Ubuntu Dapper 6.06 Kernel module package for Ralink RT73 based USB WLAN adapters (e.g. LinkSys WUSB54GC)

Overview

Here you can find the following files for Ubuntu Dapper 6.06 LTS:

• ralink-rt73_1.0.3.6_all.deb (Firmware and udev scripts)
• ralink-rt73-source_1.0.3.6_all.deb (module source package for module-assistant)

Compile

If you want to build a module package for your locally installed kernel follow these steps:

• install the kernel headers for your kernel:

  	    sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)
  	  

• install module-assistant:

  	    sudo apt-get install module-assistant
  	  

• install the module source package:

  	    sudo dpkg -i /path/to/ralink-rt73-source_1.0.3.6_all.deb
  	  

• run module-assistant to build the customized kernel module package:

  	    cd /tmp
  	    mkdir module
  	    m-a -l $(uname -r) -t -u module build  ralink-rt73
  	  

• install both the module and the firmware package:

  	    sudo dpkg -i /path/to/ralink-rt73_1.0.3.6_all.deb
  	    sudo dpkg -i /tmp/module/ralink-rt73-$(uname -r)_1.0.3.6+<KERNEL-PACKAGE-RELEASE>_i386.deb
  	  

  where KERNEL-PACKAGE-RELEASE is the actual Dapper kernel version name (eg 2.6.15-27.48). Just have a look into /tmp/module to get the name of the deb package you have just built.
• Keep your deb file and clean up the temporary directory /tmp/module if no longer needed.

In case you intend to build the module for another than your installed kernel replace the $(uname -r) snippets above with the desired kernel version (e.g. 2.6.15-27-k7).

Usage

If you now plug your WUSB54GC in, you will get a rausb0 device which you may configure with iwconfig and ifconfig.

Please note that you dont need any alias entries in /etc/modprobe.conf with this package, automatic module loading is provided through the udev script /etc/udev/rules.d/50-ralink-rt73.rules contained in ralink-rt73_1.0.3.6_all.deb.

Details

If you are interested in rebuilding the module source package get

• ralink-rt73_1.0.3.6.dsc
• ralink-rt73_1.0.3.6.tar.gz

and extract it with

	dpkg-source -x ralink-rt73_1.0.3.6.dsc
      

You can then examine its contents in the subdirectory ralink-rt73-1.0.3.6. It contains the upstream source, two patches (one adds the device ID of the LinkSys WUSB24GC, the other makes the Makefiles usable for m-a) and the Debian specific build stuff.

Rebuilding can be done via

	debuild
      

in the ralink-rt73-1.0.3.6 directory, provided you have installed the debuild package and co (e.g. fakeroot).

This may be necessary if a new upstream version of the driver becomes available, the only thing to do is then to download it into the upstream directory and change the variable UPSTREAM in debian/rules to the new upstream package name.

Source

This is a Debian style repackaging of the OpenSource RT73 driver available at
http://www.ralinktech.com/drivers/Linux/RT73_Linux_STA_Drv1.0.3.6.tar.gz

The Debian specific stuff follows ideas stolen from the rt2500 Debian package by Aurelien Jarno (aurel32 at debian.org)