Atheros Card on Ubuntu Server x86_64
 

hi,

i am trying to use ubuntu on a 64bit box i have.
it is a ubuntu installation but without gnome.

i need to install wireless a card on it; netgear WG311T.

i followed the instruction found on:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=38972
http://madwifi.org/wiki/UserDocs/Distro/Ubuntu

but it fails when compiling the driver, giving the following error:

$make

Checking requirements ...ok
Checking kernel configuration ...FAILED
Please enable wireless extensions.
make: *** [configcheck] Error 1

so it seems i need to enable wireless extensions, but i do not know how to go about it.

surely a more experienced user will know it.

thanks in advance for your assistance.

regards

Check that the kernel headers you installed correspond to the kernel that you are using. To find your kernel number, run:

$ uname -a

Make sure that the kernel headers you installed track that kernel number. That error message is typical of a mismatch between kernel and kernel headers.

strange you mention that
 

i was looking at the header and i noticed that i have the linux-image-2.6.17-10-generic installed as well as the headers.

but i thought i have a try and install the header linux-header-2.6.17-10-server and see what happens.

it seems that i can now compile the madwifi.
but the module is not loaded, i tried:

modprobe ath_pci

and it returns an error.

since the linux-image-2.6.17-10-generic kernel is loaded, i have the following options of header available:

linux-header-2.6.17-10-generic
linux-header-2.6.17-10
linux-header-2.6
linux-header-2.6.17-10-server

which should i keep installed?

nicolas

The generic kernel matches your generic headers so that should work if you have wireless support compiled in your kernel. You can tell if it doesn't because there will be no /proc/net/wireless file. If that file isn't there, wireless support was not compiled into your kernel. You could recompile and make sure CONFIG_NET_RADIO is set to enabled. It is very rare to not have wireless support configured in but without it, you won't have the wireless extensions you need.

An alternative would be to switch to the server kernel which appears to have the wireless extensions enable since madwifi compiled against its kernel headers.

compiled and running
 

thanks,

it has compiled against the linux-header-2.6.17-10-server kernel.

and i managed to make it work with wpa_supplicant, but i have to issue the following command everytime i boot it:

wpa_supplicant -iath0 -Dmadwifi -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -w -B

how can i make the wireless card become available automaticaly when rebooting the box?

thanks a lot.

On non-debian based systems that's easy to do. You just put the commands you want to run at the end of /etc/rc.d/rc.local. In non-debian distros, rc.local is the last init script to run and it runs with root privileges as do all init scripts. Accordingly, any commands you put in there will run at the end of the boot process. It's an easy way to customize your boot setup like you want to do.

One of the more aggravating things about debian is they refuse to put in an rc.local script even though people have been complaining, questioning this for years. Since ubuntu is debian based you probably have no rc.local script. Not to worry, here's a link that describes more succinctly than I ever could how to create an rc.local on a debian system:

http://www.justlinux.com/nhf/Distrib..._Commands.html

Follow the instructions and once rc.local is setup just copy this in it:

wpa_supplicant -iath0 -Dmadwifi -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -w -B


The next time you boot, that command should be run.

Use these lines in your /etc/network/interfaces file to describe your ath0 interface. You can use madwifi instead of wext, of course, but it probably won't matter either way.

many thanks
 

i have installed the card and it is now working at lovely!

Quakeboy02 suggestion did the work fine.

kind regards to you all.