ath5k module vs. MadWifi

[Tim Lauridsen]

Scott Robbins wrote:
> I am wondering, for those who have an AR5007EG card, if they are finding
> that lately (perhaps 2 updates or so ago) that they are better off
> reverting to the MadWifi drivers.  
>
> My results are not consistent.  I imagine there are various differences
> in the chipsets that I'm missing, but with two Acer laptops, one the
> Aspire One, I get different results.  With the 4720z, the latest kernels
> and ath5k module works without any issues.  On the AA1, it will
> sometimes show nothing if doing iwlist scan, and other times, though it
> will show available networks, will not get a DHCP address, nor work with
> a statically assigned address.  I don't use NetworkManager, I configure
> it manually, so that shouldn't be a factor. 
>
> I note that the latest Ubuntu is disabling the ath5k module by default,
> saying, in their release notes, that it will conflict with the MadWifi
> driver--however, they seem a bit ambiguous as to which works better.
> (They say that with some of the chipsets, the MadWifi won't work with
> WPA, or maybe WPA2.)  In that case, one wonders why they are disabling
> the ath5k instead of encouraging people to use it--this is why I felt it
> was a bit ambiguous, they just suggest that if your MadWifi driver isn't
> working, install a backports modules with updated ath5k drivers. 
>
> The 4720z is working well with the ath5k.  So this might be some issue
> with the AA1, however, I have a few installations on this machine--those
> that are using the MadWifi driver connect without issue, while Rawhide
> isn't. 
>
> So, I'm wondering what other people are experiencing.  Is the ath5k
> working for you?  
>
> Thanks for any input--please note that at present, this is a fairly
> trivial question as it's quite easy to blacklist and put in the MadWifi
> driver.  Then, I uninstall it and put back the ath5k with each update.
> :)
>  
The current ath5k in rawhide, works very well for me on my Lenovo T60 
laptop (using WP2 / NetworkManager)

03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5212 
802.11abg NIC (rev 01)

It has not be working very well for me in the past and i had to fallback 
to using the madwifi driver.

Disabling ath5k in Ubuntu, seems kind of strange, they could just add a 
backlist file, like the livna/rpmfusion madwifi driver does, but again
do a lot of weird stuff :)

Tim