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This is an attempt to summarize the content of the various
web pages that describe the setting of a Belkin USB Wireless G key
under Linux, plus the author's own experience. Since most of this
content is second hand, it might be partially inaccurate. Do not
hesitate to send comments and corrections to the author.
The Belkin
USB Wireless G Network adapter (ref. F5D7050) is a WiFi network interface
which is relatively common due to its low price.
Internally, it can contain three different chipsets :
Ralink RT2570, Ralink RT73, or Zydas 1211B. You can identify
which one simply by looking at the contents of the CD-ROM which
is supplied with the key.
| Windows drivers | Chipset |
rt2500.sys
rt2500.inf | Ralink RT2570 |
rt73.sys
rt73.inf | Ralink RT73 |
BLKWGUXP.sys
BLKWGU.inf | Zydas 1211B |
For each of these three chipsets, there are two installation
methods available:
- you can use the Open Source drivers for this chipset;
- you can use the Windows XP drivers with "ndiswrapper" utility.
The good method is to use the Linux drivers. The "ndiswrapper" method
might give inferior technical results. It also implies that you
read and accept the terms of the end user licence
agreement of the Windows drivers (so far as they are compatible with your
local legislation). Therefore, the "ndiswrapper" method should be used only as a last resort.
The Linux drivers method
Recent distributions come with precompiled drivers. In such a
case, all that you have to do is to load the kernel module
with "modprobe" (as the super-user "root"). You can then
check that you have a wifi network interface with "iwconfig"
(from the wireless-tools package).
| Chipset | Commands |
| Ralink RT2570 | # modprobe rt73
# iwconfig rausb0 |
| Ralink RT73 | # modprobe rt2570
# iwconfig rausb0 |
| Zydas 1211B | # modprobe zd1211b
# iwconfig wlan0 |
If you are not lucky, your distribution does not already contain the driver.
Then you need to recompile the drivers by yourself.
Here are the places where to donwload the drivers:
The first steps are to:
- download an archive
- expand it
- go into the archive's directory with "cd"
Then the commands vary according to the driver you want to compile.
| Chipset | Commands |
| Ralink RT2570 |
as a normal user:
$ cd Module
$ make
then, as root user:
# make install |
| Ralink RT73 |
as a normal user:
$ cd Module
$ chmod +w-x *
$ chmod +x Configure
$ cp Makefile.6 Makefile
or, if you have a 2.4.x kernel instead of a 2.6.x one
$ cp Makefile.4 Makefile; make config
then, as root user:
# mkdir -p /etc/Wireless/RT73STA/
# cp rt73.bin rt73sta.dat /etc/Wireless/RT73STA/
# cp rt73.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/extra/
# depmod -a |
| Zydas 1211B |
as a normal user:
adapt the Makefile to the version of your kernel
apply this patch
then, as root user:
# make |
Once you have successfully recompiled and installed the driver, go to "modprobe" step
explained above.
The "ndiswrapper" method
This method consists in the following commands (replace "driver" below with the name of the Windows XP driver):
# ndiswrapper -i driver.inf
# ndiswrapper -l
(to ensure that the driver is loaded and the hardware detected)
# modprobe ndiswrapper
# iwconfig wlan0
(to ensure that the interface is available)
Once everything works, you can type "ndiswrapper -m" to let this interface be
created automatically at computer reboot.
What next?
When the WiFi network interface ("rausb0" or "wlan0") is available, you can
let graphical tools like KWifiManager configure it, or if you prefer
the command line, you can:
- set its network name: iwconfig wlan0 essid mynetwork
- set its IP address: ifconfig wlan0 192.168.12.12
- have it get automatically an IP address from the access point:
dhclient wlan0 or dhcpcd wlan0, according to your distribution
- etc...
All these settings are temporary. To make them permanent, use the tools
provided with your distribution (YaST for SuSE, modifying /etc/network/interfaces
for Debian, etc...).
Last updated: 2006-05-18. Maintained by webmaster@bureau-cornavin.com.
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