IMPORTANT NOTE: This page is deprecated, updated documentation can be found here
HostAP is the recommended driver for Prism2.x/3 based PCMCIA and PCI cards. The driver official web site is at http://hostap.epitest.fi.
If you're using a kernel version >= 2.6.16, you have to patch kernel sources with hostap-kernel-2.6.18.patch patch instead of using the following method:
ifconfig wlan0 down wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_ifstate ifstate=disable /etc/init.d/CardBus stop rmmod prism2_pci rmmod hostap_pci wget http://hostap.epitest.fi/releases/hostap-driver-0.4.9.tar.gz tar -xvzf hostap-driver-0.4.9.tar.gz cd hostap-driver-0.4.9 wget http://patches.aircrack-ng.org/hostap-driver-0.4.7.patch patch -Np1 -i hostap-driver-0.4.7.patch make && make install mv -f /etc/pcmcia/wlan-ng.conf /etc/pcmcia/wlan-ng.conf~ /etc/init.d/pcmcia start modprobe hostap_pci &>/dev/null
If your card appears to hang (no packets captured or injected), disable the interface, reload the drivers and re-insert the card. Also consider updating the firmware (if prism2).
Your system hangs when booted or crashes when the card is inserted.
http://forum.aircrack-ng.org/index.php?topic=2337.msg13100#msg13100
This problem can be fixed with a patch from SuD:
http://tv.latinsud.com/hostap/
Or run the following script. It is a bit convoluted but it works.
Script:
#!/bin/sh modprobe orinoco_cs pccardctl eject rmmod orinoco_cs rmmod orinoco rmmod hermes rmmod hostap_cs modprobe hostap_cs pccardctl insert
You also need to add this to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist:
#orinco wireless drivers blacklist orinoco_cs #hostap wireless drivers blacklist hostap_cs
Also be aware of this bug
There are some important limitations with this driver: