ath9k

ath9k is a completely FOSS wireless driver for Atheros IEEE 802.11n WLAN based chipsets.

Contents

  1. ath9k
  2. Mailing list
  3. Get the code
  4. Enabling ath9k
  5. supported chips
  6. Products in the retail market containing Atheros AR5008-based solutions
  7. TODO
  8. Distributions picking this up

Mailing list

Our mailing list for this driver is:

https://lists.ath9k.org/mailman/listinfo/ath9k-devel

Get the code

ath9k is part of wireless-testing now.

To build wireless-testing, use the instructions in this page: http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Download

Enabling ath9k

To enable ath9k, you must first enable mac80211: 

Networking  --->
  Wireless  --->
    <M> Improved wireless configuration API
    <M> Generic IEEE 802.11 Networking Stack (mac80211)

You can then enable ath9k in the kernel configuration under 

Device Drivers  --->
  [*] Network device support  --->
        Wireless LAN  --->
          <M>   Atheros 802.11n wireless cards support

supported chips

  • AR5418+AR5133
  • AR5416+AR5133
  • AR5416+AR2133
  • AR9160
  • AR9280
  • AR9281

Products in the retail market containing Atheros AR5008-based solutions

Belkin

  • N1 Wireless Notebook Card

  • DWA-642 RangeBooster N Notebook Adapter

  • DWA-645 RangeBooster N650 Notebook Adapter

  • DWA-542 RangeBooster N Desktop Adapter

  • DWA-547 RangeBooster N650 Desktop Adapter

  • DWA-652 XtremeN Notebook Adapter
  • DWA-552 XtremeN Desktop Adapter

  • DWA-643 Xtreme N ExpressCard Notebook Adapter

  • DWA-556 Xtreme N PCIe Desktop Adapter

Linksys

  • WPC300Nv2
  • WMP300Nv2
  • WPC100N
  • WMP110N

NEC

  • WL300NC

Netgear

  • WNHDE111 Video Bridge
  • WN711, Wireless-N eXpresscard adapter

working

  • Station Mode

TODO

Things on our TODO list.

Being worked on

  • IBSS/Mesh - IBSS should work, needs testing with WPA (any user
    • interested in help testing?)
  • AP - This is being worked on, expect to see a lot of changes in
    • beacon.c
  • Give regulatory a good scrubbing, specially once CRDA goes in.
    • Pending additions for CRDA are moving the call to CRDA to use udev uevent helpers and to allow drivers to pass their own built regulatory domain structure.
  • Cleanup ath_hal and ath_hal_5416.
  • RX Filter - has to be completely revamped. (remove ath_scan_end, ath_scan_start)
  • Virtual Interfaces ( embed ath_vap in the private area of ieee80211_vif )

Cleanup

  • Merge ath_tx_status, ath_rx_status, ath_desc with ar5416_desc.
  • HW capabilities is still too convoluted.

  • ChannelFlags are still a bit ugly.

  • Node usage ( usage of sta_info was suggested )
  • Move aggregation away from rc.c

Minor

  • Enhance link quality reporting (also use noise floor calculation
    • from hardware, instead of a static value of ATH_DEFAULT_NOISE_FLOOR, which is -95)
  • Identify macros that can be moved to mac80211 ( look at ath9k.h )
  • Use Bitfields wherever appropriate
  • Review inline usage.
  • Kerneldoc usage.
  • Everything else that were pointed out by Johannes.

In the long run

  • WDS - Already part of mac80211, probably can be added after AP
  • Merge struct ath_hal and struct ath_softc (probably best for 2.6.28)
  • LED
  • RKILL
  • Power management – needs work and integration on mac80211/cfg80211,
    • see Johanne's e-mails
  • Periodic noise floor calibration and ANI (Adaptive Noise Immunity)
    • for better performance.

Distributions picking this up

OpenWrt became the first distribution to pick up ath9k and contribute to it.