USB to WiFi adapter
Contents
Tested hardware
Ralink RT2571WF
The WiFi chipset RT2571WF can be found under the D-Link WiFi key DWL-G122. All drivers are included in Linux kernel 2.6.27. But firmware must be downloaded from serialmonkey website at this address.
To use it with APF9328, you need an APF9328DevFull development board (with USB Host).
Kernel configuration
- First, to use a USB dongle, USB Host must be configured. See this page to know how to do with the APF9328DevFull.
- Then, Wireless network must be configured selecting these options in make linux-menuconfig:
[*] Networking support --->
Wireless --->
<*> Generic IEEE 802.11 Networking Stack (mac80211)
- Finally, select the chipset :
Device Drivers --->
[*] Network device support --->
Wireless LAN --->
[*] Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11)
<M> Ralink driver support
<M> Ralink rt2501/rt73 (USB) support
Packages needed
To play with WiFi, select these packages in make menuconfig:
- To configure Wlan:
Package Selection for the target --->
[*] Networking --->
[*] wireless tools
- To surf on the net:
Package Selection for the target --->
[*] Networking --->
[*] links
After flashing your rootfs and kernel, you can boot the card and configure WiFi.
WiFi configuration
First mount the module:
# modprobe rt73usb
Then copy the firmware named rt73.bin (found in Module directory of rt73-cvs archive) in apf /lib/firmware directory. If /lib/firmware doesn't exist create it.
mkdir -p /lib/firmware tftp -g -r rt73.bin <yourIP> mv rt73.bin /lib/firmware
Your WiFi-module driver is ready, you can now connect the dongle. To see your wireless configuration use iwconfig command.
# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
sit0 no wireless extensions.
wmaster0 no wireless extensions.
wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:""
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Tx-Power=0 dBm
Retry min limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr=2352 B
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality:0/100 Signal level:112/146 Noise level:0/0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
To configure WiFi cryptography, only WEP can be set as is. If you want to configure dongle for WPA, install [http://hostap.epitest.fi/wpa_supplicant/ wpa_supplicant].
WEP configuration
Note : to see all access point available for your apf, use iwlist command :
# iwlist scanning
This example is given for a WiFi Access Point named armadeus, but the key is false of course ;) :
# iwconfig wlan0 essid armadeus # iwconfig wlan0 key 12345678901234567890 # ifconfig wlan0 up firmware: requesting rt73.bin ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready # ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
Now, the WiFi adapter is ready and attached :
# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
sit0 no wireless extensions.
wmaster0 no wireless extensions.
wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:"armadeus"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: 00:1B:2F:E7:E4:08
Bit Rate=2 Mb/s Tx-Power=7 dBm
Retry min limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr=2352 B
Encryption key:XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Security mode:restricted
Power Management:off
Link Quality:0/100 Signal level:73/146 Noise level:0/0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
We can configure the network to access internet via the WiFi interface instead of the Ethernet one :
# ifconfig eth0 down # ifconfig wlan0 192.168.0.212 # route add default gw 192.168.0.1 dev wlan0
And configure the nameserver in /etc/resolv.conf
domain dev.null nameserver 192.168.0.207 ~ ~ ~
We can now ping the best website in the world :
# ping www.armadeus.org PING www.armadeus.org (213.186.33.5): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 213.186.33.5: seq=0 ttl=122 time=66.735 ms 64 bytes from 213.186.33.5: seq=1 ttl=122 time=50.392 ms ^C --- www.armadeus.org ping statistics --- 2 packets transmitted, 2 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max = 50.392/58.563/66.735 ms
Surf on the net
To surf on the web, you can use links software :
# links www.armadeus.org
It's an ASCII internet browser.
ZyDas zd1212 chipset
- Tested with SMC WUSB-G (which is in the compatibility list)
Configure Linux
$ make linux26-menuconfig
Same as Ralink +
Device Drivers --->
[*] Network device support --->
Wireless LAN --->
<M> ZyDAS ZD1211/ZD1211B USB-wireless support
[*] ZyDAS ZD1211 debugging
Get firmware
- http://zd1211.ath.cx/get-firmware
- copy the archive to your TFTP export directory
Install firmware
# mkdir -p /lib/firmware/zd1211 # cd /lib/firmware/ # tftp -g -r zd1211-firmware-1.4.tar.bz2 192.168.0.17 # bunzip2 zd1211-firmware-1.4.tar.bz2 # tar xf zd1211-firmware-1.4.tar # mv zd1211-firmware zd1211
Launch driver
# modprobe zd1211rw zd1211rw 1-1.1:1.0: phy0 # ifconfig wlan0 up firmware: requesting zd1211/zd1211b_ub firmware: requesting zd1211/zd1211b_uphr
