Re: Help setting up Broadcom WiFi on a Dell Inspiron 1501 laptop
On Fri, 18 Aug 2017 12:56:28 -0400
rhkramer@gmail.com wrote:
...
> * All of the Linuxes somehow indicated that I had to load some other files
> to get the Broadcom working. I eventually realized they were talking about
> firmware that has to be installed on the card.
Yes, you'll need firmware.
> I think all of them (or at least Wheezy, iirc, identified those files as
> b43/ucode5.fw and b43-open/ucode5.fw. (Are those two different files, and, do I
> need both or either??). So far, I have not located those files anywhere,
> either using google or searching the (Wheezy) packages (including contrib and
> non-free).
There is Broadcom's own [proprietary] firmware, and (possibly?) an open
source version. I don't know the state of the OSS version, but the last
time I looked into it, it wasn't entirely stable / reliable. Just use
Broadcom's, unless you know what you're doing and / or have strong
ideological / moral views on the subject.
Broadcom's version is definitely not included in Debian, even in
non-free. There is, however, the firmware cutter utility and package,
which can download and extract the firmware for and put it in the right
place. Just follow the instructions here:
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43/#Ubuntu.2FDebian
> I downloaded some packages from the Wheezy repository (after adding contrib
> and non-free):
>
> The downloaded packages:
> firmware-b43-installer version 1:015-14.1
That's the one that you want.
> firmware-brcm80211 version 0.36+wheezy.1
I don't think you want / need this one. Again, just follow the
directions here:
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43/
https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/drivers/b43
> There were other packages I could have downloaded and tried, but didn't, so
> far.
>
> Those packages provided me with (among other files):
>
> /lib/firmware/brcm/bcm43xx-0.fw
> /lib/firmware/brcm/bcm43xx_hdr-0.fw
> b43-fwcutter
...
> The main questions: So, where do I go from here? Is ucode5.fw an obsolete file
> name? Or maybe that is the name for the Broadcom proprietary stuff but what
> I've found are open source replacements? Is ucode5.fw in one of the other
> Debian packages for Broadcom? Has anyone ever got WiFi working with Wheezy
> and this Broadcom device?
So what's the problem? Does the card work? Is the driver module
inserted into the kernel? What does dmesg say when you insert it?
[Try "modprobe -r b43" followed by "modprobe b43" and see what dmesg
says.]
...
> * Somewhere I found a blurb that identified it as a "Broadcom Wireless 1390
> WLAN Mini card"
Marketing name, not particularly important for us.
> * Using =lspci -vnn -d 14e4:=, I get the following information:
>
> PCI-ID Supported? Chip ID Modes PHY version Alternative
> 14e4:4311 yes BCM4311 b/g G wl
That's what we need - see here:
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43/#Supported_devices
> IIUC, that means I can use the non-legacy driver (and Wheezy package)
Correct.
> * The tag on the bottom of the computer identifies the WiFi device as
> BRCM94311MCG, FCC ID: QDS-BRCM1020
Not important.
[I used to use Broadcom wireless, not necessarily this exact card, but
something similar. I haven't had a machine with one for years, but the
instructions are good, and they work when followed.]
Celejar
Reply to: