Compiling/Using Ralink RT61

[Nicholas Thomas]

Hiya,

I have a wifi adapter (rt2570) which uses the rt2x00 driver - the 'other' mentioned below :). It works like a charm, beta software or no. My only glitch is that my default routes don't set up on reboot, so I need to 'route add default gw 88.96.18.246' every start. But I think that's my fault, not the module's :)

On Dapper, the relevant modules are included by default - I'm up & running out of the box atm :). I presume you're on breezy? 

The RT61 is also known as the rt2600. The good news is you can run it - the bad news is that you need to download and compile the rt2x00 source from http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com (rt2x00 beta 3 is probably your best bet) -- it's bad news because you need to be running a 2.6.13 or higher kernel... and Breezy has a 2.6.12 kernel. Aaargh :(. earlier versions - specifically, the rt2400, rt2500 and rt2570 modules (anything pre-2x00 b1) can be compiled easily on Breezy... but I strongly doubt that you can run your card on them.

So, you need to either patch the kernel/compile your own, or upgrade to dapper (which I'm running, and having no problems; but it's still officially alpha, so I'm leery to recommend it).

IF you do manage to get a 2.6.13+ kernel on breezy, you simply make sure that linux-headers-(kernel version) is installed, and that you've got the version of gcc you used to compile the kernel with installed (currently breezy uses 3.4). Then you'd download the file at <http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=107832&package_id=144813&release_id=379167> and unpack it.

Run ./configure, make and make install, as usual. Then do a depmod and a 'modprobe rt61'

On my system, rt61.ko is found here:-
/lib/modules/2.6.15-19-amd64-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rt2600/rt61.ko

Obviosuly YMMV :)

If it can't find the module (I had this problem a few times), then you just need to copy the .ko file to the right place - then depmod again - then modprobe once more.  


TBH, the Ralink driver is probably your best bet. There's a mini-HOWTO on the forums: http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=132980 - looks easy enough to follow. Shout if you have any problems :)

xF,

...Nick


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Message: 10
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 23:29:54 +0100
From: "Ben Edwards (lists)" <lists at videonetwork.org>
Subject: Compiling/Using Ralink RT61
To: Ubuntu Users <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com>
Message-ID: <1143498594.12513.8.camel at localhost.localdomain>
Content-Type: text/plain

I have compiled a few kernels (for debian) in my time but never added a
driver that does not ship.  I have a EW-7128G card which seems to use
the Ralink RT61 chipset.  Looking at the ndiswrapper site it says:-

Chipset: Ralink RT61
  * pciid: 1814:0301 and 1814:0302
  * Driver: Don't use driver that ships with card, it didnt work with
    ndiswrapper. Use the close source driver from Ralink
    http://www.ralinktech.com. It compiles for 2.4 and 2.6 kernels.
  * Other: The rt2x00 Open Source Project
    (http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com) have now a driver - but realy beta.
  * Other: The Ralink driver works great. It is not a plug and play, you
    need your kernel headers, the appropiate gcc (3.4) but when you can
    link it together and put it where it loads at startup, it works
    great. I am using WPA without any problem.

So I guess I should go for the 'Other Ralink' driver here which 'works great' but I dont really know where to start.  Any advide woulds be really appreciated.

Ben