Texas Instruments ACX100/TNETW1100, ACX111/TNETW1130, ACX100USB, TNETW1450 devices
This page describes how to enable support for WiFi devices based on Texas Instruments chipsets on Debian systems.
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acx is a module for Texas Instruments ACX100, ACX111, ACX100USB and TNETW1450 wireless LAN chipsets, developed by the [http://acx100.sourceforge.net/ acx100 project]. Driver source is packaged for Debian as acx100-source.
Non-free firmware is required, which must be acquired and installed for driver operation.
Installation
Firmware
The relevant firmware is required to be present before the acx module is loaded. Some devices may require a particular firmware version or file(s) to be provided/omitted, see [http://acx100.sourceforge.net/wiki/Firmware] for more information.
ACX100
Specific firmware is required for devices with this chipset, refer to the [http://acx100.sourceforge.net/wiki/Firmware acx100 firmware page].
ACX111
To install all version 1.2.1.34 firmware for the ACX111 chipset:
$ su # for i in "" c16 c17 r16 r17 ; do wget -P /lib/firmware http://acx100.erley.org/fw/acx111_1.2.1.34/tiacx111$i ; done
ACX100USB
To install firmware for the ACX111 chipset:
$ su # wget -P /lib/firmware http://acx100.erley.org/fw/acx100_1.0.9-USB/tiacx100usbc0D
TNETW1450
To install firmware for the TNETW1450 chipset:
$ su # wget -P /lib/firmware http://acx100.erley.org/fw/acx111_2.4.0.70-USB/tiacx111usbc1B
Driver
The acx driver is required to be compiled and installed, which can be automated via [:ModuleAssistant:module-assistant].
Etch with 2.6.18 kernel
Using [:DebianLenny:Lenny]? [#lenny Skip to the Lenny section].
Add a "contrib" component to /etc/apt/sources.list, for example:
# Debian Etch/4.0 deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian etch main contrib non-free
Update the list of available packages and install the module-assistant and wireless-tools packages:
aptitude update aptitude install module-assistant wireless-tools
Build and install an acx100-* package within your system:
m-a prepare m-a a-i acx100
- If not already performed, connect the device to your system.
Load the acx module:
modprobe acx
This module will be automatically loaded when your system is restarted and the device is connected.Verify your device has an available interface:
iwconfig
Raise the interface to activate the radio, for example:
ifconfig wlan0 up
[:WiFi/HowToUse:Configure] your wireless interface as appropriate.
See also [#troubleshooting troubleshooting] and [#issues known issues].
Etch with 2.6.24 kernel
etch/acx100-source is unable to compile on the 2.6.24 kernel. You are required to use lenny/acx100-source instead.
Install the debhelper, dpatch, module-assistant and wireless-tools packages:
aptitude update aptitude install debhelper dpatch module-assistant wireless-tools
If etch/acx100-source was previously installed, clear the acx100 module build directory and remove the package:
m-a clean acx100 aptitude purge acx100-source
Manually acquire lenny/acx100-source from [http://packages.debian.org/lenny/all/acx100-source/download]. For example:
wget http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/contrib/a/acx100/acx100-source_20070101-3_all.deb
Install lenny/acx100-source via ["dpkg"]:
dpkg -i /path/to/acx100-source*deb
Build and install an acx100-* package within your system:
m-a prepare m-a a-i acx100
- If not already performed, connect the device to your system.
Load the acx module:
modprobe acx
This module will be automatically loaded when your system is restarted and the device is connected.Verify your device has an available interface:
iwconfig
Raise the interface to activate the radio, for example:
ifconfig wlan0 up
[:WiFi/HowToUse:Configure] your wireless interface as appropriate.
See also [#troubleshooting troubleshooting] and [#issues known issues].
?Anchor(lenny)
Lenny
Add a "contrib" component to /etc/apt/sources.list, for example:
# Debian Lenny/5.0 deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian lenny main contrib non-free
Update the list of available packages and install the module-assistant and wireless-tools packages:
aptitude update aptitude install module-assistant wireless-tools
Build and install an acx100-* package within your system:
m-a prepare m-a a-i acx100
- If not already performed, connect the device to your system.
Load the acx module:
modprobe acx
This module will be automatically loaded when your system is restarted and the device is connected.Verify your device has an available interface:
iwconfig
Raise the interface to activate the radio, for example:
ifconfig wlan0 up
[:WiFi/HowToUse:Configure] your wireless interface as appropriate.
See also [#troubleshooting troubleshooting] and [#issues known issues].
?Anchor(troubleshooting)
Troubleshooting
- Firmware is required to be loaded before a wireless interface is created on your system.
Examine the kernel ring buffer (dmesg) to verify the required firmware files are being loaded by the driver. Firmware not currently available will be stated, for example:
acx: found ACX111-based wireless network card at 0000:09:00.0, irq:11, phymem1:0xE0000000, phymem2:0xE0020000, mem1:0xe0a08000, mem1_size:8192, mem2:0xe0b80000, mem2_size:131072 initial debug setting is 0x000A using IRQ 11 requesting firmware image 'tiacx111c16' acx: firmware image 'tiacx111c16' was not provided. Check your hotplug scripts requesting firmware image 'tiacx111' acx: firmware image 'tiacx111' was not provided. Check your hotplug scripts acx: reset_dev() FAILED
Ensure the required firmware is installed, then re-insert the driver module: modprobe -r acx && modprobe acx
?Anchor(issues)
Known Issues
- ["WPA"] encryption is not currently supported.
The driver versions in etch/acx100-source and lenny/acx100-source do not support the TNETW1450 chipset.
Supported Devices
The page ["HowToIdentifyADevice/PCI"] explains how to identify a PCI device. The page ["HowToIdentifyADevice/USB"] explains how to identify a USB device.
The following list is based on the alias fields of modinfo acx on Lenny.
PCI: 104C:8400 Texas Instruments ACX 100 22Mbps Wireless Interface PCI: 104C:8401 Texas Instruments ACX 100 22Mbps Wireless Interface PCI: 104C:9066 Texas Instruments ACX 111 54Mbps Wireless Interface USB: 0451:60C5 Texas Instruments, Inc. (Device name unknown) USB: 057C:5601 AVM GmbH AVM FRITZ!WLAN Stick USB: 057C:6201 AVM GmbH WLAN USB v1.1 USB: 07B8:B21A D-Link Corp. 802.11g Wireless Adapter USB: 0CDE:0017 Z-Com (Device name unknown) USB: 2001:3B00 D-Link Corp. [hex] AirPlus DWL-120+ Wireless Adapter USB: 2001:3B01 D-Link Corp. [hex] WLAN Boot Device
[http://acx100.sourceforge.net/wiki/Device_list] - supported devices
See Also
[:WiFi/HowToUse:?HowToUse] WiFi adapter
External Links
[http://lisas.de/~andi/acx100/] - Driver homepage
[http://acx100.sourceforge.net/] - Project homepage;
[http://acx100.sourceforge.net/wiki/] - Wiki;
[http://acx100.sourceforge.net/wiki/Firmware] - Firmware page
[http://acx100.sourceforge.net/wiki/Device_list] - Supported devices
[http://acx100.sourceforge.net/wiki/Distribution_list/Debian] - Debian Installation
[irc://irc.freenode.net/#acx100] - Driver ["IRC"] channel
[http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/acx100] - Linux Wireless driver page