installing wifi for atheros

[neilmaclennan]

i used to have shaw cable that i paid for and with that a "wired" connection which no matter what linux i chose to play with would recognize and automatically install the network drivers etc... so that i could access the web. now though i use a connection via wifi in the hotel that i now reside at and when i install or use live cd versions of linux i cant get it to use my wifi. due to the fact i have an atheros card. i researched this and found that apparently i need to have mad wifi installed and configured. however i haven't been able to get it to work. i can't seem to get an accurate step by step on installing it. same when i step by step try to install linux onto a usb stick and have it bootable. furthest i've gotten is the start up splash screen and then it freezes. anywho can someone steer me towards the "easiest dumbest person using it" install madwifi and or get a copy that works for an atheros card. and for usb sticking a copy thanks. if u require more from me then ask if i missed something i should have included to help me

[jayd512]

I'm not aware of any LiveCD's that have wireless drivers ready to go.
But you should be able to get something going with a USB install.
Try this page for some info to get you started.

[reed9]

Madwifi is no longer an active project. All work is now done in the ath5k and ath9k drivers. One of these two drivers should work with your card. However, we need to know the exact chipset of the card to troubleshoot further.

Please boot into a linux distro and post the output of

lspci -vnn

[neilmaclennan]

atheros ar9281 is the exact name of the wireless card i have

[reed9]

You need the ath9k driver. According to the linux wireless website, any distro shipping kernel >=2.6.27 should have this driver present.

ath9k - Linux Wireless

It's a pretty new driver, so if the version shipping in an older kernel like 2.6.27 isn't working, try a distro with a 2.6.3x kernel.