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Intersil ISL3877, ISL3880, ISL3886, ISL3887, ISL3890 devices (Prism54)

This page describes how to enable support for WiFi devices based on Prism54 chipsets on Debian systems.

Drivers

Intersil/Conexant Prism54 802.11g wireless LAN chipsets are supported by three native drivers:

All drivers require non-free firmware, which must be installed prior to device operation. Device firmware is not packaged (481234).

{i} Prism 2/2.5/3 802.11b devices are supported by the hostap, orinoco and linux-wlan-ng drivers.

p54pci

This driver is included as a module in Debian kernel images. A specific firmware file - depending on your Linux kernel version - is required to be installed.

  1. Install the wireless-tools package:

    aptitude update && aptitude install wireless-tools
  2. Acquire and install the relevant firmware:

    Linux 2.6.26 (Lenny):

    mkdir /usr/local/lib/firmware
    wget -O /usr/local/lib/firmware/isl3886 http://daemonizer.de/prism54/prism54-fw/fw-softmac/lmac_2.7.0.0.arm

    Linux 2.6.29 and later (Squeeze):

    mkdir /usr/local/lib/firmware
    wget -O /usr/local/lib/firmware/isl3886pci http://daemonizer.de/prism54/prism54-fw/fw-softmac/2.13.12.0.arm
  3. As the driver may already be loaded, reinsert the module to access installed firmware:

    modprobe -r p54pci ; modprobe p54pci
  4. Verify your device has an available interface:

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

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

p54usb

This driver is included as a module in Debian kernel images. A specific firmware file - depending on your Linux kernel version - is required to be installed.

First generation USB devices (ISL3886 with net2280 bridge)

  1. Install the wireless-tools package:

    aptitude update && aptitude install wireless-tools
  2. Acquire and install the relevant firmware:

    Linux 2.6.26 (Lenny):

    mkdir /usr/local/lib/firmware
    wget -O /usr/local/lib/firmware/isl3890usb http://jbnote.free.fr/prism54usb/data/firmwares/p54u_2.5.6.0.arm

    Linux 2.6.29 and later (Squeeze):

    mkdir /usr/local/lib/firmware
    wget -O /usr/local/lib/firmware/isl3886usb http://daemonizer.de/prism54/prism54-fw/fw-usb/2.13.1.0.arm.0 
  3. As the driver may already be loaded, reinsert the module to access installed firmware:

    modprobe -r p54usb ; modprobe p54usb
  4. Verify your device has an available interface:

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

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

Second generation USB devices (ISL3887)

  1. Install the wireless-tools package:

    aptitude update && aptitude install wireless-tools
  2. Acquire and install the relevant firmware:

    Linux 2.6.26 (Lenny):

    mkdir /usr/local/lib/firmware
    wget -O /usr/local/lib/firmware/isl3887usb_bare http://daemonizer.de/prism54/prism54-fw/fw-usb/2.5.8.0.arm

    Linux 2.6.29 and later (Squeeze):

    mkdir /usr/local/lib/firmware
    wget -O /usr/local/lib/firmware/isl3887usb http://daemonizer.de/prism54/prism54-fw/fw-usb/2.13.24.0.lm87.arm
  3. As the driver may already be loaded, reinsert the module to access installed firmware:

    modprobe -r p54usb ; modprobe p54usb
  4. Verify your device has an available interface:

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

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

Supported Devices

p54pci

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

The following list is based on the alias fields of modinfo p54pci in Debian 2.6.26 (2.6.26-25lenny1) kernel images.

p54usb

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

The following list is based on the alias fields of modinfo p54usb in Debian 2.6.26 (2.6.26-25lenny1) kernel images.

See Also


CategoryHardware | CategoryWireless