Setting up the Intel ipw3945 Wireless a/b/g notebook adapter from source

by opsec — last modified Jun 09, 2008 01:32 PM

— filed under: Wireless

These advanced instructions will help you to get the ipw3945 Intel wireless a/b/g notebook adapter working with Fedora. Please do not use these instructions if you do not need advanced features or your user experience level is not appropriate. For help please visit #fedora on Freenode IRC Network.

Warning

Fedora Core 6 is EOL, this howto may be useful for other versions of Fedora.

Applicable to Fedora Versions

Fedora 6, 7, 8, 9
Special Note: Use of ATrpms packages will taint your ieee80211 subsystem in your kernel requiring you to reinstall the affected kernel. It is recommended to use the other howto on fedoramobile.org if you prefer to use rpm pacakges.

Requirements

Read our Getting Started with Wireless Guide.
Read intel-ipw3945 to see if it is more applicable to your install.

The ipw3945 drivers are currently in development and it is necessary to download various separate source files for the following:

kernel-devel ( Development package for building modules against kernels)
gcc (C++ Compiler)
ipw3945-1.2.0.tgz ( from http://ipw3945.sourceforge.net/ ) driver/kernel module
ipw3945-ucode-1.14.2.tgz ( from http://bughost.org/ipw3945/ucode/ ) microcode/firmware
ipw3945d-1.7.22.tgz ( from http://bughost.org/ipw3945/daemon/ ) daemon

Note: Many of the commands you'll be asked to use require root access to the system via command line or 'terminal". If you don't feel comfortable doing this, ask someone more experienced to help you. To gain root access on the system type this command: su --login ( for more information about the various uses of the switch user command type: man su )

Open a terminal
Use 'su' to become root

Doing the Work

Installing the latest kernel and corresponding kernel-devel packages:

# su --login
# yum update
# yum install kernel-devel

Installing the ipw3945 driver version 1.2.0 Extract the tarball using tar zxf ipw3945-1.2.0.tgz, and then cd ipw3945-1.2.0. Within this directory, build the new driver, after making any necessary changes to the Makefile (Most likely not necessary). Then copy the driver file into the correct version of the kernel driver section. i.e. Copy the ipw3945.ko driver into /lib/modules/2.6.23.17-88.fc7/kernel/drivers/net/wireless, and change permissions to allow execution. Finally make sure that the module dependency is updated using "depmod -ae" as root.

$ make
# cp ipw3945.ko /lib/modules/2.6.23.17-88.fc7/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/
# cd /lib/modules/2.6.23.17-88.fc7/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/
# chmod 744 ipw3945.ko
# depmod -ae

Note: Be sure to use directory appropriate to your current kernel.

Installing the microcode/firmware file ipw3945-ucode-1.14.2.tgz.

$ tar zxf ipw3945-ucode-1.14.2.tgz
$ cd ipw3945-ucode-1.14.2
# cp ipw3945.ucode /lib/firmware

Installing the regulatory daemon, ipw3945d-1.7.22.tgz

$ tar zxf ipw3945d-1.7.22.tgz
$ cd ipw3945d-1.7.22
# cp x86/ipw3945d /sbin/
(or choose the version for x86_64 if necessary)

Installing the startup script. Which can be obtained here: ipw3945
Open a text editor and copy the script into it, save and exit renaming the resulting file ipw3945

# cp ipw3945 /etc/init.d
# chmod +x /etc/init.d/ipw3945
# chkconfig --add ipw3945

Finalizing and getting the interface up and running

# reboot
# system-config-network
Click "new" and configure the device normally

Keeping up to date with new kernels:

Install the new kernel and corresponding kernel-devel packages
Rebuild the kernel module while booted into the new kernel and copy it over as per step #2 (ipw3945.ko)
Reboot into the new kernel

Note: This has been tested on FC6 kernels: 2798, 2849, 2868, 2869, 2895, 2911, 2911.6.4, 2911.6.5, 2925, 2933, 2944
Note: This has been tested on F7 kernels: ALL (as of 09 June 2008)
Note: This has been tested on F8 kernels: ALL (as of 09 June 2008)
Note: This has been tested on F9 kernels: ALL (as of 09 June 2008)
Note: You may receive errors about your device not being present on boot, this is normal it should work fine once you are booted into your desktop.

Special Notes:

If you'd like Monitor Mode, Promiscuous Mode or RadioTap enabled for this device you will need to edit the Makefile in

Step 2 before compiling and uncomment the corresponding line(s):

CONFIG_IPW3945_MONITOR=y
CONFIG_IEEE80211_RADIOTAP=y
CONFIG_IPW3945_PROMISCUOUS=y

Note: To enable either Promiscuous Mode or RadioTap you must enable Monitor Mode as well.

Troubleshooting

Many laptops with built in wireless have a WLAN switch that is a toggle switch for enabling/disabling the wireless radio.

Please make sure you check this is on, or your ipw3945 wireless adapter will not detect correctly or work at all.

Disclaimer

We test this stuff on our own machines, really we do. But you may run into problems, if you do, come to #fedora on irc.freenode.net

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