broadcom bcm43xx support?

[lovethepirk]

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

I heard that 8.10 is going to have the support or repos for getting Broadcom's wireless bcm43xx cards working.

Is this true? Do they have the support already in the beta 8.10?

Anyone tried the hybrid drives yet?


http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=201366
This forum talks about using this AND having to patch the hybrid linux driver.

Thanks to all in the community

[Guest]

Re: broadcom bcm43xx support?

i have used a bcm43xx card and an intel 4695 card with 8.10 and they both worked fine out of the box. i haven't tried any hybrid drives.

[krazy]

Re: broadcom bcm43xx support?

For my bcm4318 wireless I plugged in an ethernet cable to get online and did

sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter

which automatically installed and downloaded the appropriate firmware. My wireless card started working immediately.

If your chip is on the supported list, just do the same thing.

[lovethepirk]

Re: broadcom bcm43xx support?

Hey I have and old laptop that I ran my first linux distro ever on...it is and emachines m6805 with the bcm4306 broadcom

I see on the Broadcom website that this model is not mentioned as having support, but I am thinking that the bcmxxx drivers for the models that are mentioned(BCM4311-, BCM4312-, BCM4321-, and BCM4322) will work for the bcm4306?

Am I just too optimistic or just a complete idiot. If anyone is unsure I will be trying the installation anyway and if the wireless aint working I am going to use NDISwrapper again, %!@#$%!@#$%#$%@.

Thanks to all again
LTP

[krazy]

Re: broadcom bcm43xx support?

The 4306 is supported. See the link in my post above.

[lovethepirk]

Re: broadcom bcm43xx support?

Let me restate my question more clearly....

I am wondering if anyone knows for sure if the new 8.10 version of Kubuntu will have support for broadcom's bcm4306. WITHOUT using the fwcutter or NDISwrapper.

Broadcom has come out with hybrid drivers for the 4311, 4312, etc models but the website failed to mention the old 4306.

I am installing the 8.10 RC anyway tonight, just let me know if someone knows the answer.

Thanks to the community again, I love ya all.

LTP

[krazy]

Re: broadcom bcm43xx support?

there are two linux drivers for the bcm wireless chipsets.

ndiswrapper wraps the windows driver, and is a bit of a dirty hack.

b43 is a native linux driver included in the kernel which is the proper way to support the bcm chips.
these chips, however, do not have any firmware on-board. they rely on the firmware being loaded by the driver at boot time. since the firmware is not open source, it cannot be distributed with the linux kernel with the rest of the b43 driver. on first installation, the b43-fwcutter software automatically downloads the firmware for your chip from a 3rd party website. the b43 driver is then able to work with the chipset.

[lovethepirk]

Re: broadcom bcm43xx support?

krazy,

From what I know there is no need for NDISwrapper and b43-fwcutter anymore on 8.10 with the models of broadcom I suggested above. Broadcom has finally come out with drivers for linux.

I HAVE used both NDISwrapper and fwcutter successfully in the past.

I want to know if the new 8.10 kubuntu will support the bcm4306 WITHOUT fwcutter and NDISwrapper.

I have a laptop with bcm4311 and it does work without NDISwrapper and fwcutter.

[krazy]

Re: broadcom bcm43xx support?

Do you have a link for that info on the cards working without fwcutter/ndiswrapper in Intrepid? My 4318 doesn't work without fwcutter in the intrepid RC.

I think I found the driver you're referring to: http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php

But it's not under GPL, so not sure how useful it'll be..

edit: did you have to do anything (like restricted drivers manager) at all to get your bcm4311 working?

[lovethepirk]

Re: broadcom bcm43xx support?

Not sure about the 4318, found this link though, sounds like the individual has done the same thing as you...

http://m.digg.com/linux_unix/Ubuntu_...st_impressions

"Broadcom 4318 card has been found and that there's a driver available, however, the installation routine just doesn't do anything. Dropping into the terminal and running the following command: sudo /usr/share/b43-fwcutter/install_bcm43xx_firmware.sh fixes it (just make sure you have a wired Internet connection). I can then select my wireless network and it automatically selects the right encryption scheme."
---------
Mine worked immediately I am 99% sure. I just remember having to remove encyption and it worked. Problem is I had to reinstall vista and ship to HP because of the NVIDA defective videocard/mother board.
They are fixing it 'out of warranty' but only if I hadn't ****ed with the os.

Just installed 8.10 RC on my old emachines m6805 with Broadcom 4306. No wireless immediately had to install bcm43xx-fwcutter tool.

Regards,

LTP

[jglen490]

Re: broadcom bcm43xx support?

