Compile Atheros Driver in OpenSUSE 10.x

I just bought an atheros-based card, it's a NetGear WPN511. For this card, I can use madwifi as its driver.

At madwifi site, they also provide the RPM for OpenSUSE, but I sometime like to compile the software myself, so I can adjust it to my needs.

Without further ado, here are the steps to compile the driver :

- extract the tarball :

$ tar xvjpf madwifi-0.9.2.1.tar.bz2

- build the driver :

$ cd madwifi-0.9.2.1/
$ make
Checking requirements... ok.
Checking kernel configuration... ok.
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.16.13-4-default/build SUBDIRS=/home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1 modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.16.13-4-obj/i386/default'
make -C ../../../linux-2.6.16.13-4 O=../linux-2.6.16.13-4-obj/i386/default modules
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/ath/ah_osdep.o
HOSTCC /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/ath/uudecode
UUDECODE /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/ath/i386-elf.hal.o
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/ath/if_ath.o
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/ath/if_ath_pci.o
LD [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/ath/ath_pci.o
LD [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/ath/ath_hal.o
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/ath_rate/sample/sample.o
LD [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/ath_rate/sample/ath_rate_sample.o
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/if_media.o
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/ieee80211.o
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/ieee80211_beacon.o
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/ieee80211_crypto.o
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/ieee80211_crypto_none.o
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/ieee80211_input.o
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/ieee80211_node.o
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/ieee80211_output.o
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/ieee80211_power.o
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/ieee80211_proto.o
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/ieee80211_scan.o
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/ieee80211_wireless.o
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/ieee80211_linux.o
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/ieee80211_monitor.o
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/ieee80211_acl.o
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/ieee80211_crypto_ccmp.o
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/ieee80211_scan_ap.o
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/ieee80211_scan_sta.o
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/ieee80211_crypto_tkip.o
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/ieee80211_crypto_wep.o
CC [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/ieee80211_xauth.o
LD [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/wlan.o
LD [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/wlan_wep.o
LD [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/wlan_tkip.o
LD [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/wlan_ccmp.o
LD [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/wlan_acl.o
LD [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/wlan_xauth.o
LD [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/wlan_scan_sta.o
LD [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/wlan_scan_ap.o
Building modules, stage 2.
MODPOST
CC /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/ath/ath_hal.mod.o
LD [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/ath/ath_hal.ko
CC /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/ath/ath_pci.mod.o
LD [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/ath/ath_pci.ko
CC /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/ath_rate/sample/ath_rate_sample.mod.o
LD [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/ath_rate/sample/ath_rate_sample.ko
CC /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/wlan.mod.o
LD [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/wlan.ko
CC /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/wlan_acl.mod.o
LD [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/wlan_acl.ko
CC /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/wlan_ccmp.mod.o
LD [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/wlan_ccmp.ko
CC /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/wlan_scan_ap.mod.o
LD [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/wlan_scan_ap.ko
CC /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/wlan_scan_sta.mod.o
LD [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/wlan_scan_sta.ko
CC /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/wlan_tkip.mod.o
LD [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/wlan_tkip.ko
CC /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/wlan_wep.mod.o
LD [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/wlan_wep.ko
CC /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/wlan_xauth.mod.o
LD [M] /home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/net80211/wlan_xauth.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.16.13-4-obj/i386/default'
make -C ./tools all || exit 1
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/tools'
gcc -o athstats -g -O2 -Wall -include ../include/compat.h -I. -I../hal -I.. -I../ath athstats.c
gcc -o 80211stats -g -O2 -Wall -include ../include/compat.h -I. -I../hal -I.. 80211stats.c
gcc -o athkey -g -O2 -Wall -include ../include/compat.h -I. -I../hal -I.. athkey.c
gcc -o athchans -g -O2 -Wall -include ../include/compat.h -I. -I../hal -I.. athchans.c
gcc -o athctrl -g -O2 -Wall -include ../include/compat.h -I. -I../hal -I.. athctrl.c
gcc -o athdebug -g -O2 -Wall -include ../include/compat.h -I. -I../hal -I.. athdebug.c
gcc -o 80211debug -g -O2 -Wall -include ../include/compat.h -I. -I../hal -I.. 80211debug.c
gcc -o wlanconfig -g -O2 -Wall -include ../include/compat.h -I. -I../hal -I.. wlanconfig.c
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/tedi/madwifi-0.9.2.1/tools'

After that I install the driver to the system using "make install".

Then I put the card in the PCMCIA slot, and do "dmesg" :

ath_hal: module not supported by Novell, setting U taint flag.
ath_hal: 0.9.17.2 (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413, RF5413)
wlan: module not supported by Novell, setting U taint flag.
wlan: 0.8.4.2 (0.9.2.1)
ath_rate_sample: module not supported by Novell, setting U taint flag.
ath_rate_sample: 1.2 (0.9.2.1)
ath_pci: module not supported by Novell, setting U taint flag.
ath_pci: 0.9.4.5 (0.9.2.1)
PCI: Enabling device 0000:03:00.0 (0000 -> 0002)
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:03:00.0[A] -> Link [C0C4] -> GSI 10 (level, low) -> IRQ 10
wifi0: 11b rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps
wifi0: 11g rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps 6Mbps 9Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps
24Mbps 36Mbp 48Mbps 54Mbps
wifi0: turboG rates: 6Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps 24Mbps 36Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps
wifi0: H/W encryption support: WEP AES AES_CCM TKIP
wifi0: mac 7.9 phy 4.5 radio 5.6
wifi0: Use hw queue 1 for WME_AC_BE traffic
wifi0: Use hw queue 0 for WME_AC_BK traffic
wifi0: Use hw queue 2 for WME_AC_VI traffic
wifi0: Use hw queue 3 for WME_AC_VO traffic
wifi0: Use hw queue 8 for CAB traffic
wifi0: Use hw queue 9 for beacons
wlan_scan_sta: module not supported by Novell, setting U taint flag.
wifi0: Atheros 5212: mem=0x38000000, irq=10

From the information above, I know that my wifi card is detected and the driver is working.

In the next post, I will describe some simple wireless activities.