Using the GPLed linux driver for Atmel AT76C503A based wireless usb devices

2002-12-22: This document has been updated and extended and now lives here

these instructions assume:

• a Netgear MA101 usb wireless device. If you have some other AT76C503A-based device, probably the only major thing you'll need to change is the selection of the 'board type' during the config. Have a look here to see what kind of board you may have, or have a look at src/includes/usb/config.h once you've downloaded the source code. If you still have no idea, say yes to all the board types. You may find information about your usb device at the 'definitive' linux usb website: http://www.qbik.ch/usb/devices/. If not, and you manage to get it working with this driver, add an entry to their database!
• a RedHat 7.3 install. If you're using some other distro, most of this will still apply.
• internet access from the computer you are building the driver on. This is so you can fetch the source code from cvs.
• use uhci.o rather than the default usb-uhci.o. Edit /etc/modules.conf and
  1. replace alias usb-controller usb-uhci
  2. with alias usb-controller uhci
  3. reboot
• a non-SMP kernel. There has been a report on the mailing list of big problems with an SMP kernel, which went away when a non-SMP kernel was used.

getting and compiling the driver

1. you need cvs installed for this. Its on the RedHat install CDs if its not installed already.
2. make a directory to put the code in. go into that directory
3. run: cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.atmelwlandriver.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/atmelwlandriver co atmelwlandriver This will download the source code. (if prompted for a password, just hit Enter)
4. go into the atmelwlandriver directory
5. run: make config
6. select the following options:
   • build all? no
   • build debug version? yes
   • build usb drivers? yes
   • build usb 503a rfmd driver? no
   • build usb 503a intersil 3861 driver? yes
   • build usb intersil 3863 driver? no
   • build usb rfmd 505 driver? no
   • build driver with custom pid vid? no
   • build pcmcia drivers? no
   • build minipci driver? no
   • build applications? yes
   • build command line application? yes
   • if you get asked anything else, say yes.
7. run: make install
8. run: depmod -a (either ignore any errors/warnings, or see here for a patch which may fix this)
9. plug in your usb device (netgear ma101)
10. run: dmesg to see the log messages about your device. It will list the alias of the device, e.g.: vnetusba.c: usb eth0 initialized and registered. This shows the alias is eth0
11. if you have dhcp installed, run: dhcpcd <interface alias>
12. If you don't, run:
    1. ifconfig <interface alias> <ip address> up
    2. route add default gw <default gateway ip address>

From now on, whenever you want to get the latest source code from cvs, go into the atmelwlandriver directory, and run: cvs update. Then run: make clean, then make config ; make install to recompile the driver.

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