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ZyDAS ZD1201 devices

This page describes how to enable support for WiFi devices based on the ZyDAS ZD1201 chipset on Debian systems.

zd1201 is a module for the ZyDAS ZD1201 USB 802.11b wireless LAN chipset. This is not to be confused with the zd1211rw module which supports the ZD1211 and ZD1211B 802.11g chipsets

The driver is included in the mainline Linux kernel since version 2.6.12 and is present in Debian kernel images. Non-free firmware is required.

Installation

Firmware must be acquired and installed prior to device operation.

  1. Acquire the firmware tarball:

    $ wget 'http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/linux-lc100020/zd1201-0.14-fw.tar.gz?download'
  2. Extract and place the firmware files in /usr/local/lib/firmware:

    $ tar xvf zd1201-0.14-fw.tar.gz
    $ su
    # mkdir /usr/local/lib/firmware
    # mv zd1201-0.14-fw/*fw /usr/local/lib/firmware
  3. Install the wireless-tools package:

    # aptitude update
    # aptitude install wireless-tools
  4. Physically connect the device to your system.
  5. The necessary kernel module should be automatically loaded. If necessary, it can be manually loaded via:

    # modprobe zd1201
  6. Verify your device has an available interface:

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

    # ifconfig eth1 up
  8. Configure your wireless interface as appropriate.

Troubleshooting

Known Issues

Other Notes

The zd1201 driver supports master mode operation, for use as a basic access point. This requires access point firmware (zd1201-ap.fw) to be downloaded to the device, instead of the default station firmware.

Provide ap=1 as a option to the zd1201 module:

echo options zd1201 ap=1 >> /etc/modprobe.d/local.conf

Physically disconnect your ZD1201-based device and remove the zd1201 driver:

modprobe -r zd1201

Connect the device to your system. The module and access point firmware will be loaded, your device will now operate in master mode.

Supported Devices

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

The following list is based on the alias fields of modinfo zd1201 in Debian 2.6.32 (2.6.32-30) kernel images.

Unsupported

See Also


CategoryHardware | CategoryWireless