This report concerns the Gigabyte AirCruiser N300 GN-WB31N-RH,  with a Ralink RT2870 chip set. The problem seems to concern several other devices with this chipset as well, considering all the different guides I've come across while trying to make it work. There is several reports concerning this chip set here on launchpad, but it's still an issue, an issue that should be an easy fix for maverick.

I'm running lucid (kernel 2.6.32-24 generic).

First of all the current driver in the kernel is old. The latest driver (v2.4.0.1) can be downloaded here: http://www.ralinktech.com/support.php?s=2

Second, the driver is not set up to allow WPA encryption by default. This can be easily fixed by editing the two lines concerning this in the file /os/linux/config.mk (in the downloaded driver folder) before running make/make install. WPA is very common and should be activated by default.

Third. My device is apparently recognized as another chip set, and ubuntu loads the rt2800usb driver instead of the correct rt2870sta. I've had to blacklist rt2800usb to make it load the right driver.

Fourth. My device is not included in the device list (/common/rtusb_dev_id.c) for the new driver. The lsusb command gives this information on my Gigabyte device: ID 1044:800c Chu Yuen Enterprise Co., Ltd

Bug report #632187 concerns the same Gigabyte usb device on the same kernel, but does not mention the blacklisting rt2800 issue. In my experience the problem can not be solved without blacklisting the rt2800 driver.

A quick search here at launchpad indicates that there is other devices missing in the device list as well.

In short by, blacklsiting the rt2800 driver, editing the device list and activating WPA, i got it to work.
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AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.23.
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: STAC92xx Analog [STAC92xx Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0:  asbjoern   1334 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xf6ffc000 irq 43'
   Mixer name	: 'SigmaTel STAC9205'
   Components	: 'HDA:838476a0,102801f9,00100204'
   Controls      : 18   Simple ctrls  : 11DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.10
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=86d62931-370a-4a85-8b20-c9f290f2b781InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Alpha amd64 (20100920)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Latitude D630
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: linux (not installed)
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic root=UUID=f80f3451-05ac-44f9-a3c4-3d62126ea8d3 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=nb_NO:nb:no_NO:no:nn_NO:nn:en
 LANG=nb_NO.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.35-22.33-generic 2.6.35.4Regression: No
RelatedPackageVersions: linux-firmware 1.38Reproducible: YesTags: maverick kernel-net needs-upstream-testing
Uname: Linux 2.6.35-22-generic x86_64
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare
dmi.bios.date: 01/04/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A17
dmi.board.name: 0WM416
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA17:bd01/04/2010:svnDellInc.:pnLatitudeD630:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0WM416:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Latitude D630
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

###The Gigabyte GN-WI30N-RH uses the Ralink RT2860 wireless chipset with support for 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n (draft standard).###