[nylug-talk] A good guide to install wireless cards?

[Eric]

matt b wrote:

>  I'm not mad about madwifi, I just really want to know which module to modprobe for, and have been unsuccessful in finding it in /lib/modules. 
>  
>  So the most specific question I can ask is how, knowing that its an Atheros AR5211 do I know which mod to modprobe? Shouldn't there be a lookup table or something? Having installed this card on other laptops using several different distro's I know it installs fine. Without madwifi. witrhout any additional packages. So why is it so complicated to add it post-installation?

sigh.. this question has already been answered by several people (myself
included) .. you need to pay attention.. or people will not help you.

.. if you had this card running on another distro with linux.. guess
what?! it had madwifi which supplies the ath_pci module!

you need to install mad wifi... then you must modprobe ath_pci
.. i dont know how much clearer it gets.


>  Ok maybe you're just better at Google, I searched for "atheros ar5211 module fedora" and didn't find the needed module. On the other hand the page you selected immediately launches into a discussion of open bugs in madwifi and then warns how tricky it is. 
>  
>  The basic operating assumption is that since this card is known to work if inserted during OS installation, the module is somewhere in lib/modules/..  Thus I am asking, (1) how do I actually find the module or the name of it in this specific case, and (2) what is the general rule for locating this information (given the output of lspci) without engaging in an openended search-- which I've been trying most of the afternoon, and though I found lots of really great info, I have not found the really basic bit I need. 

.. it will only work on boot if you have the module loaded on boot in
modules.conf.. which.. since you havent yet "figured out" what module to
load... it wont magically work... especially if you dont even have the
module installed.

>  I have this same card working on another laptop that has been through half a dozen kernel upgrades with no handholding. 

it has madwifi, and the module is auto loaded.

>  I'm not looking for someone else to do legwork, I've been working on this problem all afternoon. Just asking on the expert list how you locate a module so you can pass it to modprobe.  Since installers do it without having to do a Google search, the info has to be in there somewhere, right?

you dont "locate" a module to modprobe.. if the module is installed and
in the right place it will work.

see below for a foolproof fc6 atheros step by step setup.

http://www.wirelessdefence.org/Contents/WirelessBuildHowtoFC6.htm#Installing_Atheros_Cards_(madwifi-ng_drivers)

Basically your question has been answered several time over already.
Try it.. give SPECIFICS about what is working, what isnt working, etc.
I definitely will not answer another post saying "i just want a step by
step guide"

here is another step by step guide...

http://madwifi.org/wiki/UserDocs/Distro/RedHat

and another

http://fedoramobile.org/fc-wireless/madwifi-yum-livna/

..
-Eric