This guide is only applicable for server installations of Ubuntu. If you are running a desktop installation of Ubuntu, try WifiDocs/Driver/Madwifi and the MadWifi wiki for more information.
1. Checking For Atheros Chipsets
First, verify that your wireless network adapter requires the madwifi device drivers.
Issue the following command: {{{sudo lspci | grep Atheros }}} If there is any output similar to that below, you should definitely install madwifi. {{{00:0e.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5212 802.11abg NIC (rev 01) }}} If there is no output, try looking through http://madwifi.org/wiki/Compatibility to see if your network adapter is supported.
2. Installation
Navigate to http://madwifi.org/ and download and extract the latest version of the madwifi drivers (0.9.4 at the time of this writing) {{{wget http://internap.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/madwifi/madwifi-0.9.4.tar.gz tar -xvzf madwifi-0.9.4.tar.gz cd madwifi-0.9.4}}}
Download the necessary tools, compile and install the module {{{sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-server make sudo make install}}}
NOTE: If you are plan on using this wireless network adapter in "master" mode (i. e. for the purposes of setting up a wireless router), create the file /etc/modprobe.d/madwifi and add the following to it:
- {{{options ath_pci autocreate=ap
}}}
- This will tell madwifi to set your wireless device (ath0) to master mode.
Finally, load the module {{{sudo modprobe ath_pci }}}