# cp /lib/modules/(kernelversion)/custom/extra/rt2570.ko \
/lib/modules/(kernelversion)/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/
# insmod /lib/modules/(kernelversion)/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rt2570.ko
# depmod -a
The depmod -a is necessary after you've juggled around modules, as far as I understand.
Since everybody seems to be rebooting at this stage, I did too, and I therefore advice you to do it also. If you don't reboot at this point, you probably know why...
Open up another root terminal when the PC comes back up. Type this to make
sure the module is loaded ok, if no error is returned then it looks like we're
ok.
# modprobe rt2570
Configuration
Launch
Desktop > System Settings > Network
Add 'DNS' as appropriate
Add 'Hosts' as appropriate. Note: you will need to include:
127.0.0.1
localhost.localdomain
localhost
to the hosts (this entry will not be visible)
In 'Devices' add the rausb0 device
Edit the rausb0 device
Including 'General' and 'Wireless Settings' as appropriate
Set the MAC address, possibly by probing, if you use MAC address filtering on your access point:
Add '0.0.0.0' '0.0.0.0' '192.168.1.1' (default route) to the 'Route' tab.
'Save' and exit.
Verify and customize configuration files
The file
'/etc/sysconfig/network' should contain:
NETWORKING=yes
HOSTNAME=localhost.localdomain
NOZEROCONF=yes <---ensure this entry exists
The files:
'/etc/sysconfig/networking/devices/ifcfg-rausb0'
'/etc/sysconfig/networking/profiles/default/ifcfg-rausb0'
'/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-rausb0'
(Note that these 3 files
are actually hard-inked in FC4; change any one of them, and you
change all 3.)
should contain:
IPV6INIT=no
ONBOOT=yes
USERCTL=no
PEERDNS=yes
TYPE=Wireless
DEVICE=rausb0
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
IPADDR=
DOMAIN=
DHCP_HOSTNAME=
HWADDR=11:22:33:44:55:66
ESSID=YourCoolSSID
CHANNEL=1
MODE=Managed
RATE=Auto
GATEWAY=192.168.1.1
Most of these variables
values can be directly identified in the GUI configuration tool.
For example, the
HWADDR=11:22:33:44:55:66
is the MAC address of my wireless device, and is used when MAC-filtering is performed at your access point.
I had some trouble with the RATE: Every time I started my wireless device, I was warned that 'Mb/s' was not recognized. I looked into one of the ifcfg-rausb0 files and saw that the variable RATE had this as a substring:
RATE='11 Mb/s'
I changed this value to
RATE=Auto
and the messages disappeared. If you feel left alone in the darkness about which values these variables might take, you can take a look at the file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifup-wireless, look for this section:
# Configure wireless network device options. See iwconfig(8) for more info.
# Valid variables:
# MODE: Ad-Hoc, Managed, etc.
# ESSID: Name of the wireless network
# NWID: Name of this machine on the network. Hostname is default
# FREQ: Frequency to operate on. See CHANNEL
# CHANNEL: Numbered frequency to operate on. See FREQ
# SENS: Sensitivity threshold for packet rejection.
# RATE: Transfer rate. Usually one of Auto, 11, 5, 2, or 1.
# KEY: Encryption key for WEP.
# RTS: Explicit RTS handshake. Usually not specified (auto)
# FRAG: Fragmentation threshold to split packets. Usually not specified.
# SPYIPS: List of IP addresses to "spy" on for link performance stats.
# IWCONFIG: Extra parameters to pass directly to IWCONFIG
# SECURITYMODE: Security mode, e.g: 'open' or 'restricted'
# IWPRIV: Extra parameters to pass directly to IWPRIV
And of course, there are the man pages.
Now you should be able to select the rausb0 device in the network configuration tool, click
'Activate' and see your wireless device come up after a minute or two.
Enjoy!
The WPA thing...
In the beginning of this document, I told you that I couldn't get WPA to work.
Here's how I plan to make it work:
Looking at the man-page for iwpriv, I see that I can make my wireless USB device tell me which 'private' commands and settings I can pass to it, by simply issuing the command /sbin/iwpriv rausb0:
# /sbin/iwpriv rausb0
rausb0 Available private ioctls :
auth (8BE2) : set 1 int & get 0
enc (8BE4) : set 1 int & get 0
wpapsk (8BE5) : set 64 char & get 0
psm (8BE6) : set 1 int & get 0
The wpapsk probably stands
for WPA Pre-shared key, so I actually have the opportunity to pass a WPA key on to my wireless device.
Now, I saw earlier in the file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifup-wireless that I can set a variable to pass values on to iwpriv:
# IWPRIV: Extra parameters to pass directly to IWPRIV
So setting
IWPRIV=wpapsk "YourCoolPreSharedKey"
or similar would probably do the trick.