Debian 3.8.13-bone-68 and RALINK 7601 driver

I have been using the 5370 driver for usb wifi dongle successfully with ability to support both Master and Managed mode with no issues whatsoever.

However last batch of wifi dongles delivered no longer work and lsusb shows
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 148f:7601 Ralink Technology, Corp.
instead of
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 148f:5370 Ralink Technology, Corp. RT5370 Wireless Adapter

I expected the 7601 drivers to be installed in my build (Debian 3.8.13-bone68, which I am stuck with for now due to changes in bone69 and up that makes using LCD and Audio Cape together an issue) but this doesn’t appear to be the case.

Powering with external 5V, and ensuring usb dongle is inserted prior to power up.

dmesg shows

[ 1.097202] usb 1-1: new high-speed USB device number 2 using musb-hdrc
[ 1.216778] usb 1-1: default language 0x0409
[ 1.581547] usb 1-1: udev 2, busnum 1, minor = 1
[ 1.581571] usb 1-1: New USB device found, idVendor=148f, idProduct=7601
[ 1.581583] usb 1-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 1.582006] usb 1-1: usb_probe_device
[ 1.582024] usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 1.582114] usb 1-1: adding 1-1:1.0 (config #1, interface 0)

Running lsmod shows no indication of wifi driver

I have also tried building various 7601 driver sources but am unable to get both managed and master mode working.

Does/should 3.8.13-bone68 support 7601 driver? If so what could I be doing wrong.

If not supported, any suggestion on source files to build in order to support both managed and master mode.

This feels like a pretty solid wall I have hit and would appreciate any assistance

You might have to upgrade to 4.1.x for the 7601

We think we've taken care of the reboot regression and you can fork
the overlay repo to make sure your lcd and audio cape can be connected
together..

https://github.com/beagleboard/bb.org-overlays

Regards,

While migrating to 4.1 is on my development path that is not an option at the moment as production is full steam ahead.

~C

btw, do you have:

mt7601u-modules-3.8.13-bone68 installed?

Regards,

here is the mt7601u source i've been using:

https://github.com/rcn-ee/mt7601u

It's from:
https://github.com/porjo/mt7601

for reference, in v4.1.x i backported the mt7601 driver that hit
v4.2-rcX merge..

https://github.com/RobertCNelson/ti-linux-kernel-dev/blob/ti-linux-4.1.y/patches/backports/mediatek/0001-backport-mediatek-mt7601u-from-v4.2-rc3.patch

Regards,

Good question, especially as I have not seen this before so I guess not if it’s standard.

I assume I download the .deb package and install?

What does installing these modules do, do I still need to compile drivers and install (seems I do as after installing modules using dpkg I don’t see any loaded modules)

Thanks so much for rapid response!

Just run:

sudo apt-get install mt7601u-modules-`uname -r`
sudo depmod -a `uname -r`
sudo update-initramfs -uk `uname -r`

Firmare should be located here:

/etc/Wireless/RT2870STA/RT2870STA.dat

if it's not..

mkdir -p /etc/Wireless/RT2870STA/
cd /etc/Wireless/RT2870STA/
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rcn-ee/mt7601u/master/src/RT2870STA.dat
cd /

and /etc/modules-load.d/mt7601.conf should have been added by
"mt7601u-modules-`uname -r`"

if not:

echo "mt7601Usta" > /etc/modules-load.d/mt7601.conf

Then upon reboot, you should see a "ra0" device with sudo ifconfig -a

Regards,

Reason I went the .deb route was because I couldn’t install the module - see below - am I missing some salient point (i.e. lessons to be learnt)

root@biochargerng:/home/callin/mt7601u# apt-get install mt7601u-modules-uname -r

Reading package lists… Done

Building dependency tree

Reading state information… Done

E: Unable to locate package mt7601u-modules-3.8.13-bone68

E: Couldn’t find any package by regex ‘mt7601u-modules-3.8.13-bone68’

root@biochargerng:/home/callin/mt7601u#

Ah! No problem

Grab the one that matches your distro and release, so it'll be
matching the gcc used for building:

debian:
http://repos.rcn-ee.com/debian/pool/main/m/mt7601u-modules-3.8.13-bone68/

or

ubuntu:
http://repos.rcn-ee.com/ubuntu/pool/main/m/mt7601u-modules-3.8.13-bone68/

Regards,

Robert,

I have it working in managed mode connecting to my access point using wpa_supplicant but am unable to switch it to master mode (access point).

Error on running hostapd is (after installing mt7601u-modules-3.8.13-bone68 from link you sent).

`
random: Trying to read entropy from /dev/random

Configuration file: /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
nl80211: ‘nl80211’ generic netlink not found
Failed to initialize driver ‘nl80211’
Segmentation fault
`

Does this version support hostapd, or is ‘segmentation fault’ indication of version incompatibilities?

~C

there's a mt7601u fork of hostapd for this driver somewhere on
github... Haven't found it yet in my quick searches..

Regards,

Thanks Robert, I will hunt this down - I am so close to the trees at the moment that O can’t see wood for trees - appreciate your assistance.

When I am in your neck of the woods or you are here in Austin, I owe you a beer/dinner for all your help!

No joy so far, I fear this is a losing battle…