Compex USB Wireless Config for Ubuntu

I use the Compex WLU54G USB Wireless Adapter with my HP notebook computer. When I used to use Windows XP, I just used the stock drivers and it worked pretty good. It’s kind of cumbersome to carry but since there’s wifi at my place of work and sometimes I need to swap it out with desktop computers to troubleshoot wifi problems, it was the best choice to make. When I decided to go with Ubuntu Linux full time, getting the Compex USB WLU54G Wireless Adapter to work with Ubuntu was one of the biggest obstacles to full time adoption.

Luckily, I scoured the web and in a few forgotten places, I found the pieces to the puzzle of getting the USB wireless adapter configured and usable in Ubuntu Linux. So if you have the Compex WLU54G USB Wireless Adapter, here’s how you can get it working for yourself.

First, you need to install build essentials and your linux-headers. In a terminal type:

sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-xxxx (where xxxx is your kernel)

Secondly you need to get the driver from serial monkey. Type this in a terminal:

wget http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/rt2570-cvs-daily.tar.gz
tar -xvf rt2570-cvs-daily.tar.gz

Now that you have the driver and you have it upnpacked, now you need to compile the driver so go back to the terminal and type this:

cd rt2570-cvs-/Module
make

Now copy the new driver into place:

sudo cp rt2570.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/usb/net/rt2570

Now you can register the new driver and load it by typing the following into your terminal:

sudo depmod -a
sudo modprobe rt2570

You can plug in in your Compex WLU54G USB Wireless WIFI adapter and you are ready to manage it with the graphical networking tools in Ubuntu.

Any questions or comments? I’m here to help!