How to install TP-Link TL-WN722N USB Wireless Adapter on Debian Wheezy armhf?

Question

I have a TP-Link WN722N USB dongle plugged in:

root@udoo-debian-hfp:~# lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Debian
Description:    Debian GNU/Linux 7.4 (wheezy)
Release:    7.4
Codename:   wheezy

root@udoo-debian-hfp:~# uname -a
Linux udoo-debian-hfp 3.0.35 #1 SMP PREEMPT Mon Mar 3 15:17:07 CET 2014 armv7l GNU/Linux

I identified the device using:

root@udoo-debian-hfp:~# lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0424:2514 Standard Microsystems Corp. USB 2.0 Hub
Bus 002 Device 096: ID 0cf3:9271 Atheros Communications, Inc. AR9271 802.11n
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 148f:5370 Ralink Technology, Corp. RT5370 Wireless Adapter

According to wireless.kernel.org vendor id:0cf3 product id:9271 uses the ath9k_htc driver. As far as I know, that driver should already be shipped with my current kernel packages. Strangely I cannot find it anywhere:

root@udoo-debian-hfp:~# lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
vivante                  943  1 
drm                   141896  2 vivante

root@udoo-debian-hfp:~# modinfo ath9k_htc
ERROR: Module ath9k_htc not found.

I followed Debian instructions for ath9k_htc installation. This had the same result as the previous lsmod. It also didn't show up on the list of network interfaces. I tried rebooting the device and unplugged the USB dongle.

root@udoo-debian-hfp:~# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

usb0      no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  Mode:Master  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Tx-Power=20 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:on

mon.wlan0  IEEE 802.11bgn  Mode:Monitor  Tx-Power=20 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:on

wlan0 is the onboard wifi module Ralink Technology, Corp. RT5370 Wireless Adapter configured to run hostapd. I'm planning to use the dongle to be a client on another network.

What can I do at this point to troubleshoot the installation?

Answer 1

This is a long shot, to a quite old question that I hope you've found the answer for...

I did the following to get it working on my system, also Wheezy.

Added the non-free packages to /etc/apt/sources.list

apt-get update

apt-get install firmware-atheros

reboot

And it showed up in iw list :)

HTHs someone!