On Wed, 2015-09-23 at 19:08 -0400, Stephen Powell wrote:
> On Wed, 23 Sep 2015 08:23:39 -0400 (EDT), Edward Lukacs wrote:
> >
> > Oh, yes ... I can't get the ... Broadcom 4311 internal card
> > running under Jessie. ... Strange, but up to and including Ubuntu
> > 10.04, it ran right out of the box without any fuss ...
>
> Sounds like missing firmware. Do you have the non-free and contrib
> sections of the Debian archive enabled in /etc/apt/sources.list?
> Do you have Debian package firmware-b43-installer installed?
>
> After installing it, and rebooting, issue
>
> dmesg|less
>
> and search for the string "firmware" to see if the firmware loaded
> properly this time, and to see if there are any other missing firmware
> files for other hardware that requires firmware.
>
> By the way, please choose a more appropriate subject line in your posts
> to this list. It's more likely to get attention that way.
>
> I am CCing you because the subject line implies that you are not
> subscribed to the main list. Please do not CC me back; just reply to
> the list, since I am subscribed to the list.
>
I'm also using an old laptop with an old B43 wireless NIC. I have also
had a little trouble making it work, but after some effort have got it
pretty well figured out. Make sure that the b43 driver package is
installed (firmware-b43legacy-installer). You will also need the
b43-fwcutter package to obtain and install the proprietary firmware for
the NIC. Installation of the firmware package will require internet
access as it downloads the firmware from Broadcom. As I recall, the
b43-fwcutter package is automatically installed when you install the
firmware-b43legacy-installer package, but you might want to make sure
that that is true.
Once you install these packages, reboot the system!! (I forgot to do
this once, and spent quite a bit of time scratching my head wondering
why my NIC didn't come up.) When the system boots up, it will load the
firmware into the NIC and you should be good to go. Be sure to be
patient when booting the system, the wireless card may not come up until
just about the time the login dialog appears on the screen. That's the
way mine works, so don't get worried if the light for the wireless card
doesn't come on right away when the system starts booting, it may be
nearly login time before it does.