Ralink 5390 wireless driver not included in Natty

Bug #779484 reported by Thomas de Graaff
30
This bug affects 4 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
linux (Ubuntu)
Confirmed
Medium
Unassigned

Bug Description

This driver is not included in Natty, but is available for download from HP for Suse, and can be installed in Natty:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&swItem=ob-92830-1&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

Revision history for this message
Thomas de Graaff (thomasdegraaff) wrote :
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Fabio Marconi (fabiomarconi) wrote :

Hello Thomas
Can you please test if this is already fixed in the latest mainline kernel:
http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v2.6.39-rc5-oneiric/
Thanks
Fabio

affects: ubuntu → linux (Ubuntu)
tags: added: kernel-wifi-needsdriver natty
Changed in linux (Ubuntu):
status: New → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
IKT (ikt) wrote :

Would be interesting to see if it is,

http://www.kernel.org/pub//scm/linux/kernel/git/jejb/storage-tree/drivers/net/wireless/rt2x00/Kconfig

config RT2800PCI_RT53XX
       bool "rt2800-pci - Include support for rt53xx devices (EXPERIMENTAL)"
       depends on EXPERIMENTAL
       default n
       ---help---
         This adds support for rt53xx wireless chipset family to the
         rt2800pci driver.
         Supported chips: RT5390

         Support for these devices is non-functional at the moment and is
         intended for testers and developers.

Revision history for this message
Thomas de Graaff (thomasdegraaff) wrote :

I've committed this bug report on behalf of a community member facing problems with his wireless on his brand new HP laptop. I can't test it myself therefore. I asked him to test with this kernel, and post results here. Another community member (https://launchpad.net/~djmusic121) who uses the v2.6.39-rc5-oneiric kernel states that it doesn't show a trace of this driver, but he doesn't have that specific wireless hardware so he didn't do a hardware test.

Revision history for this message
Heimen Stoffels (vistaus) wrote :

Indeed. I'm https://launchpad.net/~djmusic121 and there is no trace of this driver at all in the 2.6.39 Oneiric-kernel, so therefore, it would be great if Ubuntu can manage to get it into the kernel. The driver.ko-file is attached just below the first post in this bug report.

Changed in linux (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
IKT (ikt) wrote :

My first thought is, why are you requesting Ubuntu package it and merge it into their kernel, wouldn't it be better to go further upstream to the main linux kernel itself so that every distro can have access to the driver?

TBH this actually confuses me, why is there a separate driver download available yet it is not in the main linux kernel and the driver notes for the 5390 that's in the kernel itself suggests the driver is highly unstable.

Revision history for this message
IKT (ikt) wrote :

ok, it looks like they're (the vender/ralink) working on getting the patch upstream,

http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/pipermail/users_rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/2011-May/003739.html

The driver (.ko) file you provided is built against the wrong kernel.

The source for the driver can be found here:

https://build.opensuse.org/package/binaries?package=rt5390sta&project=driver%3Awireless&repository=11.4-update

So I assume that means we just need a packager?

Revision history for this message
Wolfgang Kufner (wolfgangkufner) wrote :

There are two sets of (open source) drivers for Ralink hardware. The in kernel drivers of the rt2x00 project and drivers on Ralink's website.

There are two sets of drivers, the "legacy" drivers developed and open sourced by Ralink (named *sta) and the in kernel drivers (mainly rt2800usb and rt2800pci) developed by the rt2x00 project (looking a lot at the legacy sources to make up for missing specs and getting answers from Ralink engineers and also increasingly getting patches sent by Ralink engineers). The Ralink drivers are monoliths (look at the size) and do not fit the linux wireless infrastructure (mac80211 stack).

The last two Ralink legacy drivers have recently been deleted from the kernel 3.0 staging directory. They continue to be available from the Ralink website.

Like all newer Ralink pci hardware rt5390 hardware is supposed to be supported by the rt2800pci driver. The legacy driver from Ralink's website (or the suse repo, evidently) is a potential workaround in case of bugs. It is obviously important that people using such workarounds still file bugs against the rt2800pci driver so they can be found and fixed for the in kernel driver.

