1. Driver Information

  • Driver Name: prism2_usb / Prism II
  • Module Name: prism2_usb

For all releases prior to Ubuntu 8.04, install the linux-wlan-ng package to use this driver! The package is included on all Ubuntu CDs.

2. Support Channels

See also WifiDocs/Device/DWL-122 and WifiDocs/Device/NetgearMA111 for help on manual configuration.

The prism2_* drivers for the Prism II chipset (1) are developed by the linux-wlan (tm) Project. Unfortunately they are not actively developed (2) and have not been merged into the main kernel tree. Only a few Linux Wireless Extensions are supported, but recent versions can be used with for instance NetworkManager. The Ubuntu kernel includes the prism2_* kernel modules from the linux-wlan project. The linux-wlan-ng package in Ubuntu ships the linux-wlan-ng user space utilities/scripts that integrates with the ifupdown utilities. This works fine with the Gnome network configuration network-admin (3) as well. Since Ubuntu 8.04, the driver works out of the box without installing any packages and the linux-wlan-ng package is only needed if you use the firmware RAM loading for "updating" firmware on-the-fly.

(1) For more information on the Prism II cards, see http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux/Linux.Wireless.drivers.802.11b.html#Prism2

(2) http://lists.linux-wlan.com/pipermail/linux-wlan-announce/2005-August/000095.html

(3) For related bugs, see the linux-wlan-ng package in launchpad.

2.1. Supported devices

The following USB devices are handled by the prism2_usb driver. Use lsusb to find your USB device's Vendor and Product ID. (Info taken from the prism2_usb.c source file)

Vendor

Product

Name

03f3

0020

Adaptec AWN-8020 USB WLAN Adapter

0411

0016

Melco WLI-USB-S11 11Mbps WLAN Adapter

0411

0027

Melco WLI-USB-KS11G 11Mbps WLAN Adapter

0411

0044

Melco WLI-USB-KB11 11Mbps WLAN Adapter

045e

006e

Microsoft MN510 Wireless USB Adapter

049f

0033

Compaq/Intel W100 PRO/Wireless 11Mbps multiport WLAN Adapter

04bb

0922

IOData AirPort WN-B11/USBS

04f1

3009

JVC MP-XP7250 Builtin USB WLAN Adapter

0543

0f01

ViewSonic Airsync USB Adapter 11Mbps (Prism2.5)

066b

2212

Linksys WUSB11v2.5 11Mbps WLAN USB Adapter

066b

2213

Linksys WUSB12v1.1 11Mbps WLAN USB Adapter

067c

1022

Siemens SpeedStream 1022 11Mbps WLAN USB Adapter

07aa

0012

Corega Wireless LAN USB Stick-11

083a

3503

T-Sinus 111 USB WLAN Adapter

0846

4110

NetGear MA111

08de

7a01

PRISM25 IEEE 802.11 Mini USB Adapter

0967

0204

Acer Warplink USB Adapter

09aa

3642

Prism2.x 11Mbps WLAN USB Adapter

0ace

1201

ZyDAS ZD1201 Wireless USB Adapter

0b3b

1601

ALLNET 0193 11Mbps WLAN USB Adapter

0b3b

1602

ZyXEL ZyAIR B200 Wireless USB Adapter

0baf

00eb

USRobotics USR1120 Wireless USB Adapter

0bb2

0302

Ambit Microsystems Corp.

