Ralink RT2501/RT2561, RT2600/RT2661 (RT61) devices

This page describes how to enable support for WiFi devices based on Ralink RT2501 (non-USB) and RT2600 chipsets on Debian systems.

Contents

Ralink RT2501/RT2561, RT2600/RT2661 (RT61) devices

Drivers

The Ralink RT2501 (non-USB) and RT2600 wireless LAN chipsets are supported by three native drivers:

rt61 (Legacy driver)
- Released by Ralink under the GPL.
- Not generally recommended for use.
rt61 (Enhanced legacy driver)
- Previously maintained by the rt2x00 project.
rt61pci (Next-generation driver)
- The recommended driver to use.
- Source previously packaged in rt2x00-source, removed from Debian to resolve bug 474189.
- Introduced in Linux 2.6.24.

The next-generation driver is maintained by the rt2x00 project. Supported devices are listed at the end of this page.

This page only details installation of the next-generation driver (rt61pci). It requires non-free firmware for device operation, which can be provided by installing the firmware-ralink package.

Installation

The rt61pci driver is included in the mainline Linux kernel since version 2.6.24. It is included as a module in Debian kernel images.

Firmware is required to be installed prior to device operation:

Add a "non-free" component to /etc/apt/sources.list for your Debian version. For example:

# Debian Squeeze/6.0
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian squeeze main contrib non-free

# Debian Lenny/5.0
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian lenny main contrib non-free

Update the list of available packages, then install the firmware-ralink and wireless-tools packages:
```
aptitude update
aptitude install firmware-ralink wireless-tools
```
If not already performed, connect the device to your system.
The necessary kernel module should be automatically loaded. If necessary, it can be manually loaded via:
```
modprobe rt61pci
```
Verify your device has an available interface:
```
iwconfig
```
Raise the interface to activate the radio, for example:
```
ifconfig wlan0 up
```
Configure your wireless interface as appropriate.

Troubleshooting

Examine the kernel ring buffer (dmesg(1)) to verify the required firmware files are being loaded by the driver. Lack of firmware is the usual reason for the "SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory" error message.
- Ensure the firmware-ralink package is installed.

Supported Devices

The page HowToIdentifyADevice/PCI explains how to identify a PCI device.

The following list is based on the alias fields of modinfo rt61pci in Debian 2.6.32 (2.6.32-30) kernel images.

PCI: 1814:0301 RaLink RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI
PCI: 1814:0302 RaLink RT2561/RT61 rev B 802.11g
PCI: 1814:0401 RaLink RT2600 802.11 MIMO

External Links

http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/ - rt2x00 project homepage.

CategoryHardware | CategoryWireless

rt61pci