(* $Id: README,v 1.5 2003/05/01 19:48:29 jal2 Exp $ *)

at76c503 - linux driver for Atmel at76c503 based usb wlan adapters
------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a another driver for the Atmel based USB WLAN adaptors. I am
developing this driver in private. I am not associated with Atmel, or
any cooperation that builds devices with this chip. My only
information source is the driver from
http://atmelwlandriver.sourceforge.net.

Look at http://at76c503a.berlios.de/ for more information, mailing lists and links.

Known devices with this chip are:
- Belkin F5D6050
- Dynalink/Askey WLL013
- Linksys WUSB11 v2.6
- Netgear MA101B
and many more.

Reqirements:
------------

- Kernel 2.4.x. I am developing the driver on 2.4.20, but it
  reportedly also works on 2.4.19, 2.4.18 and 2.4.16. I am not sure
  about 2.5.x.

Installation:
-------------

make
make install

Running:
--------

Plug in the adapter. If you already used it under Windows or with the
driver from atmelwlandriver.sourceforge.net, replug the device
(ie. plug out and in again).

If you have hotplug installed, the drivers should now be loaded. If not,
load them by hand:

modprobe -v at76c503-rfmd
or
insmod usbdfu.o; insmod at76c503.o; insmod at76c503-rfmd.o

You can give the network device another name than wlanX by giving
the module the netdev_name parameter. Eg.
insmod at76c503-rfmd.o netdev_name=eth%d
would give the first device the name eth0, the second eth1 etc...

Check if the modules are loaded with lsmod. It should look like this:

...
at76c503-rfmd          38656   0  (unused)
at76c503               34004   0  [at76c503-rfmd]
usbdfu                  9144   0  [at76c503-rfmd]
...

setup networking (replace <iface> with wlan0, wlan1, ..., <ch> with a
channel number (1..14) <essid> with your network id (a string), <ip>
with an IP address)

iwconfig <iface> channel <ch> mode ad-hoc essid <essid>

Example:
iwconfig wlan2 mode ad-hoc channel 10 essid okuwlan

Test it by pinging another host with a wlan adaptor.

Note that the firmware survives reboots of the computer, but not
unplugging the device.

If you get problems:
Look with dmesg, if there are error messages.

Private Parameters
------------------

In addition to the parameters of iwconfig, some can be set by iwpriv:
- long preamble:  iwpriv wlanX set_preamble 0
- short preamble: iwpriv wlanX set_preamble 1
- open system authentication: iwpriv wlanX set_auth 0
- shared key authentication:  iwpriv wlanX set_auth 1
- amount of debug messages:   iwpriv wlanX set_debug N  (* N = 0,1,2,3 *)

Be aware that shared key authentication requires a WEP key.


Thanks to:
- the authors of the usbvnet driver (atmelwlandriver.sourceforge.net)
- Joerg Albert for lots of patches
- Brad Hards and Bas Vermeulen for the firmeware code, which I ported to kernel space
- David Gibson, I used his orinoco driver for learning
- the author(s) of the usbnet driver
- the author(s) of the rtl8150 driver
- lots of other authors of usb and wlan drivers, where I stole code from

Oliver Kurth <oku@masqmail.cx>, Mon,  6 Jan 2003 22:39:47 +0100
updated by Joerg Albert, Thu, 1 May 2003