Wireless Network Driver for the Atheros Chipset (ath)

Version 0.7.1

This driver is based on the MADWiFi Multiband Atheros Driver project and
is provided under the same LICENSE
as the original driver.

The ath driver version 0.1 has been integrated into OpenSolaris Build 29. It has not yet been backported to Solaris 10. For Solaris 10 users, please use version 0.5.

A new ath driver arn
is available for Atheros 9000 series chipsets support! 

• Both ath and arn support AR5416 and AR5418
• To avoid driver alias collision, ath is the default driver for AR5416/5418  support
• arn will be the future 11n driver and AR5416/5418 support will finally be moved to arn

Links

• ath v0.7.3 for OpenSolaris (2008-07-15)
  • NOTE: With Crossbow integration, this version can be used with onnv104 and previous builds. On onnv105+ builds, user can use the integrated driver directly.
  • 0.7.3 package SUNWatheros. MUST be installed on OpenSolaris B68 or later versions
  • 0.7.3 source code
• ath v0.7.2 for OpenSolaris (2007-03-17)
  • 0.7.2 package SUNWatheros. MUST be installed on OpenSolaris B68 or later versions
  • 0.7.2 source code
• ath v0.5 for Solaris 10/OpenSolaris (2006-07-28)
  • 0.5 package SUNWatheros
  • 0.5 source code
• ath binary package (HAL 0.10.2.2) for Asus Eee PC(AR5007EG)  
  • IMPORTANT NOTE: At this time, AR5007 support is limited to x86 (32bit)! It's not yet available for x64(64bit) platform. Further information will be provided as soon as they become available.
• ath(7D) man page
• other versions

Requirements

Before downloading the source or installing the binaries, please make sure that your system meets the following requirements:

• Solaris 10 or OpenSolaris

• PCI, Mini-PCI, PCIE, Mini-PCIE or CardBus WLAN interface based on Atheros AR52xx chipsets

Supported Devices

Please refer to WiFi compatible device list

MADWiFi compatibility list covers a lot more hardware supported by this driver.  We can't guarantee that
this driver will work with all of these devices.

How to use

• • 1. Hardware requirement

Run prtconf -vp or /usr/X11/bin/scanpci to make sure that your wireless card
reports itself with one of the following PCI Device IDs:

    pci168c,0013 (AR5212)
    pci168c,1014 (AR5212)
    pci168c,1a (AR2413)
    pci168c,1b (AR5413)
    PCI168c,1c (AR5424/AR5007)
    pci168c,23 (AR5416)
    pci168c,24 (AR5418)

If your wireless card has a different PCI Device ID, you
can try to manually attach the driver to it by running
the following command:

    # update_drv -a -i '"pci168c,XXXX"' ath
    (no reboot required)

2. Install ath driver

The easiest way to install the driver is from pre-compiled binary package:

    # wget http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/laptop/downloads/ath-0.7.1-pkg.tar.gz
    # gunzip -c ath-0.7.1-pkg.tar.gz | tar xvf -
    # pkgadd -d ./SUNWatheros SUNWatheros

3. Connect to a WLAN

You should be able to plumb the interface right after installing this
package without having to reboot first:

    # ifconfig ath0 plumb

If plumbing failed, your card may be not supported or just not
getting properly identified by the Solaris kernel.  Send us a note
and we'll try to help.

If you don't use WEP, connect to your WLAN:

    # wificonfig -i ath0 connect ssid

Here -i specifies the WLAN interface. If ath0 is the only WLAN interface on you machine, you can omit this option and simply run wificonfig connect ssid

Then all that's left to do is starting dhcp:

    # ifconfig ath0 dhcp

If your WLAN requires WEP authorization, then you need to download and install the wificonfig utility.  After that, you'll need to create
new profile for your WLAN with the following commands:

    # wificonfig -i ath0 createprofile office essid=ssid encryption=wep wepkey1=wepkey
    # wificonfig -i ath0 connect office
    # ifconfig ath0 dhcp

Go to wificonfig web page for more details.

After being connected, you may check link status with:

    # wificonfig -i ath0 showstatus

ChangeLogs

Version 0.7.2 (2007-03-17)

• Added adhoc(IBSS) mode support
• Fixed that ath can plumb but scan gives no results when memory >= 4GB
• Fixed multicast failure

Version 0.6 (2007-08-28)

• Updated HAL to v0.9.30.13, support AR5416/AR5418 chipsets
• Use GLDv3. As a result, 0.6 runs only on OpenSolaris, supports only WPA/WPA2-PSK and binary MUST be installed on b68 or later

Version 0.5

• Updated HAL to v0.9.17.2, support AR2413/AR5413 chipsets

Version 0.4

• Added WPA support

Version 0.3

• Fixed bugs

Version 0.2

• Updated HAL, support AR5214 chipsets
• Requires wificonfig v0.2

Version 0.1

• Initial release, support AR5211, AR5212, AR5213 chipsets
• Uses wificonfig v0.1 to do configuration
• Integrated into OpenSolaris build 29

Notes

This is work in progress. Please send your questions and comments <mailto:laptop-discuss@opensolaris.org> discussion forum.