[Mint-13] AR8161 - Ralink 539b dilemma - SOLVED

[kristhor]

Hi, Im using Mint 13 on a relavitely new HP computer using 3.2.0-58-generic. It uses a Qualcomm Atheros AR8161 ethernet controller (wired) and a Ralink 539b network controller (wireless). AR8161 needs the alx driver and 539b needs the rt2800pci driver. Neither are in the kernel out of the box. From trial and error I found I can get the alx driver for the wired connection from linux-backports-cw-3.4-precise-generic (3.2.0-58-generic) (which contraversely are wireless modules) but it doesnt have the wireless (rt2800pci) driver. For that I need a higher version backport 3.5-3.12 but in those I dont have the alx driver!! And I can only have one modules package installed. So it seems i am not able to have both wired and wireless drivers at the same time.
Am I missing something here??

[computerbob]

Mint16 will give you kernel 3.11.0. Newer kernels have more drivers. All laptops can have wired and wireless at the same time. Even if your wireless device was broken, you can always buy a WiFi USB stick. Most of them don't do well with linux. Asus makes an N13 which I've no problem with.

[kristhor]

Solved! I upgraded the kernel, using mint 15 kernel on the mint 13 distro by:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install linux-image-generic-lts-raring linux-headers-generic-lts-raring

that way im still using the lts with its support until 2017 with the "latest" hardware support.