kubuntu 9.04 driver

1. which drivers(modules) i am using ?

drivers? ah no correct name is modules. yes i know. anyway type this

lsmod

see this to understand which name your driver has.

well i have done and now which is the name of the driver? i can’t understand!
see below lsmod output  the bold one… is an ethernet driver..

• how could i filter the result ?

lsmod | grep KEY

• how could i remove a driver?

sudo rmmod NAMEOFDRIVER

• how could i add a driver?

sudo modprobe NAMEOFDRIVER

ex : ethernet driver e100

lsmod output

Module Size Used by
aes_i586 15744 2
aes_generic 35880 1 aes_i586
i915 65540 2
drm 96296 3 i915
ppdev 15620 0
bridge 56340 0
stp 10500 1 bridge
bnep 20224 2
vboxnetflt 91016 0
vboxdrv 117544 1 vboxnetflt
lp 17156 0
parport 42220 2 ppdev,lp
snd_hda_intel 435636 2
snd_pcm_oss 46336 0
snd_mixer_oss 22656 1 snd_pcm_oss
arc4 9856 2
ecb 10752 2
snd_pcm 82948 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss
ath5k 107008 0
snd_seq_dummy 10756 0
snd_seq_oss 37760 0
mac80211 217208 1 ath5k
snd_seq_midi 14336 0
snd_rawmidi 29696 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event 15104 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
pcmcia 44748 0
snd_seq 56880 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
joydev 18368 0
iTCO_wdt 19108 0
iTCO_vendor_support 11652 1 iTCO_wdt
led_class 12036 1 ath5k
snd_timer 29704 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 14988 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
psmouse 61972 0
tifm_7xx1 13824 0
pcspkr 10496 0
usblp 20224 0
sdhci_pci 15232 0
sdhci 23940 1 sdhci_pci
serio_raw 13316 0
wacom 28808 0
input_polldev 11912 0
tifm_core 15900 1 tifm_7xx1
yenta_socket 32396 1
rsrc_nonstatic 19328 1 yenta_socket
pcmcia_core 43540 3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
intel_agp 34108 1
agpgart 42696 3 drm,intel_agp
cfg80211 38032 2 ath5k,mac80211
snd 62628 13 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
soundcore 15200 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 16904 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
video 25360 0
output 11008 1 video
usb_storage 82880 0
usbhid 42336 0
ohci1394 38576 0
e100 41740 0
mii 13312 1 e100
ieee1394 94660 1 ohci1394
fbcon 46112 0
tileblit 10752 1 fbcon
font 16384 1 fbcon
bitblit 13824 1 fbcon
softcursor 9984 1 bitblit
compcache 12876 1
lzo_decompress 10880 1 compcache
lzo_compress 10880 1 compcache
tlsf 14092 1 compcache

remove the driver:

sudo rmmod e100 &&  sudo rmmod mii

• why mii too ? , mii is using e100 to work …so

add the driver:

sudo modprobe  e100

• What hardwares is there?

sudo lshw

• how could i filter this result?

sudo lshw 2>&1 | grep ath

• why sudo ? sudo will give you a complete stuff without you can get only few informations

2.load automatically a driver to boot time

sudo nano /etc/modules

then add the name of your driver on the end of the file for example for my atheros wifi card.

# /etc/modules: kernel modules to load at boot time.
#
# This file contains the names of kernel modules that should be loaded
# at boot time, one per line. Lines beginning with “#” are ignored.

lp
ath_pci

as you can see i have ath_pci this is the madwifi driver, that i have compiled for my kernel.

• well but i have 2 driver is it going to interfere if i use 2 driver?

yes if you have 2 driver you will have problems. so see  driver ‘s blacklist

3.Driver’s Blacklist

sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

add to last line this

blacklist NAMEOFDRIVER

EX:
i know i have compiled my madwifi driver and the system, by default , using ath5k for the atheros wifi card…
so
this is my blacklist.conf

# This file lists those modules which we don’t want to be loaded by
# alias expansion, usually so some other driver will be loaded for the
# device instead.

# evbug is a debug tool that should be loaded explicitly
blacklist evbug
.
.
.
.

# low-quality, just noise when being used for sound playback, causes
# hangs at desktop session start (Ubuntu: #246969)
blacklist snd_pcsp

# EDAC driver for amd76x clashes with the agp driver preventing the aperture
# from being initialised (Ubuntu: #297750). Blacklist so that the driver
# continues to build and is installable for the few cases where its
# really needed.
blacklist amd76x_edac
blacklist ath5k

this is my /etc/modules

# /etc/modules: kernel modules to load at boot time.
#
# This file contains the names of kernel modules that should be loaded
# at boot time, one per line. Lines beginning with “#” are ignored.

lp
ath_pci

kubuntu 9.04 9.10 10.04 Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01) SIOCSIFFLAGS: Unknown error 132

I don’t know why but with ath5k driver doesn’t work anymore. if i do

sudo ifconfig wlan0 up

i get

SIOCSIFFLAGS: Unknown error 132

so…

SOLUTION WITH ATH5K ***Actually i gotcha …. this freacking wifi card …. well turn off the computer … and disconnect the plug now press the computer’s button which should turn on your computer … that should consume the residual voltage. and now start the pc. this fucking atheros works again with ath5k. WTFuck.****

someone says for a bug in the kernel

well i don’t care. i want it works.

so i have tried madwifi driver. and if you download the standard driver you can got some trouble when you try to compile it.

so this is my personal way. here there is the link to check if you card is supported by madwifi driver

you need of some programs to compile:

subversion (svn) and build essentials

sudo apt-get install subversion build-essential

now you should be able to compile.
**note if you download standard madwifi you could have some trouble compiling them

svn checkout http://svn.madwifi-project.org/madwifi/trunk madwifi ; cd madwifi ; make

** you can do sudo make install if you have not installed checkinstall.

sudo checkinstall

now we must disable the old driver ath5k :

sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

add this

#blacklist ath5k driver
blacklist ath5k

press CTRL X
save and exit.

now we must load the driver : ath_pci

with

sudo modprobe ath_pci

well if you restart the driver will not load on you kernel , everytime you should write sudo modprobe etc etc…

to automatize

kdesudo kate /etc/modules

add the driver , so it will be loaded at the boot time

ath_pci

to check if your system has loaded ath_pci , after the rebooting you should type this

lsmod | grep ath

and you should get ath_pci (ath5k should not appear.)

NOTE FOR KARMIC

when you compile you could get this message

e needs E or Fmake C ./tools all || exit 1

and when you type

sudo make install

your could get some errors… this is bad but if your look well you can still add ath_pci on your kernel…
so just reboot and then use ath_pci like said in this article. here on kubuntu 9.10 tested and it works