0cde

0002

Z-Com 725/726 Prism2.5 USB/USB Integrated

0cde

0005

Z-Com Xl735 Wireless 802.11b USB Adapter

0d8e

7a01

PRISM25 IEEE 802.11 Mini USB Adapter

124a

168b

Airvast PRISM3 WLAN USB Adapter

124a

4017

Pheenet WL-503IA 802.11b USB Adapter

1668

0408

Actiontec Prism2.5 11Mbps WLAN USB Adapter

1668

0421

Actiontec Prism2.5 11Mbps WLAN USB Adapter

1668

6106

ROPEX FreeLan 802.11b USB Adapter

1915

2236

Linksys WUSB11v3.0 11Mbps WLAN USB Adapter

2001

3700

DWL-122 Wireless USB Adapter

2001

3702

DWL-120 Rev F Wireless USB Adapter

2821

3300

ASUS-WL140 Wireless USB Adapter

2821

3300

Hawking HighDB USB Adapter

2c02

14ea

Planex GW-US11H WLAN USB Adapter

413c

8100

Dell TrueMobile 1180 Wireless USB Adapter

50c2

4013

Averatec USB WLAN Adapter

8086

1111

Intel PRO/Wireless 2011B LAN USB Adapter

9016

182d

Sitecom WL-022 802.11b USB Adapter

2.2. WEP info

You will need stationary firmware version 1.7.0 or newer in order to get WEP to work. Check the output from dmesg (the sta f/w line) to see what firmware version you have on your card, and see the "Updating firmware" section below if applicable.

Since Ubuntu 7.04 you can enter the hex WEP key pretty much how you like, but for older versions, read on:

Whether you use network-admin or manually edit /etc/network/interfaces, make sure you enter the WEP key as xx:xx:xx:xx:xx, that is, with colons between every two hex digits. Note that using network-admin to enter the WEP key does not work out-of-the-box in Ubuntu 6.06. See bug #37451 for a patch for this. Without the patch, you'll have to add these lines to your wlan0 configuration in /etc/network/interfaces:

wireless_mode managed
wireless_enc on
wlan_ng_key0 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx

Then unplug your device and reinsert again, and the network should come up by itself.

2.3. WPA info

No support in this driver

2.4. Alternative drivers

Note that non-USB Prism II/III cards are supported by the hostap driver, which also supports WPA. For the moment the hostap driver does not support USB cards (1).

With the help of Ndiswrapper, you can use a Windows driver for your card (2). In that case, you should blacklist the prism2_usb module.

(1) http://lists.shmoo.com/pipermail/hostap/2006-January/012401.html

(2) http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=195553&highlight=prism2_usb

3. Updating firmware

It is possible to upload a newer firmware to the device's RAM which will then be used instead of the old firmware in its ROM. The firmware license does not allow Ubuntu to include the firmware files. However, the package linux-wlan-ng-firmware contains a script linux-wlan-ng-build-firmware-deb which can download the firmware from the internet and put them into a new, local package called linux-wlan-ng-firmware-files. You can then install this package.

sudo apt-get install debhelper fakeroot make
sudo apt-get install linux-wlan-ng-firmware
linux-wlan-ng-build-firmware-deb
sudo dpkg -i linux-wlan-ng-firmware-files*.deb

Unfortunately, the automatic uploading of firmware at device initialization is broken in Ubuntu 6.06, see bug #29706 thesis writing fat burner for patches.

4. Compile Newer Driver

The current development version (upstream) can be retrieved from the linux-wlan-ng project's subversion repository (make sure you have the subversion package installed):

svn co svn://svn.shaftnet.org/linux-wlan-ng/trunk linux-wlan-ng

You can then compile the kernel driver modules. The upstream scripts have to be modified in able to work with Ubuntu 6.06, so you are probably better off using scripts from the Ubuntu packages. If you are interested in improving the Linux Wireless Extensions support for this driver, have a look at src/p80211/p80211wext.c.

5. Ubuntu Release Specific Info

5.1. Ubuntu 5.04 (Hoary)

See http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=25676 for a howto.

5.2. Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy)

Please upgrade to Dapper Smile :) A quick, ugly fix that might help for firmware loading:

echo "wlan_nsdname () { echo prism2 ;}" | sudo tee -a /etc/wlan/shared

5.3. Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Dapper)

The official linux-wlan-ng package is not really plug-and-play and firmware loading is broken. There are some updated (backported from Edgy) unofficial packages that fix all this: http://tormod.webhop.org/linux/wlan

5.4. Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy)

linux-wlan-ng works very well in Edgy. Only firmware loading is currently broken.

5.5. Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty)

There are patches available which enable the use of WifiDocs/NetworkManager, but they are not yet integrated into the official packages. See bug #104037 for more info.

5.6. Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy)

The prism2_usb driver works out of the box, also with NetworkManager.

5.7. Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy)

The prism2_usb driver works out of the box, even without the linux-wlan-ng package.


CategoryHardware CategoryNetworking CategoryWireless

WifiDocs/Driver/prism2_usb (last edited 2013-06-19 15:49:37 by localhost)