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Atmel at76c506 devices

This page describes how to enable support for WiFi devices based on the Atmel at76c506 PCI chipset on Debian systems.

atmel_pci is a module for the Atmel at76c506 PCI 802.11b wireless LAN chipset. For assistance with Atmel PCMCIA or USB wireless devices, see the atmel_cs and at76_usb pages respectively.

Non-free firmware is required, which can be provided by installing the atmel-firmware package.

Installation

The atmel_pci driver is included in the mainline kernel since 2.6.5. It is included as a module in Debian kernel images.

Firmware is required to be installed prior to driver operation:

  1. Add a "non-free" component to /etc/apt/sources.list for your Debian version, for example:

    # Debian Lenny/5.0
    deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian lenny main contrib non-free

    or

    # Debian Etch/4.0
    deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian etch main contrib non-free
  2. Update the list of available packages and install the atmel-firmware and wireless-tools packages:

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

    modprobe atmel_pci
  4. Verify your device has an available interface:

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

    ifconfig eth1 up
  6. Configure your wireless interface as appropriate.

Troubleshooting

  • Examine the kernel ring buffer (dmesg) to verify the required firmware file is being loaded by the driver. Lack of firmware is the usual reason for the "SIOCSIFFLAGS: Resource temporarily unavailable" error message.

Supported Devices

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

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

  • PCI: 1114:0506 Atmel Corporation at76c506 802.11b Wireless Network Adaptor

Other Notes

The dependent atmel module accepts a firmware parameter, which can be used to force the loading of a specific firmware file if necessary.

See Also

  • atmel_cs - Help page for Atmel PCMCIA wireless devices

  • at76_usb - Help page for Atmel USB wireless devices

  • HowToUse WiFi adapter


CategoryHardware