SparkyLinux 4 (tyche) 32bit
systemctl confirms that NetworkManager is running. lspci tells me that I have a Qualcomm Atheros AR242x card. NetworkManager starts but does nor find any signal. Downloaded madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current.tar.gz which is supposed to have the correct Atheros AR242x driver, but could not compile it because I was missing some libraries?
Could some please advise me as to what I should do next?
You did not say Sparky 4 or 5 stable versus testing. You can also get better xml markup via using inxi, search forum here for that.
Utilizing what you did - madwifi-hal ... you will have to redo the build make sequence every time a new kernel arrives, that is frequent in testing == 5.
You will want to utilize dkms Skim "man dkms" .
Possibly something like
https://github.com/Mange/rtl8192eu-linux-driver ## You can search for other "eu" gits that might be fresher for newer kernels.
Note the install using dkms section on the git page.
Recent posts on the 8192au and 8192bu recently here at Sparky. Realtek is very much anti-free software. Avoid them at all cost in the future.
edit.
recent post still a work in process http://sparkylinux.org/forum/index.php/topic,4767.msg12304/topicseen.html#new Do Not use rtl8192bu - yours is eu
Others with experience with the Atheros AR242x can chime in, Blizzard here, I had to do a triple at work caring for people.
edit again - please check if the cu version is old enough that the package firmware-realtek might work. Spark installs it automatically.
check https://packages.debian.org/buster/firmware-realtek ## Buster if on Sparky5
<quote> * Realtek RTL8192CU/RTL8188CU UMC A-cut firmware
(rtlwifi/rtl8192cufw_A.bin)
* Realtek RTL8192CU/RTL8188CU UMC B-cut firmware
(rtlwifi/rtl8192cufw_B.bin)
* Realtek RTL8192CU/RTL8188CU TMSC firmware
(rtlwifi/rtl8192cufw_TMSC.bin)
* Realtek RTL8192CU/RTL8188CU fallback firmware
(rtlwifi/rtl8192cufw.bin)
</quote>