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Ok, so that could be done. Probably you can just run make and then sudo make install on that driver. Could you try that first?

I did try that and got "no such directory" errors

Sent from my Desire S using Tapatalk 2

Well I'm now posting from the machine in question. I used make -k
and it seems to have worked.
Now, how can I check for a better driver?
(the connection is slow and unreliable but that may just be because of the distance from the modem).

After running make, you need to run sudo make install too; when that is done, you can blacklist rt2800usb to use your newly installed driver: (replace gedit with pluma on Mate)

In that file you can add this on a blank line: After a reboot inxi -N should report Card 2 with a different "driver:" text if all goes well.

Apparently I don't have gksu and it's not available:

eading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package gksu is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

Are you using KDE perhaps? You can use kdesudo then, or simply sudo which lets you type the password into the terminal instead of a box. Note that passwords in terminal are invisible instead of being replaced by ******. It will look like nothing happens if you type your password after using sudo.

Tried both those, neither did much:

arry@garry-mint ~ $ kdesudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
sudo:
garry@garry-mint ~ $ sudo gedit /etc/modpobe.d/blacklist.conf
sudo: gedit: command not found
garry@garry-mint ~ $ kdesudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
sudo:
garry@garry-mint ~ $ blacklist rt2800usb
blacklist: command not found

Apparently I don't have gedit and I can't apt-get it because of broken packages. Perhaps an incomplete install.
I installed without internet connection - could this be the problem?

You can use kate instead if using Mint KDE edition, pluma on Mate editions. Those text editors are preinstalled.

Hello again. Yesterday I thought I'd check the integrity of the installation DVD I was using and installed Mint on my laptop - and got exactly the same errors. So I downloaded a fresh copy (This time of the 64 bit MATE version) and installed that instead. All much better!
I'd still like, if possible, to check that the rt2800 is the best driver for this card (the supplied one being rt2870).

Should I try to make and install the rt2870 before blacklisting the rt2800 or after?

That does not really matter. If you install rt2870sta, blacklist rt2800usb, and then reboot, it's ok.

If necessary you can reverse the installation by using "sudo make uninstall"; but please make sure you remove the blacklist when uninstalling rt2870sta, else rt2800usb doesn't come back right away.

No, I can't get this new driver to show its face at all - no connection if I blacklist the old one. Never mind it IS working now, just slow, I can live with it I guess.
Thank you very much for your help and advice, Albert, I've learned quite a bit from this.