help starting wifi with broadcomm card

[dabard]

I just installed the gOS final on my Dell B130 with broadcomm wireless
pcmcia card.

Love the look & feel, but... gOS doesn't recognize the wireless card.
Hence a not-netbook.

newbee to linux, so can anyone comment/advise on whether these are
helpful before I attempt?

I figure to ask first, maybe someone has already solved this problem,
===========================
Linux support for broadcomm wifi cards

http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php

also maybe this is all I need

http://blog.gunbladeiv.com/2008/05/hardy-heron-b43-broadcom-driver-setup.html

Thanks in advance,

dabard

[ed_giuliani]

hi i had the same problem with an internal broadcom card, i searched
for boadcom in synaptic manager and was able to download the drivers.
perhaps the drivers will work for your card.

> http://blog.gunbladeiv.com/2008/05/hardy-heron-b43-broadcom-driver-se...
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> dabard

[dabard]

Thanks, I will try your suggestion. Except because the only link to
this laptop
during the install is wireless, I'm not sure a download will be
possible
if it can't connect to the wireless network...

Did I miss a readme or starthere file that offers suggestions for
manual fixes
to common or expected install problems?

(sigh) I was really hoping the install would be smart enough to figure
out
how to manage a relatively common wireless card all by itself...

[allelopath]

Broadcom wireless cards are problematic with any linux distro.
I cannot make any comments specific to gOS as I am brand new to it.

Installing opensuse (and other distros) on my laptop with a broadcom
card, I learned several ways to go:
1. Buy Linuxant driver for $20 (I did this it works)
2. b43 drivers (http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43)
3. ndiswrapper

I am actually considering getting another wireless card that is known
to be easily compatible with linux because I have installed a number
of linux distros on this computer and this wireless card is always the
stumbling block.

[tanguyr]

OK, try this:

1) go to this page and pick a mirror near you:

http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/i386/b43-fwcutter/download

2) download the file (called "b43-fwcutter_011-1_i386.deb")

3) you also need these two files:

http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o
http://downloads.openwrt.org/ sources/broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2

put all of these on a usb thumbdrive (or burn a cd or whatever)

Right, now go to your laptop and insert the thumbdrive/cd/whatever:

4) copy "wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o" and "broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2"
into your /tmp directory

5) right click on the file "b43-fwcutter_011-1_i386.deb" - you should
get an option to install it (something like "install with gDebi" or
whatever). It will ask you for your password. During the installation,
it will ask you if you want to download the firmware - say no (since
you aren't connected to the internet... )

6) so, once it's installed, open a terminal and type the following commands:

cd /tmp
sudo b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o
tar xfvj broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2
sudo b43-fwcutter --unsupported -w /lib/firmware
broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0/kmod/wl_apsta_mimo.o
chmod o+rx /lib/firmware/b43 /lib/firmware/b43legacy

and then reboot.

Good luck, and keep us posted

/t

[tanguyr]

oops, careful, there's a space in that third link - should be:

http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2

/t

[tanguyr]

*sigh*

also, these two lines:

sudo b43-fwcutter --unsupported -w /lib/firmware
broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0/kmod/wl_apsta_mimo.o

should be one long line (with a space between "/lib/firmware" and
"broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0/kmod/wl_apsta_mimo.o")

darned email formatting.

/t

[dabard]

tanguyr,

thanks for the leads, and the diligence of both your addenda.

I'm most of the way through. and being a failing-eyesight guy, it
took me a while to figure out that what looked like the digit "one"
was actually a lower case letter "ell", as in wl for "windoze library"

so I get to the last line, and the system tells me that the chmod
operation is "not permitted" on /lib/firmware/b43 and /lib/firmware/
b43legacy

advice?

I will need to wait until tomorrow to check whether the wireless
lives...
altho after reboot, the wireless detector icon on the desktop is
apparently unchanged.

