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Atheros AR9170 devices

This page describes how to enable support for WiFi devices based on the Atheros AR9170 chipset on Debian systems.

ar9170usb is a module for the Atheros AR9170 ("otus") 802.11 draft-n USB wireless LAN chipset. Supported devices are listed at the end of this page.

This driver is included in the mainline Linux kernel since 2.6.30-rc1. It is present in Debian kernel images since 2.6.30.

{i} Atheros 802.11n PCI devices are supported by the ath9k driver.

Installation

Firmware is required to be installed prior to device operation.

Lenny

  1. Install the git-core package:

    $ su
    # aptitude install git-core && exit
  2. Acquire the AR9170 firmware from the linux-firmware GIT tree:

    $ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/dwmw2/linux-firmware.git
  3. Install the firmware:

    $ su
    # cp linux-firmware/ar9170-* /lib/firmware
  4. Add the Debian Backports repository to /etc/apt/sources.list, for example:

    # Backported packages for Debian Lenny
    deb http://www.backports.org/debian lenny-backports main
  5. Update the list of available packages and install the lenny-backports/debian-backports-keyring package:

    # aptitude update
    # aptitude -t lenny-backports install debian-backports-keyring

    As your system does not yet have the GnuPG archive key of the backports.org repository installed, you will be asked to confirm installation of a package from an untrusted repository. Enter Yes when prompted.

  6. Install a 2.6.30 (or later) kernel image appropriate for your system, along with the wireless-tools package. For example:

    # aptitude update
    # aptitude -t lenny-backports install linux-image-2.6.30-bpo.1-$(uname -r | sed 's,.*-,,g') wireless-tools
  7. Restart your system and boot with the newly installed kernel. If not already performed, connect the device to your system.
  8. The necessary kernel module should be automatically loaded. If necessary, it can be manually loaded via:

    $ su
    # modprobe ar9170usb
  9. Verify your device has an available interface:

    # iwconfig
  10. Raise the interface to activate the radio, for example:

    # ifconfig wlan0 up
  11. Configure your wireless interface as appropriate.

Sid

  1. Install the git-core package:

    $ su
    # aptitude install git-core && exit
  2. Acquire the AR9170 firmware from the linux-firmware GIT tree:

    $ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/dwmw2/linux-firmware.git
  3. Install the firmware:

    $ su
    # cp linux-firmware/ar9170-* /lib/firmware
  4. If not already performed, connect the device to your system.
  5. The necessary kernel module should be automatically loaded. If necessary, it can be manually loaded via:

    # modprobe ar9170usb
  6. Verify your device has an available interface:

    # iwconfig
  7. Raise the interface to activate the radio, for example:

    # ifconfig wlan0 up
  8. Configure your wireless interface as appropriate.

Supported Devices

The page HowToIdentifyADevice/USB explains how to identify a USB device.

The following list is based on the alias fields of modinfo ar9170usb in Debian 2.6.30 kernel images.

See Also


CategoryHardware | CategoryWireless