[ath9k-devel] Ath9k - Newbie question

[Pat Erley <pat-lkml@erley.org>]

On 04/10/10 02:54, Arun Govindan wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I'm trying to bring up ath9k in AP mode with DWA-556 PCI-x card. I see
> three options to compile and test ath9k:
> 
> 1. Download the kernel source code and build. But this means that I need
> to rebuild kernel every time make changes.
> 
> 2. compat-wireless
> 
> 3. wireless-testing
> 
> My questions is that whether compat-wireless and wireless-testing are
> two different versions or the same? Which one is better?
> 
> Also please point me to documents on how to setup Ath9k in AP mode.
> 
> Thanks,
> Arun
> 

Arun,

compat-wireless is just a way to use the wireless drivers from wireless-next (I believe) with older kernels, and is generally the 'best' way to get the drivers, especially if you choose a snapshot from a stable kernel release.  The drivers that ship with each kernel should 'just work' always, and then you can choose to stick with those drivers, if they work for you, or update to more recent ones to gain bug fixes, and new features.  Many (most?) distros provide these drivers as backports, so you might look into that option, depending on your particular needs and what distro you run.

As far as running ath9k in master mode:

http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Documentation/hostapd

That should be all you need.  I've run ath9k as an AP for a long time now (since before that page was authored), and when I was first setting it up, that page would have been insanely valuable to me.  

Pat Erley