Noob Question Re: Ralink RT5370 WiFi Adapter

Hi all:

I have a Ralink RT5370 WiFi adapter that I would like to get working with my Raspberry Pi (Woo-hoo, it came in the mail yesterday!). I downloaded the driver file from the company's web site. It was in a .bz2 file. I unpacked it (after finding a graphica unzipper package, fileroller) and it spit out another file that needed to be unpacked. I unpacked it.

Now, I have a directory with a makefile, some other files and several subdirectories..... I assume I have to do something with the makefile?

I know this is a basic question and I've muddled through up to this point, I just need a gentle nudge in the right direction.

Thanks in advance....

Mark.

I don't have the particular file or wifi adapter so this is a general response in terms of how to compile software under Linux.

Firstly look for instructions. If they are not provided when you downloaded the file look for README, readme.txt or INSTALL. These are some of the common names. Normally that's a text file with instructions on how to install - you can use less to read it as they are normal text files.

If you don't get anything useful from that then the standard install procedure is:

./configure
make
sudo make install

configure looks through the specifics of the computer you are using and creates a Makefile.
If you already have a makefile then you may be able to skip that step, depending upon whether the relevant libraries are where it expects to find them. You can often tailor the configure for example by specifying the architecture to compile for or install location etc.

make runs the compiler and links the relevant files together

make install copies the files to the relevant place and sets appropriate permissions (sudo is required if this is being installed into a system directory).


A lot of software can be compiled under different architectures, but sometimes particularly with hardware drivers there may need to be some customization for the specific architecture so your progress may vary.

The ralink module should be a simple apt-get install. I just installed something similar and was amazed how easy it was. Try 'sudo apt-cache search ralink' and see what appears.

They are quite well supported

I have got mine working.
search the wiki for RT5370 and ralink

http://elinux.org/RPi_VerifiedPeriphera ... i_Adapters
and
http://elinux.org/RPi_Ralink_WLAN_devices

I have the same device it seems. (See picture) Picked it up from a 'Cheap' show (I have a stronger words name, but you can't beat the prices.).. It's based on the RaLink RT-5370, according to both my UBUNTU based laptop & my (I feel so soiled!) Windows-7 based laptop. Ironic, the UBUNTU distro I use (Ultimate Edition V3.5 X64) has the driver built-in.. first couple of times trying it with the Pi, failed.. (not recognized.) I'll have to re-check. Getting ready to fire it off, and see if it recognizes the network now.
And.... It's talking! A little extra steps more than I'm used to in setting up a network adapter, but it's talking with the most recent Raspbian. (with most of the updates applied).

Stephen Griswold