AR2133>
- N1 Wireless Notebook Card
D-Link
<AR5416+AR2133>
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
Fujitsu
<AR5418+AR5133/XB72 2x3 DB>
- FMV-BIBLO LOOX T70WN
- FMV-BIBLO LOOX T70XN
- FMV-BIBLO LOOX R70YN
- FMV-BIBLO LOOX R/A70
- FMV-BIBLO NX95X/D
- FMV-BIBLO NX95Y/D
- FMV-BIBLO NX/A90N
- FMV-BIBLO NF75XN/D
- FMV-BIBLO NF75XN
- FMV-BIBLO NF75YN/D
- FMV-BIBLO NF75YN
- FMV-BIBLO NF/A75ND
- FMV-BIBLO NF/A70N
- FMV-BIBLO MG75X/V
- FMV-BIBLO MG75XN
- FMV-BIBLO MG90Y/V
- FMV-BIBLO MG90YN
- FMV-BIBLO MG90Y/V
- FMV-BIBLO MG/A75
<AR9281/HB91, 1x2 SB>
- FM BIBLO NF/B75
- FM BIBLO LOOX R/B50
LifeBook A1110
<AR9280/HB92, 2x2 DB>
- FM BIBLO MG/B75
- FM BIBLO LOOX U/B59
Fujitsu Siemens
<AR9281/XB91, 1x2 SB>
- Amilo Pa3515
- Amilo Pa3553
- Amilo Si3655
- Amilo Xi3450
- Amilo Xi3550
- Amilo Xi3585
<AR9280/XB92, 2x2 DB>
- Amilo Sa3650
- Amilo Xa3530
HP
<AR9280/HB92, 2x2 DB>
- HP Pavilion dv5
- Compaq Presario CQ50
- HP G50
- Compaq Presario CQ70
- HP G70
- HP Pavilion dv7
Lenovo
<AR5418+AR5133/XB72, 2x3 DB>
- T60
- X60
- X61
- T61
- R60
- R61
Linksys
<AR5416+AR2133>
- WPC300Nv2
- WMP300Nv2
- WPC100N
- WMP110N
NEC
<AR5416+AR5133/CB72, 2x3 DB>
- WL300NC
<AR9223/CB91 2x2 SB>
- WL300NC-G
<AR5418+AR5133/XB72, 2x3 DB>
- Lavie C LC950/MG
- Valuestar W VW790/MG
Netgear
<AR5416+AR2133>
- WNHDE111 Video Bridge
- WN711, Wireless-N eXpresscard adapter
SONY
<AR9281/HB91, 1x2 SB>
- Type R
- Type L
- Type S
Toshiba
<AR5418+AR5133/XB72, 2x3 DB>
- Sattelite A305D-S6831
- Sattelite M305-S4835
- Qosmio G55-Q801
- Qosmio G55-Q802
- Satellite K30 226E/253E
- Satellite T40 T40210E/5W
- Satellite T40 T40213C/5W
- Dynabook/Qosmio FX77GW/79GW/WXW
- Dynabook/Qosmio FXW/75GW
- Dynabook/Qosmio G50W/95GW
- Dynabook/Qosmio F50W/85GW
- Dynabook/Satellite PXW/57FW
<AR9281/XB91, 1x2 SB>
- Dynabook AX/54G
- Dynabook AX/53G
- Dynabook AX/53GBL
- Dynabook AX/53GPK
- Dynabook AX/52G
- Dynabook TX/67G
- Dynabook TX/66G
- Dynabook TX/66GBL
- Dynabook TX/66GPK
- Dynabook TX/65G
- Dynabook CX/48G
- Dynabook CX/45G
- Dynabook CX/47G
- Dynebook Qosmio FX/77G
- Dynebook Qosmio GX/79G
- Qosmio F50/88G
- Qosmio F50/86G
- Qosmio F40/86G
- Qosmio G50/98G
- Qosmio G50/97G
- Qosmio F50/F55-Q502
- Qosmio F50/F55-Q503
- Satelite A-300/A305-S6864**
Working
Station Mode
AP Mode
IBSS Mode
AHB and PCI bus
Other supported features
- LED
- RFKILL ( RFKILL subsystem has to be enabled in the kernel )
TODO
Things on our TODO list.
Being worked on
- AP - hostapd now working
- 802.11h support (Initial patches for CSA and Power Constraint have been merged)
- Rate Control cleanup ( RC should be easily swappable with other algorithms, minstrel, for example )
- Buffer management for TX.
- Multiple Interface support.
Performance tuning, on MIPS routers currency CPU usage (softirq) is much higher than older MadWifi driver
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.
- Cleanup ath_hal and ath_hal_5416.
- Review locking.
Minor
- Review inline usage.
- Kerneldoc usage.
In the long run
- WDS - Already part of mac80211, probably can be added after AP
- Power management – needs work and integration on mac80211/cfg80211, see Johanne's e-mails
A little history on ath9k
When it went in
ath9k was announced to have been merged into Linux-2.6.27-rc3 by Linus on Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:33:16 -0700 (PDT), and consisted of 58.8% of the entire rc3 patch.
Early distributions which picked it up
OpenWrt became the first distribution to pick up ath9k and contribute to it.
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.
Distribution bugs
Invalid
Most common known issues
Minimal kernel requirements
You want at least these kernels to use ath9k:
>= 2.6.27.8
>= 2.6.28.1
Ubuntu users
Ubuntu users will want to upgrade to at least 2.6.27-11
Ubuntu kernel version |
Upstream kernel base |
Known issues |
2.6.27-9 |
2.6.27.2 |
DMA issues |
2.6.27-10 |
2.6.27.7 |
DMA issues |
2.6.27-11 |
2.6.27.10 |
None |
2.6.27.12 |
2.6.27.11 |
None |
If you are not seeing linux-image-2.6.27-11-generic in your package search please be sure to add the -proposed source to your apt sources. You can do that through the command line adding the following to your /etc/apt/sources.list:
# Ubuntu proposed changes - move to intrepid-updates at leas quarterly deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ intrepid-proposed main restricted deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ intrepid-proposed main restricted
Then do:
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install linux-image-2.6.27-11-generic
DMA issues on 2.6.27
DMA issues were present on first release of 2.6.27, these issues were easily reproducible on MacBook Pros. This issue was fixed on 2.6.27.8.
Loss of connectivity after large file transfer on 2.6.28
This issue was fixed in 2.6.28.1, the issue was caused by the fact that ath9k was configured to ignore beacons and mac80211 expects them, after a large data transfer it is possible the beacons could have been missed and mac80211 detects a timeout of waiting for beacons or receiving data.