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NOTE: The mac80211 subsystem must be installed before installing the iwlwifi driver. See the HOWTO-mac80211 for information on installing mac80211.

You can tell if you have the mac80211 subsystem installed by running: 

% modprobe mac80211
If it returns no errors, and running lsmod shows the mac80211 module is loaded, then you are set and can continue with the steps below for installing the iwlwifi driver.

NOTE: The iwlwifi driver is experimental and may not work for you. YMMV.

This page provides a quick overview on how to install the iwlwifi driver on your system.

A summary of the steps required for installation is listed below. For detailed installation steps, see the iwlwifi's INSTALL.

First, you need to download and install the microcode (ucode): 

For Intel Wireless WiFi 4965AGN users:
% wget \
  http://intellinuxwireless.org/iwlwifi/downloads/iwlwifi-4965-ucode-4.44.17.tgz
% tar xvf iwlwifi-4965-ucode-4.44.17.tgz
% cp iwlwifi-4965-ucode-4.44.17/iwlwifi-4965.ucode /lib/firmware/
For Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG/BG Network Connection users:
% wget \
  http://intellinuxwireless.org/iwlwifi/downloads/iwlwifi-3945-ucode-2.14.4.tgz
% tar xvf iwlwifi-3945-ucode-2.14.4.tgz
% cp iwlwifi-3945-ucode-2.14.4/iwlwifi-3945.ucode /lib/firmware/
Next, download, build, and install the iwlwifi driver.

Download, build, and install from snapshots

% wget \
  http://intellinuxwireless.org/iwlwifi/downloads/iwlwifi-1.2.25.tgz
% tar xvf iwlwifi-1.2.25.tgz
% cd iwlwifi-1.2.25 
% make
% make install

Testing the build

Assuming all of the build runs without errors (you will likely see a few build warnings during compilation), you can now proceed with loading and using the driver: 
% dmesg -c > /dev/null
% ./load debug=0x43fff
Verify that loading succeeds without any errors in the kernel:
% dmesg -c
Bring up the interface so it can be configured:
% ifconfig wlan0 up
Verify that you can scan and see access points:
% iwlist wlan0 scan
Associate to your network:
% iwconfig wlan0 essid XXXXXX 
If you use WEP encryption, configure your key:
% iwconfig wlan0 key [1] ...your key in hex...
% iwconfig <-- Verify that you are associated
% dhcpcd wlan0
You should now have an IP address and be able to use the network. 'dhcpcd' may not be the DHCP client on your distribution. 'dhclient' is another popular version.

Hopefully the above will get you up and running and ready to contribute. If you run into any problems, you can send a message to the ipw3945-devel mailing list.

last updated: Mar 13 2008 03:03:24 PDT
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