How to install Ath5 driver?

How to install Ath5 driver?

[rajith pr]

Hi all,

Iam a wireless LAN developer over 4 Yrs of experience. Have worked on
wireless LAN AP, Routers and switches.
Have a passion to work on linux but never had the chance to do so. So,
i though this would be the rite time to start working on it. WLAN
being something i have expertise in i would like to do some feature
development on madwifi drivers.

After reading the developer notes from wiki i have been able to
download the sources. Now i want to build the sources, install the
driver and try it on wireless card.

Can anyone guide me on this.

Thanks in Advance,

Regards,
Rajith.

Re: How to install Ath5 driver?

[Pavel Roskin]

On Fri, 2008-12-26 at 02:25 +0700, rajith pr wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> Iam a wireless LAN developer over 4 Yrs of experience. Have worked on
> wireless LAN AP, Routers and switches.
> Have a passion to work on linux but never had the chance to do so. So,
> i though this would be the rite time to start working on it. WLAN
> being something i have expertise in i would like to do some feature
> development on madwifi drivers.

MadWifi is not the same thing as ath5k.  If you want to work on MadWifi,
please look at https://madwifi-project.org/ and write to
madwifi-devel@lists.sourceforge.net if you have any questions.

> After reading the developer notes from wiki i have been able to
> download the sources. Now i want to build the sources, install the
> driver and try it on wireless card.

Please be specific want you read, what you downloaded (including the
version) and what kind of problems you have with the code.

> Can anyone guide me on this.

It would be better if you follow the existing documentation and ask only
about thing that are unclear or about problems that are not described in
the documentation.  Asking for guidance is an "open-ended question".
More details here:

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#explicit

-- 
Regards,
Pavel Roskin

Re: How to install Ath5 driver?

[rajith pr]

Hi Pavel,

I intend to work on the ath5k driver only. Iam actually stuck with the
Enabling ath5k section of
http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/ath5k. May be a trivial
think but i dont have an option but ask :-)

Enabling ath5k section talks about some configuration but i dont know
where to configure these. Should i run some configuration tool and
follow the steps ??

Thanks in advance,

Regards,
Rajith.

On Fri, Dec 26, 2008 at 4:18 AM, Pavel Roskin <proski@gnu.org> wrote:
> On Fri, 2008-12-26 at 02:25 +0700, rajith pr wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Iam a wireless LAN developer over 4 Yrs of experience. Have worked on
>> wireless LAN AP, Routers and switches.
>> Have a passion to work on linux but never had the chance to do so. So,
>> i though this would be the rite time to start working on it. WLAN
>> being something i have expertise in i would like to do some feature
>> development on madwifi drivers.
>
> MadWifi is not the same thing as ath5k.  If you want to work on MadWifi,
> please look at https://madwifi-project.org/ and write to
> madwifi-devel@lists.sourceforge.net if you have any questions.
>
>> After reading the developer notes from wiki i have been able to
>> download the sources. Now i want to build the sources, install the
>> driver and try it on wireless card.
>
> Please be specific want you read, what you downloaded (including the
> version) and what kind of problems you have with the code.
>
>> Can anyone guide me on this.
>
> It would be better if you follow the existing documentation and ask only
> about thing that are unclear or about problems that are not described in
> the documentation.  Asking for guidance is an "open-ended question".
> More details here:
>
> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#explicit
>
> --
> Regards,
> Pavel Roskin
>

Re: How to install Ath5 driver?

[Pavel Roskin]

On Sat, 2008-12-27 at 00:21 +0530, rajith pr wrote:
> Hi Pavel,
> 
> I intend to work on the ath5k driver only. Iam actually stuck with the
> Enabling ath5k section of
> http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/ath5k. May be a trivial
> think but i dont have an option but ask :-)
> 
> Enabling ath5k section talks about some configuration but i dont know
> where to configure these. Should i run some configuration tool and
> follow the steps ??

I've edited that text slightly to mention kernel configuration in the
beginning.  It's mentioned later in the text.

The kernel configuration is described in the README file in the Linux
sources.  There are several ways to configure the kernel, such as "make
menuconfig" and "make xconfig", but they all edit the ".config" file in
the directory where the kernel is going to be compiled.