/dabard

[tanguyr]

right, my bad again - try

sudo chmod o+rx /lib/firmware/b43 /lib/firmware/b43legacy

(all on one line)

/t

[dabard]

thx, will try again,
but it may be a day or so before I can report results...

other lurkers: any reports of successes right out-of-the-box
with other wireless cards? Please share your successes and failures.

I would like to find (or help make) a compendium of what works and
what requires manual intervention, for the alert newbee.

[dabard]

ok, all steps followed, rebooted...

and the wireless detector on the desktop is still saying
"disconnected".

Hardware all works, I can swap the HD and run WinXP wirelessly...

I'm sure I'm missing a simple step, but...

next steps, anyone?

[tanguyr]

by "the wireless detector on the desktop", do you mean the google
gadget? That won't show anything until you connect to a wifi network
(i think). Are you connected to a wireless network? What does the
network mananger icon in the top panel (top right corner of your
screen) say?

Here's another command line to try:

sudo iwconfig

it should show the status of your wireless card.

Regs,
/t

[dabard]

thx,

sudo iwconfig

announces that I have a wireless device to talk to, but no network,
which is the expected outcome.

So now I gotta now find a hotspot to test the outcome.

I guess a "generic" script for installing would include

(1) sudo iwconfig [then preserve the output]
(2) download & run packages [per tanguyr, thank you!]
(3) reboot
(4) sudo iwconfig [compare output to that from step 1 for :-) or :-( ]
[probably paste outcome in same note as (1) for comparison later)
(5) find a wireless hotspot & test/enjoy

thanks to all, will post regardless...

/d

[Graham Todd]

On Mon, 1 Dec 2008 17:39:52 -0800 (PST)
dabard <daba...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hardware all works, I can swap the HD and run WinXP wirelessly...
>
> I'm sure I'm missing a simple step, but...
>
> next steps, anyone?

[snipped]

Broadcomm cards and Linux don't work well together, as Broadcomm don't
support Linux. However, see this thread:

http://groups.google.com/group/goslinux/browse_thread/thread/89418d9f480a4faa

and a search on Synaptic will find a broadcomm driver (I don't have a
broadcomm card so I can't say how good/easy this is to use). Just
search for "broadcom" (without the quotes).

--
Graham Todd

[dabard]

Graham, thx for the comments.
(sigh) there are Linux drivers on the Broadcom website
===========================
Linux support for broadcomm wifi cards from Broadcom

http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php
=============================
maybe this is all I need, but I'm not Linux-experienced enough to
figure out whether they fit the gOS Ubuntu flavor, etc, so I'm here
begging for help.

--my status so far:
So far tanguyr's script (thx again!) has gotten me to where I can get
the google wireless detector widget to detect my local wireless
network, but I can't connect via Firefox. I'm guessing that I need to
manually get some wireless card info into the network app, but I'm
fumbling around right now.

I plead noobieness - a new os install trying to remember 20 year old
Unix training after decades of windoze apps.

I would read the instructions if I could find them... and I'm sure it
will be "obvious" to me once I get it to work the first or second
time.

All help is gratefully acknowledged in advance.

/d

[dabard]

status: this attempt fails to let me connect.
even after a reboot.

a check of system -> Administration -> HardwareDrivers reports
--no proprietary drivers present
--Broadcom B43 wireless driver (checked box) Enabled (greenDot) In
use
===================
from terminal:
sudo iwconfig wlan0 comes back with:
wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:""
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: Not-
Associated
(tx stuff, retry stuff)
Encryption key:off
(3 lines of other stuff)
=============
based on comments from other threads,
whatever b43xxx code is packed with the ubuntu 8.04 OS is suspect,
so roll-your-own is popular.

last gasp: somehow I'm thinking that the ESSID field should be
populated,
but I'm not smart enough yet to do it.
==============
thx to all, will continue to work at it....
/d

[dabard]

more data:
gee, on the next thread, there's an "unable to connect" discussion
-------------------
the result of
sudo dhclient wlan0

Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.6
copyright...
all rights reserved...
for info visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/

wmaster0: unknown hardware address type 801
wmaster0: unknown hardware address type 801
listening on LPF/wlan0/00:14:a4:79:7c:89
sending on LPF/wlan0/00:14:a4:79:7c:89
sending on Socket/fallback
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 5
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 11
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 13
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 2
No DHCPOFFERS received.
No working leases in persistent database - sleeping.
======================

so it looks like the device address is not making it to the software
somehow...
======================
thx to all,
/d

[dabard]

following up:

the link I provided to Graham directly from the broadcom site sez,
dated 01 July 2008, that these codes should be used, and that the b43
codes
in use by the linux community including the ssb should be avoided/
blacklisted.

so I will try this 'official' patch and see how it works.

I avoided this because may card (4318) wasn't specifically noted in
the release note,
the readme discusses only the 4311 and 4312, but what the heck...
---------------------------
/d
==================================
<snip>

On Dec 2, 11:09 am, dabard <dabard...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Graham, thx for the comments.
> (sigh) there are Linux drivers on the Broadcom website
> ===========================
> Linux support for broadcomm wifi cards from Broadcom
>
> http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php
> =============================

<snip>

[dabard]

more in the saga:

downloaded the contents of
===========================
http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php
=============================

follow their steps 1, 2 & 3, ok. Then

my /hybrid_wl directory has the expected
/src and /lib and Makefile.

So far, so good.

on to step 4:
the make function fails.

I assume that I replace the "<2.6.xx.xx>" with "2.6.26-19-generic" in
their instructions
for the gOS 3.0 final release, and that I use the 32-bit version of
the hybrid files.

Again, I plead noobie... if I'm doing something obviously wrong,
please point me in the correct direction.

the Broadcom instructions are pasted here:

/d
============
BUILD AND INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
-----------------------------------

hybrid-portsrc.tar.gz
hybrid-portsrc-x86_64.tar.gz

On the target machine, setup the source/hybrid/build directory

1. Create a new directory: mkdir hybrid_wl
2. Go to that directory: cd hybrid_wl
3. Untar the appropriate 32/64 bit file
to that directory
32 bit: tar -xzf <path>/hybrid-
portsrc.tar.gz
64 bit: tar -xzf <path>/hybrid-portsrc-
x86_64.tar.gz

After untar'ing you should have a src and lib sub directory plus a
Linux
2.6 "kbuild" external makefile (Makefile). The lib sub directory has
the pre-built
binary, wlc_hybrid.o_shipped.

You use the standard Linux 2.6 kernel build system as follows to make
a Linux loadable
kernel module (LKM):

On the target machine, and cd'ed to the directory that contains the
Makefile (fragment)

4. Cleanup (optional): make -C /lib/modules/
<2.6.xx.xx>/build M=`pwd` clean
5. Build the LKM, i.e. wl.ko: make -C /lib/modules/
<2.6.xx.xx>/build M=`pwd`

You should now have a LKM, wl.ko inside this directory.

On this or a machine with the same kernel version, install the driver.

1. Validate you don't have loaded (or built into the kernel) the
Linux community provided
driver for Broadcom hardware. This exists in two forms: either
"bcm43xx" or a split form
of "b43" plus "b43legacy". If these modules were loaded you
would either
a) rmmod bcm43xx or
b) rmmod b43; rmmod b43legacy
2. Make available 802.11 TKIP crypto module: modprobe
ieee80211_crypt_tkip
3. Insert the Broadcom wl module: insmod <path>/wl.ko

Some kernel come with pre-installed Broadcom driver that support
Broadcom 4312 family of
PCIE cards. If the kernel support one of those pre-installed driver,
you must remove it
in order to install the new driver. Some of existing driver provided
by the Linux community that
supports Broadcom hardware are b43/b43legacy/bcm43xx. There is also a
ssb driver that is loaded
along with b43. This ssb driver also must to be remove.

If the kernel supports blacklist, you can add those drivers to the
blacklist file so that it will
not be loaded on next reboot
============