Installing WiFi USB Stick (Hama 00062764, Ratech Chip, rt73 driver)

[CoryPA]

First of all I would like to say that I'm really new to VL. Today, I had my first VL experience with a VectorLinux Standard 5.8 LIVE Edition CD on a Sony Vaio laptop, and I'm trying to connect it to my WLAN.

My WiFi antenna is the Hama 00062764 (USB). "lsusb" and Google told me this device is using a Ratech chip (http://www.gerwesselink.nl/wlanadapter.txt). According to this document I need the "rt73" driver.

I googled some more and found the following page, where Ratech is apparently offering the driver and firmware for my device: http://www.ralinktech.com/ralink/Home/Support/Linux.html . http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/wiki/index.php/Downloads#rt73_.28USB.29 is probably something similar but from an unofficial source(?).

I stumbled upon a discussion at http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=22260  where someone was trying to install the same device on a different system. , so I downloaded http://www.ralinktech.com.tw/data/RT73_Linux_STA_Drv1.0.4.0.tar.gz and tried to do what he did:

1) downloading the driver
2) unpacking the driver
3) cd to the Module directory
4) make; make install
5) modprobe rt73

Well, step 4) didn't work, and again I asked Google for help, where I learned that "make" and "make install" do not exist on VL  and I should better use "cleaninstall" instead (source: http://www.home.no/mlinux/built.txt).

In the afore mentioned discussion someone claimed that one had to copy the firmware to /lib/firmware, so I downloaded http://www.ralinktech.com.tw/data/RT71W_Firmware_V1.8.zip (which, despite its name, does contain a file "rt73.bin") and extracted it to /lib/firmware. I ran cleaninstall again but to no avail.

"modprobe rt73" still says "rt73 does not exist" and iwconfig says  "no wireless extensions" twice.

I don't really know what I'm doing wrong here (which is probably the bigger problem than what I'm actually doing wrong). I'm happy to see that VL does detect the device, and as I understand it the Ratech chip is of those more likely to work with Linux, but think I'm doing something fundamentally wrong with the drivers and/or the firmware and I just don't know what. Any help is appreciated.


Oh, and I tried to provide all relevant information. Please tell me if I forgot anything.  Thanks.

[rbistolfi]

hi CoryPA!

First at all, I think you are a little confused. VL "has" make and make install, they are standard for all the good distros (sorry *buntu). They are commands used for compiling source code. Make will translate the source code to binary so your pc can "understand" it. Make install will copy all the files needed into the proper locations. You need to be root to run make install, since in general it copy the files in to a dir of the file system where the regular user has no permissions.
That said, you can try make install as root (type root and then you password in a terminal to become root) and post the output here. Someone with wireless experience will help you. I have not that hardware. 
Also, may be you want to read easuter's excellent howto about wireless on the howtos section of this forum: http://www.vectorlinux.com/forum2/index.php?topic=1282.0
The VL docs are a very nice general introduction to the system, you can take a look there too, for a general understanding and more: http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/docs/
If you still have some trouble with the drivers, dont doubt about posting questions here.

[CoryPA]

Thank you for your reply.

I logged on as root but when I typed in "make" or "make install" it just said "command not found":

vector:/~/Desktop/RT73_Linux_STA_Drv1.0.4.0/Module
root:# make
bash: make: command not found
vector:/~/Desktop/RT73_Linux_STA_Drv1.0.4.0/Module
root:# make install
bash: make: command not found

I tried typing "make" and hitting the Tab key twice just to see what else might be there and I got this listing:

vector:/~/Desktop/RT73_Linux_STA_Drv1.0.4.0/Module
root:# make
makebootdisk  makeg         makepak       makerepo      makestrs
makedepend    makeinfo      makepkg       makeslapt     makewhatis

[rbistolfi]

Oh, sorry, my mistake. I use the beryl live cd edition which comes with that tools. Looks like they are not shipped anymore, surely is because the disc space was needed for something else.
You can install make with slapt-get --install make, and you will need gcc if it is not there too: slapt-get --install gcc
If you have not inet on that machine you can download them from here:
http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/veclinux-5.8/packages/dev/gcc-3.4.6-i486-1.tlz
http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/veclinux-5.8/packages/dev/make-3.81-i486-1.tlz

I dont know what is needed to build that particular driver but any other dev tool needed should be in the repo.
The serialmonkey driver is "unofficial" as you said, is an open source driver for your card. Easuter, -our wifi man- has reported they work very well, even much better than the "official" ones sometimes.
Please note that is a live cd and every change will go out on a reboot. May be you want to try the install cd instead.

[CoryPA]

Thank you so much for your help! I managed to install make and gcc but when I tried to build the driver it said

"make: *** /lib/modules/2.6.18.5/build: No such file or directory."

vector:/~/Desktop/rt73-cvs-2007082310/Module
root:# make
make: *** /lib/modules/2.6.18.5/build: No such file or directory.  Stop.
rt73.ko failed to build!
make: *** [module] Error 1

I tried both the Ratech and the serialmonkey sources but it always complained about the missing "/lib/modules/2.6.18.5/build".

[rbistolfi]

You need the kernel sources too 

You can download that package from here:
http://ftp://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/vectorlinux/veclinux-5.8/kernels/kernel-src-2.6.18.5-i586-1vl58.tlz

Check the versions before the download, the uname -r command will gives you your kernel version, and then download the proper kernel-src package.

[CoryPA (v2.0)]

Yesterday I've had a major problem with my main computer's power supply unit (it started smoking and as a non-smoker I couldn't tolerate that) Since my forum password is stored on the other computer I had to create a new account.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I finally managed to get online with the help of NdisWrapper and the Wireless HowTo you pointed me to (which is indeed excellent). I guess I'm just not Linux savvy enough to compile my own drivers - at least not yet

[rbistolfi]

Good to know you get it working! The easy way is the right way to me

I guess I'm just not Linux savvy enough to compile my own drivers - at least not yet

Yeah, me too. Enjoy VL!

[exeterdad]

CoryPA (v2.0)

 
Clever new name!  Glad you got it working!