1. Introduction

1.1 NOTE

This an updated and tidied version of a simple HOWTO that has lived here since August 2002.

There are a LOT of different AT76C503A-based wireless as shown by the USB device table, but this, combined with the wide variety of linux environments people have and the qwirks the driver has with various device/platform combinations makes it hard to write a general AT76C503A-based device HOWTO. What works with one driver on one platform may not work for another. So, this HOWTO covers my device and my environment since thats what I have experience with.

Despite the seemingly narrow audience of this HOWTO, a lot of the information will be of use to people with other Atmel AT76C503A-based devices, or different linux environments. I'd like to hear from people who use this document, irrespective of their device/environment, so this the document can be improved and hopefully made more device/envionment neutral. Please send feedback to: jamienz[at]yahoo.com.

1.2 Changes

Here is a brief change-log for this document:

v0.4 (2003-02-16)

• updated Section 4 with a note on Atmel's removal of Intersil support from the main development trunk in cvs
• added path item to Section 7.1. Thanks to Steven Bryant.
• added links about the Wireless Tools for Linux for those not using RH8.0, who may not have them already. Thanks to Chad Nouis.

v0.031 (2003-01-09)

• fixed typos in commands in section 3. Thanks to Matthias Kranz

v0.03 (2002-12-23)

• this change log :-)
• added rh-specific info for having the driver configured each reboot
• added to troubleshooting some suggestions for the interface alias allocation order issue

v0.02 (2002-12-22)

• changed to be ma101/rh8 centric, as the initial version was too general given the qwirkyness of the driver
• updated for RH8.0 and the latest cvs snapshot
• covers both Rev.A and Rev.B versions of the ma101

v0.01 (2002-09-22)

• initial version.

1.3 Copyright

This document is Copyright 2002 by Jamie McKinney. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license can be found here.

1.4 Disclaimer

Use the information in this document at your own risk. I disavow any potential liability for the contents of this document. Use of the concepts, examples, and/or other content of this document is entirely at your own risk.

All copyrights are owned by their owners, unless specifically noted otherwise. Use of a term in this document should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.

Naming of particular products or brands should not be seen as endorsements.

You are strongly recommended to take a backup of your system before major installations, and backups at regular intervals also.

Basically, if it all ends in tears, you're on your own.

Next Previous Contents