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Atheros AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, AR5213, AR5414, AR2413, AR242x wireless devices (ath5k)

This page describes how to enable support for Atheros AR5xxx wireless chipsets using the ath5k driver on Debian systems.

ath5k is a module for Atheros AR5xxx wireless LAN chipsets.

Unlike the MadWifi driver, ath5k does not require a binary HAL (hardware abstraction layer) for its use. No firmware is required to be loaded from userspace. It is a completely free and open-source driver. Supported devices are listed at the end of this page.

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

Missing Features

As stated1 on the Linux Wireless ath5k driver page:

If required, the above features are available in the MadWifi driver.

Known Issues

The ath5k driver is in a constant state of development, with varying levels of support for chipsets depending on their age.

AR242x chipset

Found in the Acer eMachines D620 laptop, among others. This suffers from a "noise floor calibration timeout" bug, which means the wireless may not function after installing Lenny. The bug is fixed since kernel 2.6.28.1.

Lenny users: install a backported kernel 2.6.29 (or later) image package from Debian Backports.

Installation

ath5k is included in the mainline Linux kernel since 2.6.25. It is present in Debian kernel images since 2.6.24.

Switching from MadWifi to ath5k

The following section can be skipped if MadWifi was not previously used.

Configuration

  1. Install the wireless-tools package:

    aptitude update
    aptitude install wireless-tools
  2. The necessary kernel module should be automatically loaded. If necessary, it can be manually loaded via:

    modprobe ath5k
  3. Verify your device has an available interface:

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

    ifconfig wlan0 up
  5. Configure your wireless interface as appropriate.

Supported Devices

Devices containing Atheros AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, AR5213, AR5414, AR2413 or AR242x chipsets are supported by ath5k.

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

The following list is based on the alias fields of modinfo ath5k on Lenny.

See Also


CategoryHardware


ToDo: Move ath5k-specific content from DebianEeePC/HowTo/UseUpstreamAtherosModules to here?