Atheros-based wireless devices
From MEPIS Documentation Wiki
Wireless LAN devices based on the Atheros chipset require a Linux kernel device driver that can be obtained from the MadWifi project. Installation directions are also on the project website. In MEPIS 6.5 and 7.0, the package madwifi-modules is included by default, but if you are having trouble it is recommended that you compile the latest build (see link below).
The driver allows your WLAN card to appear as a normal network interface in the system. Additionally there is support for the wireless extensions that allow you to configure the device using the wireless tools (iwconfig etc.) explained here in the Wiki under Command_line_utilities.
Madwifi drivers use the interface wifi0 as a control interface for some sort of lower level access to the wireless chipset. Be sure that wifi0 is unchecked for starting at boot because otherwise it will probably interfere with the regular interface (typically, ath0).
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