To the best of my knowledge, Broadcom does NOT have any GPL'd drivers for Linux. They do have proprietary drivers available for Linux for specific chips, and there are GPL'd workarounds such as b43-fwcutter, ndiswrapper, and other such engineered products. Even the GPL'd products require the use of a proprietary firmware or library.

The key is whether the driver is totally or partially GPL'd, or not. If it's GPL'd, it can be included in the kernel -- to the extent that it is GPL'd. Anything else needed or used to complete the process for building or providing a driver, MUST come from external sources. Thus, my

06:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)

wifi card uses a b43 driver found in the kernel, but requires an external firmware product obtained via the restricted repos with the b43-fwcutter package. Other wifi cards/chips require different combinations of parts.

The exact combination of pieces is based on whose wifi chip is in the card, what is available for use in the kernel, and what is (or isn't) required from external sources. It ain't simple and as long as some vendors do not provide GPL'd driver solutions, it never will be.

[jayhawk]

Re: broadcom bcm43xx support?

The Broadcom STA driver from Broadcom does come included in Intrepid. It is bundled in linux-restricted-modules if I recall correctly. This driver covers the 4311, 4312, 4321, 4322, and 4328 chipsets (It does not cover the 4306 card). It is still a proprietary driver so it is not included in the kernel, but Ubuntu has chosen to include it under their restricted drivers. To activate the driver, it should just be a matter of going to System->Administration->Hardware Drivers and activating the Broadcom STA driver. If you do not have the 14e4:4315 chipset, you could end up seeing two different options. There will be the Broadcom driver (the open-source b43 driver) and the Broadcom STA (the proprietary wl driver).

If you do have a b44 (the Broadcom 44xx series) wired ethernet driver, you will have to do a workaround simiar to the ndiswrapper option because the ssb module will block out the wl driver (the b44 and ssb drivers are in the kernel so it is loaded before the wl driver). So if you want to use the wl driver, the b44 and ssb modules have to be unloaded before loading the wl driver and then loaded back after the wl driver is loaded. The workaround is posted in this thread (at post #4):
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=880218

[lovethepirk]

Re: broadcom bcm43xx support?

I really wish my laptop hp dv6000 wasn't off getting an NVIDA recall repair right now b/c I would just reinstall 8.10 and figure this out but here is my question:

Does anyone know if you have to patch the Broadcom STA driver for the new kernel as seen in this post.,.,
http://fedoraforum.org/forum/showthread.php?t=201366

Thanks....

LTP

[TFrog]

Re: broadcom bcm43xx support?

I've investigated the reports that Dell and Mark Shuttleworth have persuaded Broadcom to make proprietary drivers available for some Broadcom chipsets. When I posed a question to Broadcom support about making a STA driver for the Air Force One BCM 4318 chipset, I got the following reply:

Broadcom is currently evaluating our support strategy for Linux users. As the chipset supplier, Broadcom provides Linux support to our customers - the manufacturers of wireless devices - that ultimately provide products to end customers, such as wireless LAN vendors, cable modem vendors, and notebook providers. It is up to these manufacturers to provide Linux client support to their end customers. Broadcom does not make a Linux client version available for end users at this time, however this may change in the future. In the meantime, please contact the manufacturer of your wireless device for Linux drivers. Linux support for certain products may also be available from Linuxant, and third party provider at http://www.linuxant.com/driverloader/

Regards,
Broadcom Support Team

The reason I posed this question to them about the STA drivers is because there are some things that even the B43 drivers/firmware combination don't do. Namely, interference mitigation. This is a must in a saturated wireless area. Otherwise, you run into some strange issues. Also, this is one of three things that are not currently working in the B43 project. They are still working on it though. However, it would be nice if Broadcom would thoroughly support all their chipsets on Linux of any variant.

[jglen490]

Re: broadcom bcm43xx support?

Again, if it's GPL'd, it can be included in a distribution. If it's ot GPL'd, it is not included in the distribution ,but is available through other sources -- including the restricted modules packages. The restricted packages must be separate so as to not violate the GPL. They're available, but because they are not GPL'd that availablilty must be separate.

As Broadcom says in their mumble-speak, they reserve the option to provide what we need in the future, but for now we MUST go to other sources -- because they don't want to release anything under GPL. They barely want to make proprietary things such as binaries available.

For now, we count ourselves lucky that there are some dedicated folks who do work-arounds very well and provide us with things like b43-fwcutter and ndiswrapper. And be thankful that at least some drivers, such as video, are at least supported through non-GPL'd binaries. The work continues, but until vendors and manufacturers decide that Linux support under Linux rules is worth their effort, we have what we have.