In my opinion, "make menuconfig" is more intuitive that the X based
configuration tools.

To enable ath5k, you need "CONFIG_ATH5K=m" or "CONFIG_ATH5K=y" to appear
in .config along with the required dependencies of the driver.  "m" is
for compiling ath5k as a module, "y" is for compiling into the kernel.
I think compiling as module is more convenient in most cases.

I don't know any automatic way to enable a particular option and its
dependencies, so you'll need to go through the configuration and enable
the dependencies manually.  The link you referred to tells you what
options to enable.

Actually, that page is becoming obsolete.  SoftMAC is gone from the
current git repository.  ath5k has other dependencies, such as PCI.  But
I was reluctant to edit that text, as some users may be compiling older
kernel, where SoftMAC is present.  As for PCI and some other
dependencies, they are most likely already enabled, so mentioning them
could confuse some users.

-- 
Regards,
Pavel Roskin

Re: How to install Ath5 driver?

[rajith pr]

Hi Pavel,

Thanks for the explanation. Now, i understand enabling the Ath5 driver
requires installation of a configured kernel and installation of
driver.

I have been able to build both the configured kernel and the drivers.
But when i boot the kernel i get a run time errr: Coudnt open
directory /lib/modules/2.6.28-rc9-wl but i have confirmed the the
directory exists.

google search is not giving me any result to fix the issue on ubuntu.
I have pasted my menu.lst for my grub loader.  My Ubuntu 8.10, kernel
2.6 is my new kernel.

title           Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic
root            ()/ubuntu/disks
kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic
root=UUID=F8B8EED2B8EE8E86 loop=/ubuntu/disks/root.disk ro
ROOTFLAGS=syncio quiet splash
initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic

title           Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic (recovery mode)
root            ()/ubuntu/disks
kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic
root=UUID=F8B8EED2B8EE8E86 loop=/ubuntu/disks/root.disk ro
ROOTFLAGS=syncio  single
initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic

title           Ubuntu 8.10, memtest86+
root            ()/ubuntu/disks
kernel          /boot/memtest86+.bin

title           My Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6
root            ()/ubuntu/disks
kernel          /boot/mylinux root=UUID=F8B8EED2B8EE8E86
loop=/ubuntu/disks/root.disk ro ROOTFLAGS=syncio quiet splash
initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic

Any idea wht is the issue or pointers to resolve this?

Thanks,
Rajith

On Sat, Dec 27, 2008 at 2:38 PM, Pavel Roskin <proski@gnu.org> wrote:
> On Sat, 2008-12-27 at 00:21 +0530, rajith pr wrote:
>> Hi Pavel,
>>
>> I intend to work on the ath5k driver only. Iam actually stuck with the
>> Enabling ath5k section of
>> http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/ath5k. May be a trivial
>> think but i dont have an option but ask :-)
>>
>> Enabling ath5k section talks about some configuration but i dont know
>> where to configure these. Should i run some configuration tool and
>> follow the steps ??
>
> I've edited that text slightly to mention kernel configuration in the
> beginning.  It's mentioned later in the text.
>
> The kernel configuration is described in the README file in the Linux
> sources.  There are several ways to configure the kernel, such as "make
> menuconfig" and "make xconfig", but they all edit the ".config" file in
> the directory where the kernel is going to be compiled.
>
> In my opinion, "make menuconfig" is more intuitive that the X based
> configuration tools.
>
> To enable ath5k, you need "CONFIG_ATH5K=m" or "CONFIG_ATH5K=y" to appear
> in .config along with the required dependencies of the driver.  "m" is
> for compiling ath5k as a module, "y" is for compiling into the kernel.
> I think compiling as module is more convenient in most cases.
>
> I don't know any automatic way to enable a particular option and its
> dependencies, so you'll need to go through the configuration and enable
> the dependencies manually.  The link you referred to tells you what
> options to enable.
>
> Actually, that page is becoming obsolete.  SoftMAC is gone from the
> current git repository.  ath5k has other dependencies, such as PCI.  But
> I was reluctant to edit that text, as some users may be compiling older
> kernel, where SoftMAC is present.  As for PCI and some other
> dependencies, they are most likely already enabled, so mentioning them
> could confuse some users.
>
> --
> Regards,
> Pavel Roskin
>

Re: How to install Ath5 driver?

