How do I install an Asus USB-N53 WiFi adapter?

Question

I bought an ASUS USB-N53 wireless-N Dual-band USB wifi adapter. It does not install on my Ubuntu 11.10 system automatically. I cannot figure out a way to get it installed.

Any advice?

Answer 1

The driver won't install automatically as of right now, but it's not too bad to get it to work. You'll have to compile the drivers from Ralink, so make sure you have build-essential, linux-headers, and all that good stuff.

1. Download RT3572USB from http://www.ralinktech.com/en/04_support/license.php?sn=5017

2. Change to the directory you downloaded to and run

   tar -C . -xf 2011_0427_RT3572_Linux_STA_v2.5.0.0.DPO.bz2
   

3. Change to the new directory (2011_0427_RT3572_Linux_STA_v2.5.0.0.DPO).

4. Change HAS_WPA_SUPPLICANT and HAS_NATIVE_WPA_SUPPLICANT_SUPPORT to 'y' in the config.mk file:

   sed -ir -e 's/^HAS_WPA_SUPPLICANT=n/HAS_WPA_SUPPLICANT=y/' -e 's/^HAS_NATIVE_WPA_SUPPLICANT_SUPPORT=n/HAS_NATIVE_WPA_SUPPLICANT_SUPPORT=y/' ./os/linux/config.mk
   

5. Add you Vendor and Product ID to the RT2870 supported list:

   sed -ir -e 's!^#endif // RT2870 //!        {USB_DEVICE(0x0B05,0x179D)}, /* Asus USB-N53 */\n#endif // RT2870 //!' ./common/rtusb_dev_id.c
   

6. Update some function names:

   sed -ir -e 's/\tusb_buffer_alloc/\tusb_alloc_coherent/' -e 's/\tusb_buffer_free/\tusb_free_coherent/' include/os/rt_linux.h
   

7. Install the module:

   make && sudo make install
   

8. Create a modprobe.d config file to make sure the modules load:

   sudo su -c "echo -e 'alias ra0 rt3572sta\nblacklist rt2800usb' > /etc/modprobe.d/rt3572sta.conf"
   

9. Now load the module and it should work (did for me):

   sudo modprobe ra0
   

Almost forgot, shamelessly stole (then modified) this info from http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?p=1353558