Using The IBM b/g Wireless Mini PCI Adapter in Fedora Core 3

Using The IBM b/g Wireless Mini PCI Adapter in Fedora Core 3

By default, not all the IBM x31 notebooks are Centrino architecture.

Centrino architecture includes:Pentium M processor, Intel's 855 chipset,
and Intel's Pro/Wireless 2100 wireless network card.

Unfortunately, my x31 2672-IV6 is not Centrino architecture.
It includes all the components except Intel's Pro/Wireless 2100.

The wireless card in my x31 is IBM b/g Wireless Mini PCI Adapter, which
vendor is Atheros (http://www.atheros.com/).

IBM b/g Wireless Mini PCI Adapter is not recognized by Fedora Core 3.

The good news is that there is a open source project for Atheros.
(http://sourceforge.net/projects/madwifi/)

It does not release any files now, but you can retrieve the source code via CVS.

There are 4 steps to make the Mini PCI Adapter works in Fedora Core 3:

A.download & compile kernel source
B.download MADWIFI source code via CVS
C.compile & install
D.setup wireless card

****** detail ******
A.download & compile kernel source

MADWIF needs kernel source to compile the modules and Fedora Core 3 does not
include default.

B.download MADWIFI source code via CVS

cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/madwifi co madwifi

use the command above to get MADwifi from CVS.

C.compile & install

in madwifi directory:

make;make install

The modules will be installed in /lib/modules/2.6.10/net (by my case)

D.setup wireless card

1.modprobe ath_pci
2.ifconfig ath0 up (yes, ath0)
3.iwlist ath0 scan (scan your AP)
4./etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ath0:

DEVICE=ath0
ONBOOT=yes
BOOTPROTO=dhcp

5.dhclient ath0 (get ip from AP)

If everything is ok, /etc/modprobe.conf:

alias ath0 ath_pci

Then the Mini PCI Adapter will work after booting.