Things have progressed with the rt2x00 projects driver:

http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/next/linux-next.git;a=commit;h=ea81966ccc2edd324c1fa382260a62a4400a032a
>rt2x00: Enable support for RT53xx PCI devices by default.
>
>Code seems to be feature-complete, so no reason to not enable
>these devices by default.
>
>Also, remove the sentence about the support for these devices being
>non-functional.

tags: added: rt2800pci
Victor Vargas (kamus)
Changed in linux (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Medium
Revision history for this message
jb (jonjbean) wrote :

I try Ubuntu EVERY year and there is always ONE thing that keeps me going back to Windows (sigh). Wireless is a big one. Who is tethered to a cable any more?

So I have RAlink5390 in my dual boot Windows 7/Ubuntu 11.04 and I have spent days trying all the "work arounds" like this one: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=10452987

Vista's big, big problem for Ordinary Joes was that drivers didn't work. Mac savaged them in advertising. We Linux fans sometimes say marketing would make a difference. My Lord, if Ordinary Joe has to go through this much trouble for the most basic thing (today) - wireless! - marketing would only work against us.

Is there any ultimate solution to the problem of wireless adapters and Ubuntu? I got EVERY program but one working on my dual boot at work (ethernet) and then realized I could never recommend Ubuntu to people who don't want to risk a very iffy proposition with

***Any USB adapters that are good for this 5390?*** (Yes, I've read many forums on that and even bought two usb adapters and one worked, very weakly about 10% strength; and the other didn't do anythign.

Sigh. sorry for venting but with everything in the air (including Linux on phones), Linux on computers is looking deader all the time as the actual OS gets better. How ironic!

Revision history for this message
IKT (ikt) wrote :

"Who is tethered to a cable any more?"

o_O

I tried wireless when consumer products started to come out back in 2004-2006 but it was hopeless, even on Windows XP, eventually ended up putting cat6 throughout the whole house. No more drop outs or "why is my internets so slow" :)

So yeah, I guess I'm still "tethered" to cable, and I personally prefer it.

"if Ordinary Joe has to go through this much trouble"

Ordinary Joe shouldn't, could you imagine ordinary joe installing wireless drivers on Windows? Most people buy their computers with the operating system and hardware already installed and working, and there is a large industry around "tech experts" to come out and setup the rest. I know because I used to be one, a frequent call out would be to install Microsoft Office or "setup the wireless."

"Vista's big, big problem for Ordinary Joes was that drivers didn't work. Mac savaged them in advertising."

Steve Jobs solved that problem by taking Unix and putting it on a specific set of hardware, thus taking away the driver issue. I don't see Canonical doing this so that's not a valid solution to our problem.

"Is there any ultimate solution to the problem of wireless adapters and Ubuntu?"

It's a chicken and egg situation, there's no demand so there's no software, there's no software because there's no demand, all you can do is continue to send emails to your hardware's manufacturer asking them to support linux, and look for hardware that is compatible with linux, giving an incentive to the company's who do support linux, thus solving the problem.

Revision history for this message
Julian Wiedmann (jwiedmann) wrote :

The linux-backports-modules-cw-2.6.39-natty-generic package ("compat wireless") is available now.
(this probably requires the newest linux-firmware package from the -proposed repository)

Revision history for this message
pck (pck1980) wrote :

Installed both the compat wireless package and linux-firmware from -proposed and added "rt2800pci" to /etc/modules, but the RT5390 is still not working on my HP notebook (ifconfig doesn't even list a wireless interface).
Are there further steps needed to make this work?

Revision history for this message
Victor Vargas (kamus) wrote :

same behaviour with the latest release of the daily Oneiric image, not working out of the box.
---
Ubuntu Bug Squad volunteer triager
http://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad

Revision history for this message
Julian Wiedmann (jwiedmann) wrote :

pck: what is the PCI ID of your device?
Kamus: correct - and that won't change unless you can convince the kernel team to build with RT2800PCI_RT53XX.

Revision history for this message
pck (pck1980) wrote :

Sorry for the late reply.

lspci -nn states:
02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Ralink corp. Device [1814:5390]

Hope that this contains the information you need.

Revision history for this message
Wolfgang Kufner (wolfgangkufner) wrote :

@pck: Is support for RT5390 built in linux-backports-modules-cw-2.6.39-natty-generic? Check with:
modinfo rt2800pci | grep 5390

Revision history for this message
pck (pck1980) wrote :

Thanks for the hint and sorry for the late reply.

Seems that there's no RT5390 driver included (or the wrong rt2800pci-module is used, not sure if it's really the one from linux-backports-modules-cw-2.6.39-natty-generic).

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