Ok, I have a built in Ralink rt2500 wireless card. I'm a linux newb using debian 2.6.8 kernel. I've tried searching for this but between posts starting with "now that I've installed the drivers and setup the card..." or things I don't understand so I thought I'd ask straight up: How do I go from no wireless net to having it? I have a laptop (averatec C3500). I don't really know how to use the wireless config tool nor where to get drivers, nor what to do with them. All help would be appreciated, thanks.

No one? I've tried googling and searching, but what I'm finding is that it's all already beyond the point I'm at...

I've one of this wireless card, tomorrow I try to test this card on my Slackware Linux.

I find one wireless card works fine with linux, but in Tourin (Italy), I can't find any.

Dude, ndiswrapper is your friend. Check out their website. Your computer is listed in their hardware support list, as well as a link to the drivers.

As a sidenote, I have this computer, and the wireless works SWEEET with ndiswrapper. It took me 10 minutes to compile and install. However, bear in mind that you need your kernel sources.

--Akshun J

ndiswrapper is a temporary solution. You'll want to use native Linux drivers when you can. The wireless FAQ (http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_...1b.html#Ralink) suggests this: http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

All wireless chipsets will get native Linux drivers eventually, either through vendor support or reverse engineering. It's just a matter of time.

Very neat! I did not realize that Ralink finally GPL'd their drivers. Their binaries really sucked, and there was no support for the 2.6 kernel. However, it seems that the rt2500 driver is not yet stable. Ndiswrapper provides a reliable fix, but I certainly look forward to a stable open-source NATIVE driver.

--Akshun J

i tried to install my ralink rt2500 wireless on averatec 6130hs official mandrake 10.1, with the windows driver.
so, i installed ndiswrapper via mandrake installation system, then loaded windows drivers, and everything worked till the moment when i tried
modprobe ndiswrapper

that showed me something like:
FATAL: ndiswrapper module cannot be find

then i tried uninstalling ndiswrapper and compiling it from the source.
it couldn't compile even when i linked the modules/build folder with the kernel source folder (ln -s /lib/m etc).
any clues ideas??
thanks a lot

You sure your kernel sources are installed? And are you sure the build modules that you are linking match the kernel source? I know Mandrake uses multiple kernels, so this could be an issue. Also, when you do an

ndiswrapper -l

(that's a lowercase "L", by the way) what do you see? It should say "driver present, hardware present" along with the chipset name. Anything else and you probably have an old version of ndiswrapper, or are using a wacky version of the driver. The best drivers are the a-link drivers for Win2000. They are linked on the ndiswrapper website under Averatec.

--Akshun J

I have configured the 2.6.10 kernel, but when i try to insert the rt2500.ko module it gives me the "wrong module format" warning. on the other hand, when i try to compile the module under 2.6.10 I get the folwing warnings (a log file):

make: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.10'
CC [M] /usr/src/rt2500/Module/rtmp_main.o
/usr/src/rt2500/Module/rtmp_main.c: In function `RT2500_probe':
/usr/src/rt2500/Module/rtmp_main.c:163: warning: passing arg 1 of `readl' makes pointer from integer without a cast
/usr/src/rt2500/Module/rtmp_main.c:164: warning: passing arg 1 of `readl' makes pointer from integer without a cast
/usr/src/rt2500/Module/rtmp_main.c: In function `RT2500_open':
/usr/src/rt2500/Module/rtmp.h:1087: sorry, unimplemented: inlining failed in call to 'NICDisableInterrupt': function body not available
/usr/src/rt2500/Module/rtmp_main.c:266: sorry, unimplemented: called from here
/usr/src/rt2500/Module/rtmp.h:1090: sorry, unimplemented: inlining failed in call to 'NICEnableInterrupt': function body not available
/usr/src/rt2500/Module/rtmp_main.c:322: sorry, unimplemented: called from here
/usr/src/rt2500/Module/rtmp_main.c: In function `RTMPIsr':
/usr/src/rt2500/Module/rtmp_main.c:465: warning: passing arg 1 of `readl' makes pointer from integer without a cast
/usr/src/rt2500/Module/rtmp_main.c:466: warning: passing arg 2 of `writel' makes pointer from integer without a cast
make[1]: *** [/usr/src/rt2500/Module/rtmp_main.o] Error 1
make: *** [_module_/usr/src/rt2500/Module] Error 2
make: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.10'

can anybody tell me what have i done wrong in the kernel compiling cause on an 2.6.7-12mdk all works fine?

Thanks.
Nick