How to install atheros wireless in Micro Core?

[lemming]

I have a board with an Atheros AR2413 wireless card in it.
I am told by the supplier that it uses the ath9k driver.
I am using MicroCore 2.11.6.

How do I install and configure this driver for this card.
All the how-tos refer to TinyCore and talk about installing GUI modules to set up and configure the card. (MicroCore does not have a GUI).

I am running from the CD at present with no flash or HDD storage and have installed wireless-2.6.29.1-tinycore.tcz.

lsmod shows ath5k has loaded but ifconfig only shows loopback and wired networks. I really need ath9k loaded and configured.

Has anyone out there done this or know how to using the command line?

[Juanito]

Is the wireless_tools extension loaded (and see info file for command line instructions)?

What do the last few lines of dmesg show?

[lemming]

I did not install wireless_tools because I thought that it was GUI.

dmesg should be under /var/log/ ? I only have "wlogin" and "wtmp" in /var/log/

 

[Juanito]

No, wireless_tools is command line, but most probably used by some gui as well.

dmesg is also command line, for example:

Code: [Select]

$ dmesg | tail -20
$ dmesg | grep something

[lemming]

last lines of dmesg:
wlan0 (ath5k): not using net_device_ops yet
ath5k phy0:Atheros 2413 chip found (MAC: 0x78,  PHY: 0x45)

Is that enough or should I be looking for some other lines?

(Looks like the ath2413 uses ath5k driver)

[lemming]

Surely there is a 'set procedure' that I can follow to install the card and configure it from the command line?

I am just running from CD at the moment so I don't mind starting from scratch.

The 'set procedure' would also serve as a 'How to guide' for newbies who come along later.  I'm surprised that there is not one already as this would be quite a common procedure. Maybe I'm just a bit slow but there seems to be  quite a few posts under Tiny Core (but based on GUI).

[Juanito]

As per the info file for wireless_tools:

$ sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid "essid"
$ sudo iwconfig wlan0 key restricted 12:34:56:78:9A:BC:DE:F0:12:34:56:78:9A
$ sudo udhcpc -b -i wlan0

This example assumes you are using wep encryption - do you know which encryption scheme you need?

Edit:

See here for a wpa encryption example:

http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php?topic=4394.0

[lemming]

Thanks Juanito

I'm using WEP so I will give it a try.

Even though it is not configured I would have thought that the interface would show up in ifconfig if the drivers were loaded. It doesn't.

By the way, what is the difference between madwifi-hal.tcz and wireless-2.6.29.1-tinycore.tcz when it comes to Atheros cards?

I will try configuring as you said and get back.

[lemming]

Thanks Juanito,

Its works a treat!

Do I just use ifconfig to set a static address for wlan0?

[curaga]

Madwifi is a partial binary blob for the older Atheros cards. All new support is going to ath5/9k, but on supported cards madwifi might be faster, more reliable, more featureful.

[Juanito]

Do I just use ifconfig to set a static address for wlan0?

I never tried - I go about it from the other direction and have the router supply a static address based on the mac address of the device in question.