How to install Atheros R8162 NIC
This Page will take you through the steps of Downloading…Compiling…and Installing the Atheros R8162 NIC module for your Cat5 network card.
In most cases, the Network Interface Card known to most as NIC will come preinstalled by Calculate and Slackware… If users do find themselves installing Network Card modules then the install will be for just the WiFi card. Not the case for the Atheros R8162. It is newer and just is not currently offered preinstalled by any Linux distribution that I have checked (April 2013). Including Calculate, Slackware, Kubuntu, Ubuntu, Arch, Gentoo, Debian and all the spinoffs of each of the aforementioned distributions. However, don’t bypass a machine that has the Atheros R8162 NIC because the module for the NIC can be obtained and Installed with little trouble.
Just Follow these Steps
Here are the steps to download and compile… Worked like a charm with the WiCD Network interface manager.
Download the Source file from here
http://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/workgroups/networking/alx
For the below file… 2013-03-04 date seems to work best. Some others gave me compile errors. The driver source is one of two choices for us
compat-drivers-2013-03-04-u.tar.bz2
OR
compat-drivers-2013-03-04-p.tar.bz2
We are better off with the u
The -u postfix annotates that we have applied a driver under a unified driver
DOWNLOAD: /compat-drivers-2013-03-04-u.tar.bz2
Open a Terminal in Download Directory
Right Click on File and Choose (Extract Here) to Auto Extract to a Dir Named the same as the Downloaded file.
Next change dir into (New Install DIr) with FileManager or Terminal
cd /Downloads/compat-wireless-2012-02-28-u
Now you should be in the dir /compat-wireless-2012-02-28-u
Become root user and compile modules:
./scripts/driver-select alx
su
make
make install
Unload all: wireless, bluetooth and ethernet modules:
make unload
make wlunload
make btunload
Load new module:
modprobe alx
If unsure you can just reboot. In the end Calculate should work fine with the Atheros alx module installed.