How do I get a TP-Link TN-WN727N usb wireless stick working?

Question

Just bought a new TP-LINK tl-wn727n usb thumb drive. I'm running Ubuntu 12.04 32-bit. When I plug the stick in, nothing happens. This may be normal for Linux veterans but as a new Linux user coming from Windows it seems weird.

I used the lsusb command and the device appears in the terminal as:

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

It is not showing up in the network connections list and I have no idea where to go from here.

Solution

According to an Ubuntu Forums post your adaptor only works with the rt2870sta driver and unfortunately this is no longer part of the Linux kernel since the 3.x series.

If you add the specific device id to the driver rt2800usb it should work;

echo 'install rt2800usb modprobe --ignore-install rt2800usb ; /bin/echo "148f 5370" > /sys/bus/usb/drivers/rt2800usb/new_id' | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/rt2800usb.conf
sudo modprobe -v rt2800usb

Reference

Comments

[waspinator]

is the fact that you have to know cli-foo to get wireless to work in ubuntu a bug or a feature? is this going to be fixed or is this the way ubuntu is designed to work?