Beagle Wifi Adapter

[JSadowski]

I've been trying to follow the tutorial for the wifi adapter found here:
http://ladyada.net/products/beaglebone/wifi.html

Before beginning I imaged the latest demo image to be sure to have a fresh start (Angstrom-Cloud9-IDE-GNOME-eglibc-ipk-v2012.05-beaglebone-2012.05.09.img.xz)

After completing the 3 steps involving opkg, I plug in the dongle and issue a reboot...

dmesg doesn't contain anything like the tutorial and ifconfig wlan0 says that the device was not found

Code: Select all

root@BeagleBone:~# ifconfig wlan0
ifconfig: wlan0: error fetching interface information: Device not found

and lsusb doesn't even list the device:

Code: Select all

root@BeagleBone:~# lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Have I received a defective unit? Getting wifi to work on this thing has been a challenging endeavor to say the least, so when I saw this tutorial, despite the fact that I already had another wifi dongle, I had to give this one a try

[adafruit]

we're using whatever image is distributed with the A5 - what does dmesg say

[JSadowski]

Code: Select all

root@BeagleBone:~# dmesg
[    0.000000] Initializing cgroup subsys cpuset
[    0.000000] Initializing cgroup subsys cpu
[    0.000000] Linux version 3.2.16 (koen@dominion) (gcc version 4.5.4 20120305 (prerelease) (GCC) ) #1 Wed May 9 11:28:21 CEST 2012
[    0.000000] CPU: ARMv7 Processor [413fc082] revision 2 (ARMv7), cr=50c53c7d
[    0.000000] CPU: PIPT / VIPT nonaliasing data cache, VIPT aliasing instruction cache
[    0.000000] Machine: am335xevm
[    0.000000] Memory policy: ECC disabled, Data cache writeback
[    0.000000] On node 0 totalpages: 65536
[    0.000000] free_area_init_node: node 0, pgdat c04b9a90, node_mem_map c0502000
[    0.000000]   Normal zone: 512 pages used for memmap
[    0.000000]   Normal zone: 0 pages reserved
[    0.000000]   Normal zone: 65024 pages, LIFO batch:15
[    0.000000] AM335X ES1.0 (sgx neon )
[    0.000000] pcpu-alloc: s0 r0 d32768 u32768 alloc=1*32768
[    0.000000] pcpu-alloc: [0] 0
[    0.000000] Built 1 zonelists in Zone order, mobility grouping on.  Total pages: 65024
[    0.000000] Kernel command line: console=ttyO0,115200n8 run_hardware_tests quiet root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 ro rootfstype=ext4 rootwait ip=none
[    0.000000] PID hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.000000] Dentry cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)
[    0.000000] Inode-cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 4, 65536 bytes)
[    0.000000] allocated 1048576 bytes of page_cgroup
[    0.000000] please try 'cgroup_disable=memory' option if you don't want memory cgroups
[    0.000000] Memory: 256MB = 256MB total
[    0.000000] Memory: 253704k/253704k available, 8440k reserved, 0K highmem
[    0.000000] Virtual kernel memory layout:
[    0.000000]     vector  : 0xffff0000 - 0xffff1000   (   4 kB)
[    0.000000]     fixmap  : 0xfff00000 - 0xfffe0000   ( 896 kB)
[    0.000000]     vmalloc : 0xd0800000 - 0xff000000   ( 744 MB)
[    0.000000]     lowmem  : 0xc0000000 - 0xd0000000   ( 256 MB)
[    0.000000]     modules : 0xbf800000 - 0xc0000000   (   8 MB)
[    0.000000]       .text : 0xc0008000 - 0xc0431008   (4261 kB)
[    0.000000]       .init : 0xc0432000 - 0xc0469000   ( 220 kB)
[    0.000000]       .data : 0xc046a000 - 0xc04ba580   ( 322 kB)
[    0.000000]        .bss : 0xc04ba5a4 - 0xc0501a0c   ( 286 kB)
[    0.000000] NR_IRQS:410 nr_irqs:410 410
[    0.000000] IRQ: Found an INTC at 0xfa200000 (revision 5.0) with 128 interrupts
[    0.000000] Total of 128 interrupts on 1 active controller
[    0.000000] OMAP clockevent source: GPTIMER2 at 24000000 Hz
