How to install thw wifi adapter RT5370 on Armbian ORange Pi 5?

[why2]

Hi, I would like to use my usb wifi adapter from my old Raspi 3. `lsusb` shows:

`Bus 007 Device 002: ID 148f:5370 Ralink Technology, Corp. RT5370 Wireless Adapter`

`ip a` shows:

```
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 76:ac:9a:1c:50:76 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.18.213/24 brd 192.168.18.255 scope global dynamic noprefixroute eth0
       valid_lft 1953sec preferred_lft 1953sec
    inet6 fe80::4450:f4d8:e15a:12c/64 scope link noprefixroute 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
```

and `lsmod` shows:
```  
Module                  Size  Used by
bnep                   24576  2
zstd                   16384  8
sch_fq_codel           20480  3
fuse                  110592  1
ip_tables              28672  0
ipv6                  434176  82
panfrost               57344  0
gpu_sched              28672  1 panfrost
```
 

[Werner]

https://linux-hardware.org/?id=usb:148f-5370

check if modules are present in kernel config.

[Tony3]

And if not in kernel, simply compile one as a module 

[Gullik]

1. Armbian does not modprobe rt2800usb, but I had to add it to /etc/modules

2. No wlan0 interface is created, even though the module is loaded.

3. What is required to get armbian to create wlan0?

 

/home/webjorn/orangepi_5/Armbian_23.5.1_Orangepi5_jammy_legacy_5.10.160_gnome_desktop.img

orange pi 5 4Gb

 

Gullik

 

[Igor]

56 minutes ago, Gullik said:

1. Armbian does not modprobe rt2800usb, but I had to add it to /etc/modules

2. No wlan0 interface is created, even though the module is loaded.

3. What is required to get armbian to create wlan0?

 

HW features are kernel related and here (Rockchip RK3588) there is no other option but to use this prehistoric kernel 5.10.y where HW functions works well, while general functions like support for 3rd party USB does not.

Armbian never supported what users are plugging to the board via USB/I2C and other connetions since supporting boards is already excessive expensive / technically difficult and 99% of users doesn't care that developers also need to consume food.

 

By quick check on kernel config it seems it might help to enable others:
https://github.com/armbian/build/blob/main/config/kernel/linux-rockchip-rk3588-legacy.config#L2817-L2823

but its also possible that ID of your USB is not in the driver table. This can be workarounded / hacked - Google! Forcing id is the same on all Linux distros.

[Gullik]

Ok, however the rt2800usb is on the distribution. I understand this to be that I need to recompile the kernel, after enabling the missing h/w defs.

 

CONFIG_RT2800USB_RT53XX=y

 

Could the suspicion that it would work be correct? (if noone changed wifi to be incompatible with legacy hw)

 

Is there anyone using usb wifi on the  Orange PI 5 and if this is the case, what chipset/make?

 

I take it that the builtin wifi on the 5B works...

 

Regards,

 

Gullik

 

 

[Gullik]

In the latest Armbian_23.11.0-trunk.114_Orangepi5_jammy_edge_6.6.0-rc1_xfce_desktop RT5370 works out of the box.

 

Regards,

 

G