[Voyage-linux] hostapd & ath9k

[Gustin Johnson]

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Frank Parker wrote:
> I would prefer to use madwifi (I think) if possible.  My concern is 
> that the wifi card wont even go into Master mode with the ath9k 
> driver:
> 
> # iwconfig wlan0 mode Master Error for wireless request "Set Mode"
> (8B06) : SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.
> 
I am not sure if this is the method for setting master mode on ath9k, I
am not sure if ath9k is yet capable of master mode.  It has been at
least a year (closer to two) since I last looked at this.
> 
> Madwifi seems to be installed in voyage-0.6.5.  I didnt install it, 
> but it's there.
> 
> # apt-cache search madwifi madwifi-tools - tools for the Multiband
> Atheros Driver for WiFi madwifi-modules-2.6.30-voyage - modules for
> the Multiband Atheros Driver for WiFi (kernel 2.6.30-voyage) hostapd
> - user space IEEE 802.11 AP and IEEE 802.1X/WPA/WPA2/EAP
> Authenticator
> 
> # apt-get install madwifi-modules-2.6.30-voyage Reading package
> lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information...
> Done madwifi-modules-2.6.30-voyage is already the newest version. 0
> upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
> 
> 
> How do I know if it supports my specific wireless card?  This
> wireless card doesn't have the usual model number that I see in other
> examples. It just says "Atheros Communications Inc. Device 002b (rev
> 01)" :
> 
Other than google, we can always just try it.

For the following you need to be root or use sudo:

First remove the ath9k driver:
rmmod ath9k

Then insert the madwifi driver:
modprobe ath_pci

You should then have a wifi0 device, but we are not yet done.  We next
need to create the ath0 device that we will actually use.
wlanconfig ath0 create wlandev wifi0 wlanmode ap

You may need more options, use "wlanconfig --help" to get more options.

If there are any problems dmesg (and /var/log/messages, /var/log/syslog)
are your friends.

Removing the module may cause the card to not respond properly.  There
should be errors noted in the logs.  If this is the case, blacklist
ath9k and reboot.  IIRC the file to add ath9k to is
/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

> Assuming it's supported, can you tell me how you configured this?

I actually just used the examples in the config files that come with
voyage.  I also used the voyage web site.

It should be noted that I used an earlier version of voyage (5.x).  For
APs I currently just use OpenWRT on my PC Engines SBCs.  I use voyage
for those in between cases where I need more than OpenWRT but less than
a complete Ubuntu or Debian (basically if I don't need or want a
spinning hard drive I use voyage).

I also stopped using Voyage for wifi for a couple of reasons.  The first
is that most of my clients want to be able to manage their APs
themselves (change ESSID, change the key etc.) and the OpenWRT web
interface suits the less technical user.

The second reason was that for a while the newer kernels and madwifi
versions in voyage (and other distros for that matter, the problem was
not voyage specific) were not working well with the wifi cards I happen
to use and have in service.  I have not re-evaluated the situation in a
while, so this is likely no longer a problem.

I will try to help where I can.
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