[    0.000000] OMAP clocksource: GPTIMER1 at 32768 Hz
[    0.000000] sched_clock: 32 bits at 32kHz, resolution 30517ns, wraps every 131071999ms
[    0.000000] Console: colour dummy device 80x30
[    0.000122] Calibrating delay loop... 718.02 BogoMIPS (lpj=3590144)
[    0.058959] pid_max: default: 32768 minimum: 301
[    0.059082] Security Framework initialized
[    0.059143] Mount-cache hash table entries: 512
[    0.059478] Initializing cgroup subsys cpuacct
[    0.059509] Initializing cgroup subsys memory
[    0.059539] Initializing cgroup subsys devices
[    0.059570] Initializing cgroup subsys freezer
[    0.059570] Initializing cgroup subsys blkio
[    0.059600] Initializing cgroup subsys perf_event
[    0.059661] CPU: Testing write buffer coherency: ok
[    0.060516] devtmpfs: initialized
[    0.079681] omap_hwmod: gfx: failed to hardreset
[    0.095794] omap_hwmod: pruss: failed to hardreset
[    0.096252] print_constraints: dummy:
[    0.096466] NET: Registered protocol family 16
[    0.097381] OMAP GPIO hardware version 0.1
[    0.098297] omap_mux_init: Add partition: #1: core, flags: 0
[    0.099426]  omap_i2c.1: alias fck already exists
[    0.099731] hw-breakpoint: debug architecture 0x4 unsupported.
[    0.099884]  omap2_mcspi.1: alias fck already exists
[    0.099975]  omap2_mcspi.2: alias fck already exists
[    0.100097]  edma.0: alias fck already exists
[    0.100128]  edma.0: alias fck already exists
[    0.100128]  edma.0: alias fck already exists
[    0.107574] bio: create slab <bio-0> at 0
[    0.108520] SCSI subsystem initialized
[    0.109313] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
[    0.109405] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
[    0.109527] usbcore: registered new device driver usb
[    0.109649] musb-ti81xx musb-ti81xx: musb0, board_mode=0x13, plat_mode=0x3
[    0.109771] musb-ti81xx musb-ti81xx: musb1, board_mode=0x13, plat_mode=0x1
[    0.110198] omap_i2c omap_i2c.1: bus 1 rev2.4.0 at 100 kHz
[    0.111053] Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
[    0.111541] Switching to clocksource gp timer
[    0.120666] musb-hdrc: version 6.0, ?dma?, otg (peripheral+host)
[    0.120819] musb-hdrc musb-hdrc.0: dma type: pio
[    0.120971] musb-hdrc: ConfigData=0xde (UTMI-8, dyn FIFOs, bulk combine, bulk split, HB-ISO Rx, HB-ISO Tx, SoftConn)
[    0.121002] musb-hdrc: MHDRC RTL version 2.0
[    0.121002] musb-hdrc: setup fifo_mode 4
[    0.121032] musb-hdrc: 28/31 max ep, 16384/16384 memory
[    0.121337] musb-hdrc musb-hdrc.0: USB OTG mode controller at d081c000 using PIO, IRQ 18
[    0.121612] musb-hdrc musb-hdrc.1: dma type: pio
[    0.121765] musb-hdrc: ConfigData=0xde (UTMI-8, dyn FIFOs, bulk combine, bulk split, HB-ISO Rx, HB-ISO Tx, SoftConn)
[    0.121795] musb-hdrc: MHDRC RTL version 2.0
[    0.121795] musb-hdrc: setup fifo_mode 4
[    0.121826] musb-hdrc: 28/31 max ep, 16384/16384 memory
[    0.121856] musb-hdrc musb-hdrc.1: MUSB HDRC host driver
[    0.121917] musb-hdrc musb-hdrc.1: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
[    0.122009] usb usb1: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0002
[    0.122039] usb usb1: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[    0.122039] usb usb1: Product: MUSB HDRC host driver
[    0.122039] usb usb1: Manufacturer: Linux 3.2.16 musb-hcd
[    0.122070] usb usb1: SerialNumber: musb-hdrc.1
[    0.122589] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    0.122619] hub 1-0:1.0: 1 port detected
[    0.123016] musb-hdrc musb-hdrc.1: USB Host mode controller at d081e800 using PIO, IRQ 19
[    0.123352] NET: Registered protocol family 2
[    0.123535] IP route cache hash table entries: 2048 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)
[    0.123901] TCP established hash table entries: 8192 (order: 4, 65536 bytes)
[    0.124053] TCP bind hash table entries: 8192 (order: 3, 32768 bytes)
[    0.124145] TCP: Hash tables configured (established 8192 bind 8192)
[    0.124145] TCP reno registered
[    0.124176] UDP hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.124176] UDP-Lite hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.124420] NET: Registered protocol family 1
[    0.124694] RPC: Registered named UNIX socket transport module.
[    0.124725] RPC: Registered udp transport module.
[    0.124725] RPC: Registered tcp transport module.
[    0.124725] RPC: Registered tcp NFSv4.1 backchannel transport module.
[    0.126220] audit: initializing netlink socket (disabled)
[    0.126281] type=2000 audit(0.110:1): initialized
[    0.136230] VFS: Disk quotas dquot_6.5.2
[    0.136291] Dquot-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.137237] msgmni has been set to 495
[    0.138061] Block layer SCSI generic (bsg) driver version 0.4 loaded (major 252)
[    0.138122] io scheduler noop registered
[    0.138153] io scheduler deadline registered
[    0.138214] io scheduler cfq registered (default)
[    0.138977] Serial: 8250/16550 driver, 4 ports, IRQ sharing enabled
[    0.140167] omap_uart.0: ttyO0 at MMIO 0x44e09000 (irq = 72) is a OMAP UART0
[    0.140350] console [ttyO0] enabled
[    0.140747] omap_uart.1: ttyO1 at MMIO 0x48022000 (irq = 73) is a OMAP UART1
[    0.141082] omap_uart.2: ttyO2 at MMIO 0x48024000 (irq = 74) is a OMAP UART2
[    0.141418] omap_uart.3: ttyO3 at MMIO 0x481a6000 (irq = 44) is a OMAP UART3
[    0.141784] omap_uart.4: ttyO4 at MMIO 0x481a8000 (irq = 45) is a OMAP UART4
[    0.142150] omap_uart.5: ttyO5 at MMIO 0x481aa000 (irq = 46) is a OMAP UART5
[    0.143371] brd: module loaded
[    0.146545] loop: module loaded
[    0.146636] at24 1-0051: 32768 byte 24c256 EEPROM, writable, 64 bytes/write
[    0.201599] No daughter card found
[    0.201660] at24 1-0050: 32768 byte 24c256 EEPROM, writable, 64 bytes/write
[    0.209594] Board name: A335BONE
[    0.209594] Board version: 00A5
[    0.209625] The board is a AM335x Beaglebone.
[    0.210266] tps65217 1-0024: TPS65217 ID 0x7 version 1.0
[    0.212036] print_constraints: DCDC1: 900 <--> 1800 mV at 1800 mV
[    0.213806] print_constraints: DCDC2: 900 <--> 3300 mV at 1275 mV
[    0.215576] print_constraints: DCDC3: 900 <--> 1500 mV at 1100 mV
[    0.217285] print_constraints: LDO1: 1000 <--> 3300 mV at 1800 mV
[    0.219055] print_constraints: LDO2: 900 <--> 3300 mV at 3300 mV
[    0.220825] print_constraints: LDO3: 1800 <--> 3300 mV at 3300 mV
[    0.222564] print_constraints: LDO4: 1800 <--> 3300 mV at 3300 mV
[    0.223358]  omap_i2c.3: alias fck already exists
[    0.223602] omap_i2c omap_i2c.3: bus 3 rev2.4.0 at 100 kHz
[    0.224182]  omap_hsmmc.0: alias fck already exists
[    0.224487] _omap_mux_get_by_name: Could not find signal leds-gpio
[    0.231140] w1-gpio connected to P8_6
[    0.231384] at24 3-0054: 32768 byte 24c256 EEPROM, writable, 64 bytes/write
[    0.281677] BeagleBone cape EEPROM: could not read eeprom at address 0x54
[    0.281707] at24 3-0055: 32768 byte 24c256 EEPROM, writable, 64 bytes/write
[    0.341705] BeagleBone cape EEPROM: could not read eeprom at address 0x55
[    0.341766] at24 3-0056: 32768 byte 24c256 EEPROM, writable, 64 bytes/write
[    0.401733] BeagleBone cape EEPROM: could not read eeprom at address 0x56
[    0.401794] at24 3-0057: 32768 byte 24c256 EEPROM, writable, 64 bytes/write
[    0.461761] BeagleBone cape EEPROM: could not read eeprom at address 0x57
[    0.461791] BeagleBone cape: exporting ADC pins to sysfs
[    0.462646] SCSI Media Changer driver v0.25
[    0.462921] CAN device driver interface
[    0.462921] CAN bus driver for Bosch D_CAN controller 1.0
[    0.511810] davinci_mdio davinci_mdio.0: davinci mdio revision 1.6
[    0.511810] davinci_mdio davinci_mdio.0: detected phy mask fffffffe
[    0.512664] davinci_mdio.0: probed
[    0.512695] davinci_mdio davinci_mdio.0: phy[0]: device 0:00, driver SMSC LAN8710/LAN8720
[    0.512847] usbcore: registered new interface driver catc
[    0.512847] catc: v2.8:CATC EL1210A NetMate USB Ethernet driver
[    0.512908] usbcore: registered new interface driver kaweth
[    0.512939] pegasus: v0.6.14 (2006/09/27), Pegasus/Pegasus II USB Ethernet driver
[    0.513000] usbcore: registered new interface driver pegasus
[    0.513000] rtl8150: v0.6.2 (2004/08/27):rtl8150 based usb-ethernet driver
[    0.513061] usbcore: registered new interface driver rtl8150
[    0.513153] usbcore: registered new interface driver asix
[    0.513214] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_ether
[    0.513275] usbcore: registered new interface driver dm9601
[    0.513336] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_subset
[    0.513397] usbcore: registered new interface driver zaurus
[    0.513427] cdc_ncm: 04-Aug-2011
[    0.513488] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_ncm
[    0.513610] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_acm
[    0.513641] cdc_acm: USB Abstract Control Model driver for USB modems and ISDN adapters
[    0.513702] usbcore: registered new interface driver usblp
[    0.513763] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_wdm
[    0.513854] usbcore: registered new interface driver uas
[    0.513854] Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
[    0.513977] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
[    0.513977] USB Mass Storage support registered.
[    0.514068] usbcore: registered new interface driver libusual
[    0.514465] mousedev: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice
[    0.514953] dev addr = cf9c4e08
[    0.514953] pdev addr = cf9c4e00
[    0.515533] omap_rtc omap_rtc: rtc core: registered omap_rtc as rtc0
[    0.515563] omap_rtc: already running
[    0.515686] i2c /dev entries driver
[    0.516052] Linux media interface: v0.10
[    0.516174] lirc_dev: IR Remote Control driver registered, major 249
[    0.516204] IR NEC protocol handler initialized
[    0.516204] IR RC5(x) protocol handler initialized
[    0.516204] IR RC6 protocol handler initialized
[    0.516204] IR JVC protocol handler initialized
[    0.516235] IR Sony protocol handler initialized
[    0.516235] IR RC5 (streamzap) protocol handler initialized
[    0.516235] IR MCE Keyboard/mouse protocol handler initialized
[    0.516265] IR LIRC bridge handler initialized
[    0.516265] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[    0.516387] usbcore: registered new interface driver uvcvideo
[    0.516387] USB Video Class driver (1.1.1)
[    0.516448] Driver for 1-wire Dallas network protocol.
[    0.517578] OMAP Watchdog Timer Rev 0x01: initial timeout 60 sec
[    0.518951] cpuidle: using governor ladder
[    0.519073] cpuidle: using governor menu
[    0.520874] Registered led device: beaglebone::usr0
[    0.520965] Registered led device: beaglebone::usr1
[    0.521057] Registered led device: beaglebone::usr2
[    0.521118] Registered led device: beaglebone::usr3
[    0.521484] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid
[    0.521514] usbhid: USB HID core driver
[    0.522399] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio
[    0.523101] ALSA device list:
[    0.523101]   No soundcards found.
[    0.523406] TCP cubic registered
[    0.523437] Initializing XFRM netlink socket
[    0.523468] NET: Registered protocol family 17
[    0.523529] NET: Registered protocol family 15
[    0.523529] can: controller area network core (rev 20090105 abi 8)
[    0.523620] NET: Registered protocol family 29
[    0.523620] can: raw protocol (rev 20090105)
[    0.523681] Registering the dns_resolver key type
[    0.523712] VFP support v0.3: implementor 41 architecture 3 part 30 variant c rev 3
[    0.523742] ThumbEE CPU extension supported.
[    0.523803] mux: Failed to setup hwmod io irq -22
[    0.524475] Power Management for AM33XX family
[    0.524658] Trying to load am335x-pm-firmware.bin (60 secs timeout)
[    0.524780] Copied the M3 firmware to UMEM
[    0.524810] omap_hwmod: wkup_m3: wkup_m3: hwmod data error: OMAP4 does not support st_shift
[    0.537933] registered taskstats version 1
[    0.538208] Detected MACID=d4:94:a1:53:da:52
[    0.539062] omap_rtc omap_rtc: setting system clock to 2000-01-01 00:04:45 UTC (946685085)
[    0.539733] Waiting for root device /dev/mmcblk0p2...
[    0.602844] mmc0: host does not support reading read-only switch. assuming write-enable.
[    0.604797] mmc0: new high speed SDHC card at address 1234
[    0.605316] mmcblk0: mmc0:1234 SA04G 3.63 GiB
[    0.606964]  mmcblk0: p1 p2
[    0.655334] EXT4-fs (mmcblk0p2): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null)
[    0.655426] VFS: Mounted root (ext4 filesystem) readonly on device 179:2.
[    0.656921] devtmpfs: mounted
[    0.657257] Freeing init memory: 220K
[    1.000488] NET: Registered protocol family 10
[    1.481475] udevd[55]: starting version 182
[    1.507232] Bluetooth: Core ver 2.16
[    1.507354] NET: Registered protocol family 31
[    1.507354] Bluetooth: HCI device and connection manager initialized
[    1.507354] Bluetooth: HCI socket layer initialized
[    1.507385] Bluetooth: L2CAP socket layer initialized
[    1.507415] Bluetooth: SCO socket layer initialized
[    1.524261] Bluetooth: HIDP (Human Interface Emulation) ver 1.2
[    1.617034] NET: Registered protocol family 23
[    1.637481] IrCOMM protocol (Dag Brattli)
[    1.695068] Bluetooth: RFCOMM TTY layer initialized
[    1.695098] Bluetooth: RFCOMM socket layer initialized
[    1.695129] Bluetooth: RFCOMM ver 1.11
[    1.895416] EXT4-fs (mmcblk0p2): re-mounted. Opts: (null)
[    2.349578]  gadget: Mass Storage Function, version: 2009/09/11
[    2.349578]  gadget: Number of LUNs=1
[    2.349609]  lun0: LUN: removable file: /dev/mmcblk0p1
[    2.349670]  gadget: Mass Storage Gadget, version: 2009/09/11
[    2.349670]  gadget: userspace failed to provide iSerialNumber
[    2.349700]  gadget: g_mass_storage ready
[    2.349731] musb-hdrc musb-hdrc.0: MUSB HDRC host driver
[    2.349792] musb-hdrc musb-hdrc.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2
[    2.349884] usb usb2: New USB device found, idVendor=1d6b, idProduct=0002
[    2.349914] usb usb2: New USB device strings: Mfr=3, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
[    2.349914] usb usb2: Product: MUSB HDRC host driver
[    2.349945] usb usb2: Manufacturer: Linux 3.2.16 musb-hcd
[    2.349945] usb usb2: SerialNumber: musb-hdrc.0
[    2.350585] hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    2.350616] hub 2-0:1.0: 1 port detected
[    3.730560] ip_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
[    4.695739]
[    4.695739] CPSW phy found : id is : 0x7c0f1
[    4.702575] PHY 0:01 not found
[    4.708831] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
[    7.693572] PHY: 0:00 - Link is Up - 100/Full
[    7.693756] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
[   17.903045] eth0: no IPv6 routers present

