How To Install wlanctl-ng on Ubuntu 21.04

One-liner install command

For those in a hurry, here's a one-line installation command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt -y install linux-wlan-ng

But if you are interested in the detailed steps with descriptions, the following information is for you.

What is wlanctl-ng and what are the ways to install it?

Before beginning this tutorial, you will need access to a server or computer running Ubuntu 21.04. This guide was written specifically with a server running Ubuntu 21.04 in mind, although it should also work on older, supported versions of the operating system.

Also, make sure you are running a regular, non-root user with sudo privileges configured on your server. When you have an account available, log in as your non-root user to begin.

There are several ways to install wlanctl-ng on Ubuntu 21.04. You can use (links are clickable):

In the following sections, we will describe each method in detail. You can choose one of them or refer to the recommended one.

Install wlanctl-ng using apt-get

First, update apt database with apt-get using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt-get database, You can install wlanctl-ng using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install linux-wlan-ng

Install wlanctl-ng using apt

Because wlanctl-ng is available in Ubuntu 21.04’s default repositories, it is possible to install it from these repositories using the apt packaging system.

To begin, update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, You can install wlanctl-ng using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install linux-wlan-ng

Install wlanctl-ng using aptitude

If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Ubuntu 21.04. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating aptitude database, You can install wlanctl-ng by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install linux-wlan-ng

How to upgrade (update) a single package wlanctl-ng using apt-get?

First, you will need to update packages index. Run update command as usual:

sudo apt-get update

Next, to upgrade only the wlanctl-ng, e.g. single package, you should use the following format with the apt-get command/apt command:

sudo apt-get --only-upgrade install linux-wlan-ng

Note that this command will not install any new packages! If you wish to install the package if it doesn't exist you may leave out --only-upgrade part.

sudo apt-get install linux-wlan-ng

How To Uninstall wlanctl-ng from Ubuntu 21.04

To uninstall only the wlanctl-ng package you can execute the following command:

sudo apt-get remove linux-wlan-ng

Uninstall wlanctl-ng and all its dependencies

To uninstall wlanctl-ng and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Ubuntu 21.04, you can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove linux-wlan-ng

Remove wlanctl-ng with all configurations and data

To remove wlanctl-ng configuration and data from your system you can run the following purge command:

sudo apt-get -y purge linux-wlan-ng

Remove wlanctl-ng completely (configurations, data and all of its dependencies)

And lastly, you can run the next command to remove absolutely everything related to wlanctl-ng package, e.g.: configurations, data and all of its dependencies. Just use this command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge linux-wlan-ng

Extra info and code examples

linux-wlan-ng is a set of drivers and utilities that is intended to provide the full range of IEEE 802.11 MAC management capabilities for use in user-mode utilities and scripts. The package currently supports the Intersil 802.11b Prism2, Prism2.5, and Prism3 reference designs for PCMCIA, PCI, and USB. Additionally, the package includes support for the PLX9052 based PCI to PCMCIA adapter with a few different PCMCIA cards. Please note that you probably do not need this package: The prism2_usb driver is included in the default kernel packages since 2.6.31. If you need firmware loading for your prism2_usb device, please just install the prism2-usb-firmware-installer package. This package ships legacy utilities and scripts for advanced configuration and user-space firmware downloading (support for non-USB devices).

Conclusion

You now have a full guide on how to install wlanctl-ng using apt, apt-get and aptitude tools. Also, we showed how to update as a single package and different ways to uninstall the wlanctl-ng from Ubuntu 21.04.

See also: