Ath9k compatible 2,4GHz and 5GHz network card

qorg11 · 08-13-2019, 03:00 PM

Hi, i have a ThinkPad T400 (It's corebooted, so no problem with whitelist) And i'm looking for a Ath9k driver compatible network card, It have to be compatible with aircrack-ng (No, i don't crack neighbor's routers) and can connect to 2,4GHz and 5GHz routers.
I've looked in wikidevi but i'm not sure which card buy.

business_kid · 08-14-2019, 05:34 AM

Atheros wifi chips use the Ath9k, and not the latest ones either (there is also ath10k) Here's mine:

Code:

bash-5.0$ sudo lspci -v |grep -A30 02:00.0
02:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd AR9485 Wireless Network Adapter
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
	Memory at c0000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K]
	Expansion ROM at c0080000 [disabled] [size=64K]
	Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2
	Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/4 Maskable+ 64bit+
	Capabilities: [70] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
	Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
	Capabilities: [140] Virtual Channel
	Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
	Kernel driver in use: ath9k
	Kernel modules: ath9k

That's vintage 2012. You might do better looking at used nics. I've a laptop here, btw. Make menuconfig in the kernel has some good info on what chips are covered by this module. BTW, I don't think this card handles the 5 Ghz wifi range.

Timothy Miller · 08-14-2019, 08:54 AM

All the AC cards will use Ath10K, not Ath9K. You'd have to get an older, N & older-only card to find one that worked with Ath9K, but it's not so old that it should be impossible. Of course, we also would need to know if your laptop requires a mini pci-express, micro pci-express, or the NGFF pci-express form factor. It'll definitely be easier to find one in the mini or micro pci-express that does Ath9K than in NGFF.

m86 · 08-14-2019, 11:17 AM

FWIR, the T400 used the full-size 5300 / 5100 Mini Card (circa ~2008-2009?) - I do not believe it used a half-size card (HMC). Provided that assumption is correct and you have three WLAN antennas, you'd probably want to go with an XB112 (AR5BXB112). It's a 3-stream module and (IMO) the best you're going to get using ath9k. However, the following would probably work fine.

XB112 / AR5BXB112, (Full-size) - AR9380 (dual-band, 3x3) full-size reference design
HB112 / AR5BHB112, aka Killer 1103, (HMC) - AR9380 (dual-band, 3x3) size-reduced reference design
XB92 / AR5BXB92, (Full-size) / HB92 / AR5BHB92, (HMC) - AR9280 (dual-band, 2x2) reference design
Ubiquiti sold an XB92 module - the SR71-E - but I'm not sure what really distinguishes it from any other XB92-based card. It was marketed as having higher TX power.
HB116 / AR5BHB116, aka Killer 1102, (HMC) - AR9382 (dual-band, 2x2) reference design
WB222 / AR5B22, (HMC) - AR9462 (dual-band, 2x2, w/ Bluetooth) reference design

business_kid · 08-15-2019, 04:17 AM

Welcome to LQ, m86, and great that your 1st post isn't explaining that you've blown yourself up!