Configuring Wireless

Configuring Hardware - Configuring Wireless

If you set up your kernel correctly, you installed the driver for your wireless card as a module. As another example, let's investigate the wireless network controller using lspci:

$ sudo lspci -v | grep Wireless 

The results should look something like this:

03:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)

For this card, the kernel config is as follows:

[*] Networking support  ---> 
 -*-   Wireless  --->
  <*>   cfg80211 - wireless configuration API
  ...
  [*]     enable powersave by default
  ...
  <*>   Generic IEEE 802.11 Networking Stack (mac80211)

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

Using lspci again, you should be able to see whether or not the correct kernel driver or module has been loaded for the device.

Kernel driver in use: ath9k
Kernel modules: ath9k

If you are confident you have correct kernel configuration and driver, you can test the module by probing it. Replace ath9k with the name of the module for your wireless device.

$ sudo modprobe ath9k

If you don't see any error messages the module is configured correctly. If you haven't already, be sure to add the module to /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6. Depending on the card, you may also have to emerge a software package for your card, in order to create an interface between the kernel driver and the software package you'll use to configure it. For most cards, this will be the net-wireless/wireless-tools package.

$ sudo emerge -s wireless-tools