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
The Ralink RT2501 (non-USB) and RT2600 wireless LAN chipsets are supported by the rt61pci Linux kernel driver, introduced at Linux 2.6.24. Supported devices are listed at the end of this page.
It requires non-free firmware for device operation, which can be provided by installing the firmware-ralink package.
Installation
Firmware is required for device operation:
Add a "non-free" component to /etc/apt/sources.list, for example:
# Debian 8 "Jessie" deb http://httpredir.debian.org/debian/ jessie main contrib non-free
Update the list of available packages and install the firmware-ralink package:
# apt-get update && apt-get install firmware-ralink
Connect the device to your system. The rt61pci kernel module is automatically loaded for supported devices.
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 3.16 (3.16.7-ckt9-3~deb8u1) kernel images.
PCI: 1814:0301 Ralink corp. RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI PCI: 1814:0302 Ralink corp. RT2561/RT61 rev B 802.11g PCI: 1814:0401 Ralink corp. RT2600 802.11 MIMO
See Also
WiFi/rt2500 - Ralink RT2500/RT2560 devices
rt2500usb - Ralink RT2500USB/RT2571 devices
WiFi/rt73 - Ralink RT2501USB/RT2571W (RT73) devices