How do i install a driver for a wireless usb adapter (debian)
 

Hi everyone. I am a complete novice when it comes to Linux. I have just installed Debian 5 and i would like to get the wireless adapter working. I have a Ralink RT2070 54Mbs Wireless USB Adapter and the driver disk.

What are the steps/commands i must follow to install the driver please?

Many thanks.

Neil.

Welcome to Debian. To install the drivers you don't need the driver disk, just follow the steps for Lenny on this site: http://wiki.debian.org/rt2870sta
In general, the Debian Wiki is a good place to look at if you have any questions.

Thanks for the link. i think i may be out of my depth here

to follow the instructions and add a repository would i not need to be online?

i cant connect via ethernet so would that be a problem?

Yes, you have to be online to follow those instructions, maybe you can visit an internet caffee and do the installation there.

I have found a long enough cable...took some doing but i have now got it connected to the old pc via ethernet. I have just updated the system and will now go back to following the link you posted for me.

Thanks.

Neil.

Ok i have tried to follow the link. The instructions are a little vague at times and were most definitely not written for newbies with no knowledge of linux like myself. But i have managed to struggle through and (after many errors) I think follow what to do.

So far i have added the debian backports, updated the packages and installed the 2.6.32 kernel image via 'aptitude -t lenny-backports install linux-image-2.6-$(uname -r | sed 's,.*-,,') firmware-ralink wireless-tools'

Have i done this correct?

When i type ‘modprobe rt2500usb’ or ‘modprobe rt73usb’ then type ‘1wconfig’ i get the message:

lo no wireless extensions

eth0 no wireless extensions

And ‘ifconfig wlan0 up’ reports the wlan0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device.

‘dpkg –list | grep linux-image’ states that I have 2.6.32

Any idea what i have done wrong or were I have gone wrong?

Why didn't you do modprobe rt2870sta, as stated in the wiki? As far I can see that is the only mistake, everything else you have done looks OK.

I had forgotten to install the lenny-backports/firmware-ralink and wireless-tools package

Although i have them downloaded I have no idea how to install them.

i tried to run synaptics package manager but i get an unable to get exclusive lock error
saying to close apt-get or aptitude.

The only method i could find was the killall method but this did not work

i have a ralink 802.11g adapter.

Ralink 802.11g USB devices are supported by the rt73usb and rt2500usb drivers

The rt2870sta-driver handles the device Ralink 2070 USB, as stated in the Supported Devices section in the wiki, otherwise i would have pointed you to the section for a different driver. Please do as stated in the wiki.

To install the firmware and wireless-tools just do aptitude -t lenny-backports install firmware-ralink wireless-tools.

I did follow wiki regarding the modprobe rt2860sta but I got an error from that saying
FATAL: module rt2860sta not found.
Then I read
Ralink 802.11n PCI devices are supported by the rt2860sta driver. Ralink 802.11g USB devices are supported by the rt73usb and rt2500usb drivers.
So I then tried both modprobe rt2500usb and rt73usb to see if they might work
On both occasions it went back to debian:/home/neil#
Then I realised I had not installed the lenny-backports/firmware-ralink and wireless-tools package.

The firmware will not install nor will synaptics package manager open
After a reboot I tried to access the Synaptic Package Manager.
After it accepted my password an error box came up saying:
E: dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run ‘dpkg --configure –a’ to correct the problem.
E: _cache->open() failed, please report

I have ran the command but I still get locked out.
This is when I referred to the killall command I used to try and end the process.

I have also tried aptitude -t lenny-backports install firmware-ralink wireless-tools but that failed as well.
This is my first go at anything Linux and I am trying as best I can, but as you can probably see I am not doing too well. :-<
So I think because I forgot to install the lenny-backports/firmware-ralink and wireless-tools package could be were the problem is? And if it is how do I correct the lock out I have created please?

Did you run dpkg --configure -a?n What was the output of that command?
I know that you are new to Linux and will try to keep that in mind. However, there are some general advices that I would recommend you to keep in mind. First, try to never interrupt dpkg, because that can leave your system in an inconsistent state. Second, please read any advices given to you carefully and type any commands exactly as given to you. The command to load the driver is not modprobe rt2860sta, but modprobe rt2870sta. Please try this. You have read that 802.11g-USB-devices are handled by different drivers, but the wiki says, that 802.11g-USB-devices with rt2500/rt2501-chipsets are handled by different drivers. If anything is unclear look through the whole documentation, the wiki mentions your chipset in the Supported Devices-Section:

Sorry it was a typo error...i did type rt2870rta.

The error message with dpkg was:
status database area is locked by another process.

I can get the dpkg etc command to run after a reboot and a package configuration page comes up with a configuring linux-base box regarding assigned uuid's or labels etc...i selected yes and it goes to another screen with ok at the end but no way to select it. Then if i try to open synaptics i get an unable to get exclusive lock message.

Thankyou for all the help and advice. I will check back tommorow as its quite late in the uk and i have taken up a lot of your time with my errors.

Peace.

Neil.

You can't run two packagemanagers at the same time, therefore the "lock"-errors. To get to the "OK" use the Tab-key. Hey, its at least one hour later here in Germany.:D