[rajith pr]

Hi all,

The problem is solved, the issue was with the initrd. I think 2.6.27
cannot init 2.6.28. After creating a 2.6.28 initrd using mkinitramfs
command, iam able to
boot my new kernel and modprobe ath5k.

Thanks,
Rajith.

On Sun, Dec 28, 2008 at 10:54 PM, rajith pr <rajithpr@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Pavel,
>
> Thanks for the explanation. Now, i understand enabling the Ath5 driver
> requires installation of a configured kernel and installation of
> driver.
>
> I have been able to build both the configured kernel and the drivers.
> But when i boot the kernel i get a run time errr: Coudnt open
> directory /lib/modules/2.6.28-rc9-wl but i have confirmed the the
> directory exists.
>
> google search is not giving me any result to fix the issue on ubuntu.
> I have pasted my menu.lst for my grub loader.  My Ubuntu 8.10, kernel
> 2.6 is my new kernel.
>
> title           Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic
> root            ()/ubuntu/disks
> kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic
> root=UUID=F8B8EED2B8EE8E86 loop=/ubuntu/disks/root.disk ro
> ROOTFLAGS=syncio quiet splash
> initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic
>
> title           Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-7-generic (recovery mode)
> root            ()/ubuntu/disks
> kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic
> root=UUID=F8B8EED2B8EE8E86 loop=/ubuntu/disks/root.disk ro
> ROOTFLAGS=syncio  single
> initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic
>
> title           Ubuntu 8.10, memtest86+
> root            ()/ubuntu/disks
> kernel          /boot/memtest86+.bin
>
> title           My Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6
> root            ()/ubuntu/disks
> kernel          /boot/mylinux root=UUID=F8B8EED2B8EE8E86
> loop=/ubuntu/disks/root.disk ro ROOTFLAGS=syncio quiet splash
> initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-7-generic
>
> Any idea wht is the issue or pointers to resolve this?
>
> Thanks,
> Rajith
>
> On Sat, Dec 27, 2008 at 2:38 PM, Pavel Roskin <proski@gnu.org> wrote:
>> On Sat, 2008-12-27 at 00:21 +0530, rajith pr wrote:
>>> Hi Pavel,
>>>
>>> I intend to work on the ath5k driver only. Iam actually stuck with the
>>> Enabling ath5k section of
>>> http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/ath5k. May be a trivial
>>> think but i dont have an option but ask :-)
>>>
>>> Enabling ath5k section talks about some configuration but i dont know
>>> where to configure these. Should i run some configuration tool and
>>> follow the steps ??
>>
>> I've edited that text slightly to mention kernel configuration in the
>> beginning.  It's mentioned later in the text.
>>
>> The kernel configuration is described in the README file in the Linux
>> sources.  There are several ways to configure the kernel, such as "make
>> menuconfig" and "make xconfig", but they all edit the ".config" file in
>> the directory where the kernel is going to be compiled.
>>
>> In my opinion, "make menuconfig" is more intuitive that the X based
>> configuration tools.
>>
>> To enable ath5k, you need "CONFIG_ATH5K=m" or "CONFIG_ATH5K=y" to appear
>> in .config along with the required dependencies of the driver.  "m" is
>> for compiling ath5k as a module, "y" is for compiling into the kernel.
>> I think compiling as module is more convenient in most cases.
>>
>> I don't know any automatic way to enable a particular option and its
>> dependencies, so you'll need to go through the configuration and enable
>> the dependencies manually.  The link you referred to tells you what
>> options to enable.
>>
>> Actually, that page is becoming obsolete.  SoftMAC is gone from the
>> current git repository.  ath5k has other dependencies, such as PCI.  But
>> I was reluctant to edit that text, as some users may be compiling older
>> kernel, where SoftMAC is present.  As for PCI and some other
>> dependencies, they are most likely already enabled, so mentioning them
>> could confuse some users.
>>
>> --
>> Regards,
>> Pavel Roskin
>>
>