Howto get the rt2870 Wifi 802.11abgn chipset to work with Intrepid Ibex

Install build-essential (This may not be needed so try the next steps without build-essential first).


sudo apt-get install build-essential

Create a directory in for example your home directory to keep all the files.

cd ~/

mkdir rt2870

cd rt2870

Now retrieve the driver

wget http://www.ralinktech.com.tw/data/drivers/2008_0925_RT2870_Linux_STA_v1.4.0.0.tar.bz2

Extract the compressed driver directory and files.

tar xvfj 2008_0925_RT2870_Linux_STA_v1.4.0.0.tar.bz2

Enter the directory and edit the config.mk file so that the driver will support NetworkManager

nano os/linux/config.mk

Change the following part

# Support Wpa_Supplicant

HAS_WPA_SUPPLICANT=n

# Support Native WpaSupplicant for Network Magang

HAS_NATIVE_WPA_SUPPLICANT_SUPPORT=n

to this

# Support Wpa_Supplicant

HAS_WPA_SUPPLICANT=y

# Support Native WpaSupplicant for Network Maganger

HAS_NATIVE_WPA_SUPPLICANT_SUPPORT=y

Compile and install.

sudo make

sudo make install

Edit the Ralink settings file to your liking.

sudo nano /etc/Wireless/RT2870STA/RT2870STA.dat

This is what mine looks like without the passwords and accesspoint.

#The word of "Default" must not be removed

Default

CountryRegion=5

CountryRegionABand=7

CountryCode=SE

ChannelGeography=1

SSID=*REMOVED*

NetworkType=Infra

WirelessMode=5

Channel=1

BeaconPeriod=100

TxPower=100

BGProtection=0

TxPreamble=0

RTSThreshold=2347

FragThreshold=2346

TxBurst=1

PktAggregate=0

WmmCapable=1

AckPolicy=0;0;0;0

AuthMode=WPA

EncrypType=TKIP

WPAPSK=*REMOVED*

DefaultKeyID=1

Key1Type=0

Key1Str=

Key2Type=0

Key2Str=

Key3Type=0

Key3Str=

Key4Type=0

Key4Str=

PSMode=CAM

FastRoaming=0

RoamThreshold=70

APSDCapable=0

APSDAC=0;0;0;0

HT_RDG=1

HT_EXTCHA=0

HT_OpMode=1

HT_MpduDensity=4

HT_BW=1

HT_BADecline=0

HT_AutoBA=1

HT_BADecline=0

HT_AMSDU=1

HT_BAWinSize=64

HT_GI=1

HT_MCS=33

HT_MIMOPSMode=3

IEEE80211H=0

TGnWifiTest=0

WirelessEvent=0

I think the important part of my changes is this.

AuthMode=WPA

This was what I had to change to make the driver work with NetworkManager.

Now make the driver load at bootup

sudo nano /etc/modules

and add this line to the the file.

alias ra0 rt2870sta

My /etc/modules looks like this.

# /etc/modules: kernel modules to load at boot time.

#

# This file contains the names of kernel modules that should be loaded

# at boot time, one per line. Lines beginning with "#" are ignored.

fuse

lp

sbp2

#ndiswrapper

uinput

alias ra0 rt2870sta

# Added for Nero Linux device access

sg

Add an ugly fix to make the ra0 interface come up during each boot.

sudo nano /etc/init.d/rc.local

and add these lines to the end of the file

ifconfig ra0 inet up

sudo /etc/init.d/NetworkManager restart

Reboot and it should work. It did for me.