rt2500... whats next?

Simdude90015 · 07-12-2006, 04:39 PM

I've just installed the rt2500 driver for my GIGABYTE GN-WP01GS PCI WiFi Card, everything went well. Now I need to know how to get it to connect to my WiFi Router using the command line, and how to get it to connect at boot. I'm on Debian 3.1 and my Router uses 128-bit WEP.

lspci:

Code:

0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] AMD-751 [Irongate] System Controller (rev 25)
0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] AMD-751 [Irongate] AGP Bridge (rev 01)
0000:00:07.0 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] AMD-756 [Viper] ISA (rev 01)
0000:00:07.1 IDE interface: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] AMD-756 [Viper] IDE (rev 07)
0000:00:07.3 Bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] AMD-756 [Viper] ACPI (rev 03)
0000:00:07.4 USB Controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] AMD-756 [Viper] USB (rev 06)
0000:00:11.0 Network controller: RaLink Ralink RT2500 802.11 Cardbus Reference Card (rev 01)
0000:00:12.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905C-TX/TX-M [Tornado] (rev 78)
0000:00:14.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Live! EMU10k1 (rev 07)
0000:00:14.1 Input device controller: Creative Labs SB Live! MIDI/Game Port (rev 07)
0000:01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV10 [GeForce 256 SDR] (rev 10)

uname -r:

Code:

2.6.8-3-386

Thanks to anyone who will help!

-Jim
(Somewhat

)

P.S. I'm not using WPA because I'm using Firmware Version 1.5 on my Playstation Portable (which only supports WEP)

sw67 · 07-12-2006, 04:47 PM

Ah the good old RT2500... I have one of those in my laptop. Took me ages to get the damn thing working.
However.. it does, with 64-bit WEP, so I imagine 128 will be the same.
I use a script with the wireless tools (on Slackware, but I assume it'll work ok on debian).
My laptop calls it ra0 -- change that to whatever debian calls it (if any different).

Code:

ifconfig ra0 up
iwconfig ra0 essid any
iwconfig ra0 key restricted
iwconfig ra0 key <your WEP key here>
iwconfig ra0 channel 11
iwconfig ra0 rate auto
dhcpcd ra0

The key line does need to be in there twice, so it's not a typo

Hope it helps.

rickh · 07-12-2006, 04:54 PM

http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/wiki/...n_rt2500_Howto

Simdude90015 · 07-12-2006, 05:20 PM

Rickh, I read that and it got me started... but confused me boyond there.

Would this work?

Code:

ifconfig ra0 up
iwconfig ra0 essid <my ssid here>
iwconfig ra0 key restricted
iwconfig ra0 key <my WEP key here>
iwconfig ra0 channel 2
iwconfig ra0 rate auto
dhcpcd ra0

(my router runs on channel 2... 11 is taken by my neighbors)

EDIT: Tried it and it worked.

Simdude90015 · 07-12-2006, 05:31 PM

WooHoo! It works! I was able to ssh in when the ethernet cable was unplugged!

Thanks!
*step one complete for budget HTPC*

... only about 40 more steps to go :-P

sw67 · 07-12-2006, 05:55 PM

That's good then.
That script took me about a month to get working...
But then the RT2500 was new at the time.

Simdude90015 · 07-14-2006, 03:03 PM

Gah. One slight hitch.

Adding the following to my /etc/network/interfaces file made the system not get past "Starting MTA:" on boot.

Code:

auto ra0
iface ra0 inet dhcp 
  wireless-essid MySSID 
  wireless-key MyWEPKey

This Code made my system not connect to ethernet or the WiFi

Code:

auto eth-wifi
iface eth-wifi inet dhcp wireless-essid MySSID wireless-key MyWEPkey

What am I missing?

Simdude90015 · 07-14-2006, 04:41 PM

Update: I fixed it by adding the following to the top of my sshd bootscript:

Code:

ifconfig ra0 up
iwconfig ra0 essid <my ssid here>
iwconfig ra0 key restricted
iwconfig ra0 key <my WEP key here>
iwconfig ra0 channel 2
iwconfig ra0 rate auto
dhcpcd ra0

not very elegant, but it works. I can ssh into it through the WiFi right after a cold start.

justincataldo · 11-16-2006, 06:17 AM

So you were able to get your GIGABYTE GN-WP01GS working Simdude90015? I'm still trying to get it working under Gentoo.

Simdude90015 · 01-04-2007, 10:44 AM

Yep. It worked fine, but I've abandoned the HTPC project for now, and the hard drive has been wiped several times since then.