Marvell 88w8385, 88w8386, 88w8686 devices (libertas)

This page describes how to enable support for WiFi devices based on Marvell Libertas chipsets on Debian systems.

Contents

Drivers

The libertas fullMAC driver is a collection of modules providing support for specific Marvell Technology Group Libertas chipsets:

libertas_cs (supported devices)
- Supports the 88w8385 chipset, used in compact flash and SDIO wireless devices.
- Introduced in Linux 2.6.24.
libertas_sdio (supported devices)
- Supports the 88w8686 chipset, used in SDIO wireless devices.
- Introduced in Linux 2.6.24.
usb8xxx (supported devices)
- Supports the 88w8386 USB chipset, used in the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) XO-1 laptop.
- Introduced in Linux 2.6.22.

Non-free firmware is required for all drivers, which is packaged for Debian as libertas-firmware.

The Libertas 88w8335 (PCI) softMAC chipset is not supported by any driver at this time (see NDISwrapper).

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

# Debian Squeeze/6.0
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian squeeze main contrib non-free

Update the list of available packages and install the libertas-firmware and wireless-tools packages:
```
aptitude update
aptitude install libertas-firmware wireless-tools
```
If not already peformed, connect the device to your system.
The necessary kernel module should be automatically loaded. If necessary, it can be manually loaded via one of the following commands (depending on your device's relevant interface):
```
modprobe libertas_cs
```
or
```
modprobe libertas_sdio
```
or
```
modprobe usb8xxx
```
Verify your device has an available interface:
```
iwconfig
```
Raise the interface to activate the radio, for example:
```
ifconfig wlan0 up
```
Configure your wireless interface as appropriate.

Examine the kernel ring buffer (dmesg(1)) to verify the required firmware files are being loaded by the driver. Lack of firmware is the usual reason for the "SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory" error message.
- Ensure the libertas-firmware package is installed.

Add a "non-free" 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 libertas-firmware and wireless-tools packages:
```
aptitude update
aptitude install libertas-firmware wireless-tools
```
For support of Libertas CF/SDIO and SDIO/GSPI devices, manually acquire and install firmware as described on the libertas Linux Wireless page.
If not already peformed, connect the device to your system.
The necessary kernel module should be automatically loaded. If necessary, it can be manually loaded via one of the following commands (depending on your device's relevant interface):
```
modprobe libertas_cs
```
or
```
modprobe libertas_sdio
```
or
```
modprobe usb8xxx
```
Verify your device has an available interface:
```
iwconfig
```
Raise the interface to activate the radio, for example:
```
ifconfig wlan0 up
```
Configure your wireless interface as appropriate.

Examine the kernel ring buffer (dmesg(1)) to verify the required firmware files are being loaded by the driver. Lack of firmware is the usual reason for the "SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory" error message.
- Ensure the libertas-firmware package is installed.
- For support of Libertas CF/SDIO and SDIO/GSPI devices, manually acquire and install firmware as described on the libertas Linux Wireless page.

The following list is based on the alias fields of modinfo usb8xxx in Debian 2.6.32 (2.6.32-30) kernel images.

USB: 05A3:8388 ARC International Marvell 88W8388 802.11a/b/g WLAN
USB: 1286:2001 Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. 88W8388 802.11a/b/g WLAN