Difference between revisions of "Broadcom Wireless"

Revision as of 23:48, 21 June 2013

While newer Broadcom cards should work without issue, some older laptops (particularly HP/Compaq and Dell D-series) include older B43xx wireless cards that don't work out of the box, due to missing firmware. To determine if you have one of these cards, follow the instructions on the Network Card Determination page - if you see a Broadcom B43xx device, follow these steps to make it work:

Plug in to a wired connection to the internet.
Go to System and select Synaptic Package Manager
Click in the Quick filter box at the top, and type b43
Select the box next to firmware-b43-installer and choose Mark for installation
Select the box next to firmware-b43legacy-installer and choose Mark for installation
Click on Apply

When the install completes, reboot your machine and see if the adapter works. If it doesn't follow the steps above, except select firmware-b43-lpphy-installer prior to clicking Apply. Reboot again, and your wireless adapter should work.

Important note: This update makes changes to the boot configuration of the ubermix install on your device. If you wish for these changes to survive a reset or to customize the install key for use on additional similar devices, you MUST follow steps 1-6 under "Rebuilding the base image) on the 4 - Customization page.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-'''''Note:''' As of version 0.708, newer Broadcom wireless adapters require no additional software to work. These instructions are for systems with VERY old Broadcom 430x WiFi cards.''
+While newer Broadcom cards should work without issue, some older laptops (particularly HP/Compaq and Dell D-series) include older B43xx wireless cards that don't work out of the box, due to missing firmware. To determine if you have one of these cards, follow the instructions on the [[Network Card Determination]] page - if you see a Broadcom B43xx device, follow these steps to make it work:
-In its earlier days, Broadcom was not terribly friendly to Linux and did not provide drivers for their 4300 series wireless cards. Unfortunately, their wireless cards were quite popular with the likes of Dell, HP/Compaq, and IBM, so there are a lot of older laptops with these cards in them.  Fortunately, there is a tool called "ndiswrapper", which allows you to use a Windows driver with Linux. Follow these steps to make your Broadcom 430x wireless adapter work:
+# Plug in to a wired connection to the internet.
+# Go to '''System''' and select '''Synaptic Package Manager'''
+# Click in the '''Quick filter''' box at the top, and type '''b43'''
+# Select the box next to '''firmware-b43-installer''' and choose '''Mark for installation'''
+# Select the box next to '''firmware-b43legacy-installer''' and choose '''Mark for installation'''
+# Click on '''Apply'''
-#First, we need to determine which Broadcom wireless chip you have in your computer. To do this, open a terminal (ctrl-alt-t) and type "lshw -C network" (no quotes). After a fer seconds, your network interfaces will appear. Look for an wireless adapter listing "Broadcom: as the vendor. There, you will see a number that starts with "BCM". This is the network interface model number.
+When the install completes, reboot your machine and see if the adapter works. If it doesn't follow the steps above, except select '''firmware-b43-lpphy-installer''' prior to clicking '''Apply'''. Reboot again, and your wireless adapter should work.
-#Next, plug your laptop into a wired ethernet connection, and open Firefox. Navigate to http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/ndiswrapper and try to hunt down your particular card. You will probably have the best luck with finding your laptop brand in the "List of Companies". If that doesn't work, look through the "PCI Device Database" or "List of known working/maybe devices". Be vigilant - look for similar brands models until you find one with the same Broadcom number.
-#Once you locate your laptop and/or adapter, there should be a link to an "EXE" file containing the driver. Download by clicking the link, and choose "Open with Archive Manager" (note: if this doesn't work, you may have to install the driver on a Windows machine, then look for the "bcmwl*" inf file in Windows/System)
-#Once the Archive Manager opens, you will see a list of files in the downloaded archive. Locate a file that starts with "bcmwl" and ends in ".inf". Click on it and click "Extract", then save the file in your user folder.
-#Next, switch back to the terminal (or open a new one with ctrl-alt-t) and type "sudo apt-get install ndisgtk" answer "Y" when it asks you if you are sure you want to install.
-#Once complete, type "sudo ndisgtk" to launch the driver installer.
-#Click the "Install New Driver" button, followed by the "Location" button, and then locate and double-click on the ".inf" file you extracted in step 4. Finally, click the "Install" button.
-#Once installed, the application should say "Hardware present: yes", and you can reboot. If it doesn't, you have the wrong driver file - go look for another.
-Once your system has rebooted, your wireless adapter should work properly.
 '''''Important note:''' This update makes changes to the boot configuration of the ubermix install on your device. If you wish for these changes to survive a reset or to customize the install key for use on additional similar devices, you MUST follow steps 1-6 under "Rebuilding the base image) on the 4 - Customization page. ''

Difference between revisions of "Broadcom Wireless"

Revision as of 23:48, 21 June 2013

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