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Setting up MadWifi on a Samsung r20 laptop, running Zenwalk as an os

floyd - Sat 22 November 2008 - network, linux, zenwalk, slackware, hardware

I always liked the Slackware distribution, everything (well, almost) is really simple and straightforwar. For some time i'm using Zenwalk, a slackware-based distro, on my laptop.

At some point, i needed to connect to a nearby access point, and fortunately this samsung r20 has built-in an Atheros wireless adapter.

At bootup, the kernel reports it as:

ath_pci: wifi0: Atheros 5424/2424: mem=0xd0200000, irq=19

After some "googling" around, I've found this really nice guide, http://wiki.zenwalk.org/index.php?title=Madwifi-ng_(Atheros)

In a couple of steps, my wifi interface is ready to use:

root[~]# netpkg kernelheaders
root[~]# svn checkout http://svn.madwifi.org/madwifi/trunk madwifi-ng
root[~]# cd madwifi-ng/
root[madwifi-ng]# make
root[madwifi-ng]# make install
root[madwifi-ng]# modprobe ath_pci

It seems like all is ok, a quick check:

root[madwifi-ng]# iwconfig
lo
    no wireless extensions.
eth0
    no wireless extensions.
wifi0
    no wireless extensions.
ath0
    IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:""  Nickname:"slash"
    Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated
    Bit Rate:0 kb/s   Tx-Power:17 dBm   Sensitivity=1/1
    Retry:off   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
    Encryption key:off         Power Management:off
    Link Quality=0/70  Signal level=-92 dBm  Noise level=-92 dBm
    Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
    Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

Adding the module to be loaded at boot:

root[madwifi-ng]# echo "/sbin/modprobe ath_pci" >> /etc/rc.d/rc.modules