Installing wireless drivers for RTL8197b-based chipsets

(Particularly those with USB ID 0bda:8198)

Sources: help.ubuntu.com article and some Russian forum post.

This guide is pretty sparse, and nowhere near as detailed as the help.ubuntu.com article linked above. The only advantage this has over help.ubuntu.com is that it deals with 8198 cards as well as 8197 and 8189. If you have an 8198 card (see Step 1 below to check), but you would like a more detailed guide, then follow the help.ubuntu.com guide linked above until just after the step where you run 'sudo patch -p1 < 2.6.24.patch', then edit the r8187_core.c file as in Step 5 below, then resume the help.ubuntu.com guide where you left off, starting at 'sudo ./makedrv'.

If you do use this guide and it helps you get your wireless working, please drop me a line (email at the bottom) and tell me your hardware so I can list it on this page.

Step 1: run lsusb. Locate the entry with text "Realtek Semiconductor Corp.". The ID should be 0bda:xxxx. If xxxx is 8189 or 8197, you have the easy option. If xxxx is 8198, as mine was, you will have to edit some files later. If it's anything else, then this guide may not help at all. For reference, the output from mine is:

Bus 007 Device 002: ID 0bda:8198 Realtek Semiconductor Corp.

Step 2: Download the driver. The files you need are rtl8187b-modified-dist.tar.gz and 2.6.24.patch. [I don't know if the patch is necessary, but it WorksForMe™.]

Step 3: Untar the tar.gz file and copy its contents to a new directory somewhere convenient. I chose /wifi.

Step 4: Patch the driver code with 2.6.24.patch, using the command

patch -p1 < 2.6.24.patch

Step 5 (8198 chipset only): If your chipset is not an 8198 chipset, you should skip this step. Edit the file /wifi/rtl8187/r8187_core.c. Search for 2 lines containing "0x8189". Change both to "0x8198" instead. One line will now look like this:

{USB_DEVICE(USB_VENDOR_ID_REALTEK, 0x8198)},

and the other will look like this:

case 0x8198:
  /* check RF frontend chipset */

Step 6: Compile the driver using sudo ./makedrv. Ignore the swathes of warning messages.

Step 7: Load the driver using sudo ./wlan0up.

Step 8: Back up and edit /etc/rc.local and add the following lines before the line containing exit 0: 

/wifi/wlan0up
ifconfig wlan0 up
dhclient wlan0

Step 9: Back up and edit /etc/network/interfaces and add the following lines to the end:

pre-up            /wifi/wlan0up
post-down         /wifi/wlan0down

Step 10: Restart, log in, and try to connect to a wireless network.

Hopefully, and with a little luck, your wireless driver should now be working. This driver does have a problem that it doesn't accurately report signal strength -- every network is only one bar or 30%.

Systems

This guide has been successfully used on the following systems:

Philip Potter, 14th August 2008

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