Go back --> [[en/users/Drivers/Atheros|Atheros Linux wireless drivers]]

= ath9k =
ath9k is a completely FOSS wireless driver for all Atheros IEEE 802.11n PCI/PCI-Express and AHB WLAN based chipsets.

<<TableOfContents(1)>>

= Subscribe to this page! =

You should subscribe to this page so you can get e-mail updates on changes and news for ath9k automatically. You'll get an e-mail as soon as this page gets updated.

= Mailing list =
Our mailing list for this driver is:

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

= Get the latest ath9k driver =
Any distribution shipping a kernel >= 2.6.27 will have ath9k present. Below is a list of the minimal distribution requirements to either use ath9k from 2.6.27 or from compat-wireless.

 * Ubuntu Intrepid (8.10)
 * Fedora Core 10
 * openSUSE 11.1
 * Mandriva Linux 2009.0 (formally known as Mandrake Linux)
 * ARCH Linux
 * Gentoo Linux
 * Red Flag Linux 7.0 (based on Fedora 10)

If you want to get the latest ath9k driver you can get it by using the wireless-testing git tree. Read [[en/developers/Documentation/git-guide|our git-guide for that]]. Alternatively you can download and compile ath9k and its dependencies alone by using [[en/users/Download|compat-wireless]]. After downloading  you can run:

{{{
./scripts/driver-select ath9k
make
sudo make install
}}}

= 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
}}}

= Enabling bluetooth coexistence =
You can enable bluetooth coexistence on ath9k by using the ''btcoex_enable'' module parameter. This is not enable by default as some devices have had issues with it.

{{{
modprobe ath9k btcoex_enable=1
}}}

= supported chipsets =
 * AR5418+AR5133
 * AR5416+AR5133
 * AR5416+AR2133
 * AR9160
 * AR9280
 * AR9281
 * AR9285 (>= 2.6.29)
 * AR9102 (AHB) (>= 2.6.30)
 * AR9103 (AHB) (>= 2.6.30)

= Available devices =
See the [[/devices | ath9k device list]].

== Working ==
=== Modes of operation ===
 * ''Station Mode''

 * ''AP Mode''

 * ''IBSS Mode''

=== Features ===
 * 802.11abg
 * 802.11n
  * HT20
  * HT40
  * AMPDU
  * Short GI (40 MHz only)

 * 802.11i
  * WEP 64 / 127
  * WPA1 / WPA2

 * 802.11d
 * 802.11h
 * 802.11w/D7.0
 * WPS client side (use wpa_gui-qt4  from wpa_supplicant for now)
 * WMM
 * LED
 * RFKILL
 * BT co-existence (with a module parameter)
 * 64-bit support / big endian, small endian
 * AHB and PCI bus

= A little history on ath9k =
== When it went in ==
ath9k was announced to have been [[http://lwn.net/Articles/293784/|merged into Linux-2.6.27-rc3]] by Linus on Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:33:16 -0700 (PDT), and consisted of 58.8% of the entire rc3 patch.

== Early distributions which picked it up ==
OpenWrt became the [[https://dev.openwrt.org/changeset/11884|first distribution to pick up ath9k and contribute to it]].

= Other sections =

For more information please see:

  * [[en/users/Drivers/ath9k/bugs|ath9k bugs]]
  * [[en/users/Drivers/ath9k/todo|ath9k TODO page]]
  * [[en/users/Drivers/ath9k/debug|ath9k debugging]]
  * [[en/users/Drivers/ath9k/products|products with supported ath9k cards]]
  * [[en/users/Drivers/ath|ath.ko module]] -- used for shared code between Atheros devices