RPi Ralink WLAN devices

How configure RALink based devices on Official Distro (Raspbian)

Source: mikma.eu

1) sudo apt-get install wpasupplicant

2) sudo apt-get install firmware-ralink

3) sudo wpa_passphrase NetworkEssid password

4) sudo joe /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf - paste text from step 3, remove the passkey line

 network={
       ssid="NetworkEssid"
       psk=945609a382413e64d57daef00eb5fab3ae228716e1e440981c004bc61dccc98c
 }

5) sudo wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf - ctrl+c to stop

6) sudo joe /etc/network/interfaces - add:

 auto wlan0
 iface wlan0 inet dhcp
 wpa-driver wext
 wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

7) sudo ifup wlan0

Alternative method (Somewhat simpler)

Install the wpasupplicant and the ralink firmware:

1) sudo apt-get install wpasupplicant

2) sudo apt-get install firmware-ralink

Restrict access to /etc/interfaces so only root can read it (in this method, this file will contain your network password):

3) sudo chmod 0600 /etc/network/interfaces

Edit you /etc/network/interfaces:

4) sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

5) The file already contains the configuration for eth0 (your Ethernet port) and looks something like this:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

add the following lines below, enter you network name (ssid) and password:

iface wlan0 inet dhcp
   wpa-ssid <your network ssid here>
   wpa-psk <your network password>

6) save the file.

The network interface will connect every time the RPi boots up. To connect it now manually, run:

7) sudo ifup wlan0

Useful tools:

 ifconfig
 iwconfig
 lsusb