[adafruit]

thats strange, it doesnt even detect. does the dongle get detected when plugged into a normal computer?

[JSadowski]

I assume this is the adapter?

Code: Select all

macbook:~ jonathan$ system_profiler SPUSBDataType
...
        802.11n WLAN Adapter:

          Product ID: 0x8176
          Vendor ID: 0x0bda  (Realtek Semiconductor Corp.)
          Version: 2.00
          Serial Number: 00e04c000001
          Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
          Manufacturer: 802.11n WLPN Adapter
          Location ID: 0x24100000 / 3
          Current Available (mA): 500
          Current Required (mA): 500
...


[adafruit]

yah that looks right, OK it could still be the adapter or it could be the USB port. do you have another USB device you can try plugging in to test the USB port?

you are powering it with 5V DC adapter for sure right?

[JSadowski]

Yes, definitely using 5V power adapter with proper current.

In an attempt to fix this issue, I decided to borrow a USB Wifi dongle from a friend... it looks very similar to the one that you are selling on adafruit. Same size, same basic case design, except made from white-translucent plastic instead of solid black like the one you're offering.



Guessing that this may be the same device, I decided to plug both devices into my macbook at the same time and see if they both reported the same product/vendor ids...

Code: Select all

macbook:~ jonathan$ system_profiler SPUSBDataType
...
          Product ID: 0x8176
          Vendor ID: 0x0bda  (Realtek Semiconductor Corp.)
          Version: 2.00
          Serial Number: 00e04c000001
          Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
          Manufacturer: 802.11n WLPN Adapter
          Location ID: 0x24100000 / 3
          Current Available (mA): 500
          Current Required (mA): 500

...

          Product ID: 0x8176
          Vendor ID: 0x0bda  (Realtek Semiconductor Corp.)
          Version: 2.00
          Serial Number: 00e04c000001
          Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
          Manufacturer: Realtek
          Location ID: 0x26400000 / 3
          Current Available (mA): 500
          Current Required (mA): 500

...


Sure enough -- when plugged into the same macbook at the same time, both of these pretty much reported the same information... the only difference is that the one from adafruit listed the manufacturer as: "802.11n WLPN Adapter", where as the borrowed one lists the manufacturer as "Realtek". Could this make a functional difference to the driver?

So, on a lark, I attempted to continue the tutorial with the white adapter that I had borrowed from a friend. Sure enough, it is detected by the beagle bone... (I had some issues further down in the tutorial, but that's a sidebar at the moment, the white one shows up properly in dmesg, and wlan0 exists when the white one is connected to my beaglebone). As you can imagine, I am quite confused

[adafruit]

that is strange but lets replace it - might help? email support@adafruit and ask for a new wifi dongle!

[hudson]

I'm using a visually similar and quite inexpensive rt5730 wifi adapter. The rt73-firmware.ipk only installs /lib/firmware/rt73.bin, while this device is looking for rt2870.bin. I was able to install this additional firmware file from ralink (the 2870USB link). There were some issues with rfkill and configuring wpa_supplicant to associate with the network that might be useful to document, but otherwise it was fairly straightforward.

[JSadowski]

Hudson,

I think I'm running into the rfkill issues that you're referring to. Any hints on that?

[FatBits]

I ordered the same adapter from Adafruit last week. I've completed the tutorial, and can confirm that I'm powering with a 5v 2000mA adapter. No luck so far. When I plug the adapter into my computer Ubuntu reports it as Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8188CUS 802.11n. Does this suggest that the chipset is different from the one in the tutorial which is RTL8192CU. Mine looks a little different than the one pictured in the product shot. The basic enclosure is the same, but mine has a silkscreen whereas the one on the website has no label. I haven't been able to find an appropriate driver for the RTL8188CUS. Any suggestions? Thanks!

[adafruit]

fatbits, thats unusual, can you by chance plug it into a computer and see what chipset the PC reports? it should be RTL8192CU chipset

[tgalonso]

My Adapter has the same behavior only difference is that it seemed to work for a while (15 minutes) and then it died (LED went off).
BTW, thanks for sending a replacement.

tgalonso

[FatBits]

Windows 7 is reporting the same chipset as Ubuntu, RTL8188CU. See attached screenshot. Mac OS is unhelpfully vague. I went out and got a Netgear Wifi adapter last night that is supposed to use the RTL8192CU chipset, but Windows doesn't report what chipset it is, and Ubuntu says its RTL8188CU, same as non-working adapter. It however does show up when attached to the Beaglebone, and the LED indicator lights, which doesn't happen on the other, but I haven't been able to get it connected to my network yet. I've also ordered another supposedly RTL8192CU based adapter from Amazon. Will let you know if I have any success.

[FatBits]

I should also add that the Adafruit adapter does light up when attached to Windows, just not on the Beagle.