This is How I got my rt61 kernel module to compile and work under Zenwalk 2.6.17.6.

Get Kernel Sources from http://download.zenwalk.org/i486/cur...kages/archive/

then I used pkgtool to install the kernel source
pkgtool(run as root.) when prompted what directory use ./
it should find the kernel sources.

Go and get the module from ralink's website.
www.ralinktech.com/supp-1.htm. I moved the file to /usr/local/src

then I unzipped and untared the file
tar -zxvf RT61_Linux_STA_Drv1.0.4.0.tar.gz

then cd int0 RT61_Linux_STA_Drv1.0.4.0/Module

cp Makefile.6 Makefile

make

mkdir /etc/Wireless (W is Capitalized)
mkdir /etc/Wireless/RT61STA

cp *.bin /etc/Wireless/RT61STA
cp rt61sta.dat /etc/Wireless/RT61STA

cp rt61.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/net

depmod -a

cd /etc/Wireless/RT61STA

chmod 755 rt61sta.dat

vi rt61sta.dat

erase SSID so that all it says is SSID=
erase Key1Str so that all it says is Key1Str=
and finally erase WPAPSK so that it says WPAPSK=

then shift+:
wq

modprobe rt61

then dhcpcd ra0

Just wanted to let everyone know that this will also work it Zenwalk 3.0 However the only change you will have to make is for the kernel source. Zenwalk 3.0 uses the kernel 2.6.17.11. To install just type in a terminal netpkg. Then choose to add a new package.

I am running kernel 2.6.18 on a Debian Etch system and have been trying to get this card working for about three weeks. I was using the serialmonkey website, thinking that their drivers would be the latest and greatest, but I got absolutely nowhere.

I used the rt61sta.dat for WPA and it's working like a champ - I let it use Bittorrent on FC5 DVD for like 10 hours with no crashes, and over a hundred users.

Hi, I have been trying to make my Linux machine wireless, and I recently bought Linksys wireless card (WMP54G). After going through several article posted in Linuxquestions.org, I finally reached the point where my machine recognize the card. On machine boot, the card seems to be recognized and started up. Once the boot process is complete, I see a green LED on the wireless card blinking, indicating that it's receiving signal from my wireless router.

The ifconfig command also indicates that the wireless card is recognized by the machine and an IP address is assigned as I specified.

However, I cannot connect to the Internet. Pinging the Linux machine from the other computers on my LAN fails. The iwconfig command gives me the following:

[root@ChapeauRouge ~]# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

ra0 RT61 Wireless ESSID:""
Mode:Auto Frequency:1 MHz Bit Rate=54 Mb/s
RTS thrff Fragment thrff
Encryption keyff
Link Quality=0/100 Signal level:-121 dBm Noise level:-79 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

eth0 no wireless extensions.

sit0 no wireless extensions.

It seems that the card is not recognizing my router. The frequency is wrong, and SSID is empty. The message from syn4pse above indicates that the network connection is established without problem. I followed the instructions described by jstephens84's posting, and other instructions on Linuxquestions.org, which are basically all the same, but I haven't been successful. What could be the problem? I use kernel 2.6.12 with FC3.

hishii:

I followed the instructions that were in the tarball for the drivers downloaded from the ralinktech.com site. Using the rt61sta.dat file, which is placed in /etc/Wireless/somewhere_written_in_readme_file, I filled in my ESSID and I filled in my WPAPSK field (since I am running those. I did NOT have luck running wpa_supplicant, which was my first choice.

Basically, what I was trying to say in my post is that I had no luck with any of the serialmonkey drivers FOR THIS CARD. I just didn't try the ralinktech.com drivers until desperation set in.

I would definitely define your ESSID.

Also:
What are you trying to run on this card? WEP? WPA-PSK? No encryption? I have the same card, WMP54G, but I may have a different version.

By the way, I still get this diagnostic debug garbage printed to the screen every so often. The connection stays solid but I get a bunch of hexadecimal numbers, which seem harmless but are annoying.

Do a man iwconfig. It will tell you the optional parameters that you can use with iwconfig. Just from a quick glance your first problem is that you don't have your card associated with any ssid. Second it looks like you need to set your encryption and key if you are using wep or wpa.

jstephens84 and syn4pse,

Thank you for your advice. I also think that missing ESSID in the output of iwconfig has something to do with my problem, and that's what I have been trying to do. Opening rt61sta.dat file under /etc/Wireless/RT61STA with vi does not seem to be working. I opened the file and enter my SSID in the SSID= line, saved the file, and stopped and started my hardware by ifconfig ra0 down/ifconfig ra0 up, but iwconfig output still do not display the SSID that I saved in the .dat file. So, I tried the advice from jstephens84 by using the iwconfig command line by typing iwconfig ra0 essid xxxxxxxxxxxx (where the xs are my SSID), but issuing this command is not working either. I tried the iwconfig ra0 commit command to make sure that the changes I was trying to make via the iwconfig command is committed, then, I get an error saying:

Error for wireless request "Commit changes" (8B00) :
SET failed on device ra0 ; Operation not supported.

I am gessing that this error is displayed simply because my wireless card does not support this command, but I may be wrong.

I am using this card with WPA-PSK. Typing the key in the WPAPSK line of the .dat file does not resolve the issue either. How can I set ESSID other than the two methods (.dat file and iwconfig command) described above? Any help/advice is appreciated.

I finally configured my machine with the wireless card. Thank you both of you for your help. For some reason, iwconfig command didn't allow me to change the configuration, so I was modifying the ra61sta.dat file, and figured out what was wrong with my configuration. It appears the reason that my essid is not showing up in the iwconfig command output is because I didn't configure the following lines correctly in the ra61sta.dat:

WirelessMode=4
Channel=0
AuthMode=WPAPSK
EncrypType=TKIP
WPAPSK=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

By setting these values, I got the internet connection. I am writing this message from my Linux machine with the wireless connection. Thanks again for the advice.

I had the same problem with iwconfig not configuring the card right so I had to manually edit the rt61sta.dat file also. But I am glad it works now.

Don't forget to test the connection under a heavy network load. I installed BitTorrent for linux and grabbed Fedora Core 5 just as a test (since it had so many users). A few times when I was going through the process of getting my card to work, I found to my chagrin that the computer had frozen.

Good luck!