Installing madwifi driver

Madwifi driver is a kernel module was developed by Madwifi-project which is a team of volunteers working on linux kernel drivers for WLAN devices with Atheros chipsets.


Other drivers they provide are ath5k & ath9k .

Installation :

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These steps are done using Ethernet

FIRST YOU HAVE TO :

Disable Ubuntu's Atheros HAL Driver

System>Administration>Hardware driver , then deactivate the support for Atheros 802.11 wireless LAN cards.

Then Reboot .

All other steps are done in the Terminal .

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Open terminal :
Applications >Accessories > Terminal

1 - Get the Ubuntu built essentials package and type this command in terminal

sudo apt-get install build-essential

if this is a new install of 8.10 you MUST do “sudo apt-get update” (without quotes) to update your repositories

2 - Download the madwifi snapshot:

wget http://snapshots.madwifi-project.org/madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current.tar.gz

3 - Unzip the downloaded file:

tar xvf madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current.tar.gz

4- Go into the created directory

cd madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3879-20081204

if it shows "No such file or directory " this means that the file's name was changed ,so just type " cd madwifi "(Without quotes ) then press the TAP key for auto complete .

5- compile the package:

make

6 - install the package:

sudo make install

7- Then load the created module:

sudo modprobe ath_pci

8 - Reboot

9 - then you must add it to the kernel boot modules list

open Terminal and type :

sudo gedit /etc/modules

it will open a window , add ( ath_pci ) to the bottom of the list .

Click Save and

Welcome to Wireless World

Important Notes :

1. If you found that problem resumed after installing any updates , these updates may have made a conflict with the Madwifi driver

You just have to install it again using the steps mentioned earlier .

2. A comment from someone who tried to install it :

he/she said that after doing all steps , nothing happened so :

"I went to sys-admin-hardware drivers and activated "alternate atheros "madwifi" driver

and now I can see wireless connection available!"

Actually I'm writing this post from Ubuntu after installing madwifi driver , and all problems mentioned happened to me but I knew what to do with it after installing ubuntu by nearly 2 Months !!