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lberg
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 Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2025 5:49 am Post subject: Atheros chipset & Arch Linux? [SOLVED] |
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So I'm absolutely fed up with my rt73 usb wireless dongle. In Ubuntu, it only works like it should half the time, and ever since the rt2x00 integration into the kernel, I have not succeeded to get it working once in Arch Linux. And yes, I've put a few hours into trying to get it working in Arch.
I would REALLY like to get back to Arch Linux, and this dongle (and therefore the lack of wireless internet that it causes me) is the only thing that is stopping me. So....I want to purchase a new wireless dongle. From what I've read, it seems like the Atheros chipset is well-supported in Linux. However, I read the same thing when I decided on the dongle with the rt73 chipset.  Can anyone confirm that the Atheros chipset should work under Arch Linux*? I'm thinking about this card, which should have an Atheros card, according to this site.
*I AM very willing to do any work that it takes to get it working. By asking this question, I'm not implying plug-and-play compatibility. I'm just asking if I should be able to get an Atheros card working in Arch Linux with minimal work/tweaking on my part. I am VERY used to having to work to get my usb dongle working. I've finally given up on my rt73 dongle. Maybe I have a lemon or something, but I'm ready to find a new wireless adapter.
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Last edited by lberg on Mon Oct 13, 2025 2:26 am; edited 1 time in total |
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jada
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| Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2025 6:12 am Post subject: |
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| Atheros chipset & Arch Linux? It's still broken. I have a Atheros Wlan, sometime it works but every time when they update the Kernel it breaks again. |
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Germ
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| Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2025 1:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Atheros should work with no problems. The driver is in the kernel. I don't know what arch is doing to break it. Mine worked out of the box with Mandriva.
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jada
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| Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2025 3:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Germ wrote: | | Atheros should work with no problems. The driver is in the kernel. I don't know what arch is doing to break it. Mine worked out of the box with Mandriva. |
Archlinux using Madwifi, and the most problem I have with WPA2. |
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lberg
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| Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2025 3:13 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks, Germ. I'll be ordering that dongle pretty soon.
Oh, WPA2... I can understand if that's still not fully functional. I am even wary of messing with WPA--mainly because of my almost-constant struggle with even WEP on this rt73 dongle...From what I read, I guess that WPA isn't too hard anymore. When I started out with wireless, WPA support was not good..
BTW, I admit I was a little worked up when I wrote that original post...but everything in it is still true. I had just spent almost an hour trying to get that dongle working in a fresh Arch install.
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nukes
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| Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2025 6:17 pm Post subject: |
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rt2x00 isn't atheros, it's ralink.
I've got a realtek8187 usb dongle onboard, and it's been nothing but trouble. I have an old rt2500 which I plugged in and it's been working great ever since.
Here's what I did:
go to http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/wiki//Downloads
Grab the CVS version for your card (the stable one wouldn't compile).
untar, make and install it (read the readme).
now for this card you don't use wpa_supplicant, everything is done with iwpriv (kinda like ioctl for wireless). There's supposedly a gui for this but I couldn't find it.
Read the readme again, and create the config file and set all the options - not just the ones you use (don't worry about the path).
I wrote this script to bring it up when I start up:
| Code: | ifconfig ra0 down
rmmod rt2500
sleep 2
modprobe rt2500
grep -v Default /etc/wireless/RT2500STA/RT2500STA.dat | while read
do
iwpriv ra0 set $REPLY
done
ifconfig ra0 up 192.168.2.2
route add default gw 192.168.2.1
iwconfig ra0 rate 11M auto
iwconfig ra0 channel 1
iwconfig ra0 essid XXXXX
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(where /etc/wireless/RT2500STA/RT2500STA.dat is the path to the config, the first line reads Default, so skip that)
Obviously replace essid/channel/ip addresses with your own. You could also just replace them all with dhcpcd or whatever.
then it should work within a few seconds (some of the ioctl's throw errors, ignore them).
if indeed you do mean atheros, you need madwifi (last I checked)
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Germ
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| Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2025 9:09 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | rt2x00 isn't atheros, it's ralink. |
Correct. He's replacing that with a Atheros based dongle.
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lberg
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| Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2025 10:02 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah. Sorry, nukes, if my posts were not clear. I want an Atheros chip, and am simply making sure that it should "behave" in Arch Linux. Of course, based on my experience with my current wireless dongle, I won't know until I get the card and actually try it .
I've tried the CVS rt2x00 drivers already, as well as the stable ones, as well as the legacy rt73usb drivers, as well as the built-in kernel module, as well as the windows drivers through ndiswrapper, etc, etc, etc... And I'm tired of it.
Edit: I actually have another question... I am fairly sure that it's been asked before, but since then wireless drivers have undoubtedly come a long way. Is there a general consensus as to whether USB or PCI-based cards work "better" with Linux? Or are they about equal these days? Originally I went with USB for the ability to move it around for the best signal, but if PCI (Atheros chipset) is more "guaranteed" of working, then I'll go for it over the USB, by all means.
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crouse
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jada
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| Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2025 11:06 pm Post subject: |
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| lberg wrote: | | Originally I went with USB for the ability to move it around for the best signal, but if PCI (Atheros chipset) is more "guaranteed" of working, then I'll go for it over the USB, by all means. |
I never hade luck with USB Wlan Cards. I stopped using it. On my Laptop I tried this USB Card from AT&T for there Wireless Network 3G GPRS etc. but it doesn't run with Linux. I got now the PCMCIA and it works. |
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lberg
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| Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2025 12:26 am Post subject: |
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| Hmm! Crouse, I hadn't stopped to think that arch64 may be the issue here... Thanks for pointing that out. Right now I'll go ahead and download the 32-bit Arch and see if I can make any headway. If it doesn't work within 10 mins or so of fiddling tonight, then I'm afraid that I don't know when I'll get back to it, because as of now, I'm looking at about 3 weeks of heavy homework, and not much free time. So I may go ahead and order that Atheros card, depending on my success with the 32 bit version of Arch.
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crouse
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lberg
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crouse
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Germ
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My wireless dongle worked on the first try--which didn't even happen in Ubuntu! 
