Since the madwifi modules are present in the eeepc.debian.net [:DebianEeePC/Repository:repository], wifi works without any modification in the EeePC 701. However, you can install a more recent module and improve your wifi performance. The two ways explained below use unstable drivers. You must be aware that it can be buggy.

FixMe: please be specific about what these alleged performance benefits are and/or what problems installing these drivers solve. We should not recommend development drivers to users without really compelling reasons.

Atheros and ath5k

This [:Free:free] (see [:DebianEeePC/FreeYourEee]) module works now in the Linux kernel 2.6-27. As this version is still under development, you may have bugs with it. Use the trunk snapshot repository mentioned [:DebianKernel:here] to upgrade your kernel.

If you want ath5k to work on 2.6.26, build your own from the latest snapshot from [http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/ath5k Linux Wireless website].

  1. Install the build-essential and linux-headers-2.6-686 (or linux-headers-2.6-486 if you have a 486 kernel) packages (see [:DevelopmentPage]).

  2. Download the latest [http://wireless.kernel.org/download/compat-wireless-2.6/compat-wireless-old.tar.bz2 compat-wireless-old.tar.bz2] source and unpack it.

  3. Go to its unpacked directory (in a terminal) and type make.

  4. When it is finished, type (as [:Root:root]) make install.

  5. The latest ath5k modules are now installed.

In order to make it work, either remove the madwifi-tools package, which blacklists ath5k, or else edit /etc/modprobe.d/madwifi to comment out the blacklist entry. If you decide to switch back to madwifi, don't forget to uncomment the entry again.

FixMe: We should not be telling users to edit scripts. If eeepc-acpi-scripts needs a patch to make this work, please verify the bug still exists in the latest version, file a bug and link to the bug here.

To make the Fn-F2 key work, first make sure that you switched off the wifi and that the ath_pci module is not loaded (you can unload it by typing, as root, modprobe -r ath_pci). Edit /usr/share/eeepc-acpi-scripts/functions.sh and replace

with

You may have to modify /etc/network/interfaces in order to use wlan0 instead of ath0.

FixMe: pciehp always works so far as I know, provided you use the latest eeepc-acpi-scripts which adds the appropriate pciehp options in /etc/modprobe.d/eeepc (version 1.0.9 or greater). If there is a bug, please verify it still exists in the latest version, file the bug and link to it here.

Now, just use Fn+F2. It should work. As the pciehp is still buggy, toggling on wifi may sometimes not work. Just toggle off and on again and it will.

Keep pciehp in /etc/modules, as it's needed to toggle wifi.

Atheros and madwifi-hal

FixMe: Won't following the instructions below overwrite files in the existing madwifi driver package that most people will already have installed? Please include instructions to ensure that this won't happen and also prepare the user for how to remove the driver so that they can easily switch back, should problems in the new driver arise.

[http://madwifi.org] There is a madwifi-hal development version that you can install:

  1. Install the build-essential and linux-headers-2.6-686 (or linux-headers-2.6-486 if you have a 486 kernel) packages (see [:DevelopmentPage]).

  2. Download the latest [http://snapshots.madwifi.org/madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current.tar.gz madwifi-hal] or [http://snapshots.madwifi.org/madwifi-hal-testing-current.tar.gz madwifi-hal-testing] and unpack it.

  3. Go to its unpacked directory (in a terminal) and type make.

  4. When it is finished, type (as [:Root:root]) make install.

  5. The latest madwifi modules are now installed.

Do not forget to install the madwifi-tools package or to blacklist the ath5k module.


CategoryWireless