Installing driver for WiFi adapter

[Paul Smith]

On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 3:44 PM, Sam Varshavchik <mrsam at courier-mta.com> wrote:
>> >> >> TP-LINK TL-WN821N
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > Can you post output of lsmod and lsusb. Have you installed the
>> >> > firmware
>> >> > for the device into /lib/firmware?  If the device is supported by the
>> >> > kernel you won't be able to load the module without the firmware
>> >> > installed.
>> >> >
>> >> > Google is your friend.
>> >>
>> >> Thanks, Terry.
>> >
>> > Why do you believe you need to install some kind of a driver? From the
>> > below, it looks like your card is an atheros chip-based one, and you
>> > have a
>> > bunch of ath9 modules loaded.
>> >
>> > What exactly is or is not working for you.
>>
>> Well, I plug the the USB device and nothing happens. According to the
>> manual, a led should be turned on when I plug the USB.
>
> That may not mean anything. These kinds of idiot lights are often software
> controlled. My laptop has a built-in idiot light for it's built-in wireless
> cards. It obediently lights up when I boot Windows. It stays off in Fedora.
> Maybe in blinks occasionally, but wireless works just fine. The kernel
> driver, I guess, doesn't bother to turn on the idiot light, when it
> initializes the adapter.
>
> The most important thing is whether NetworkManager claims to see a wireless
> interface, and gives you a list of available access points your wireless
> card is hearing, and not whether some idiot light comes on.
>
> A good source of clues is to look at what gets written into
> /var/log/messages, when you plug in the card.

Thanks, Sam. You are absolutely right: the wireless adapter was
working properly without any light being blinking or flashing.

Paul