Broadcom native works with Puppy not with DSL?
Forum: Networking
Topic: Broadcom native works with Puppy not with DSL?
started by: stevesr0
Posted by stevesr0 on Sep. 09 2007,01:42
I had given up using my laptop built in wireless under Linux, because it was such a pain to try to get it working with Ndiswrapper. I had exactly one success in "umpteen" tries with seven or eight distributions.I recently downloaded the most recent versions of several distributions and tried again with several today. I succeeded with one (Puppy v.17.1) but not with DSL (v4 RC3) or Mepis (v7 beta 3).
I like DSL and would like to be able to use it. Have others gotten the Broadcom 4306 cards to work with native linux drivers? Appreciate advice. I have looked at my copy of the new Damn Small Linux book but don't see a clear explanation there.
I vaguely recall hearing that the 2.6 kernels have better native BCM43xx drivers or integrated "cutter" files and wonder if this is relevant (since DSL unlike Puppy [and Mepis] is using a 2.4 series kernel).
Thanks in advance for any thoughts.
Steve
Posted by Juanito on Sep. 09 2007,03:40
According to this < site > the reverse engineered drivers are only for 2.6.x
Posted by stevesr0 on Sep. 09 2007,21:49
Hmm; has anyone been able to use the driver with 2.4 kernel based distros (and/or in theory, can the driver be used with 2.4 kernels)?Steve
Posted by Juanito on Sep. 10 2007,05:52
You could try with dsl-n (2.6.12) and see if that works first?
Posted by stevesr0 on Sep. 10 2007,15:27
According to the developer site (berlios.de) for the linux bcm43xx driver, a requirement is for the 2.6.16-rc2 kernel or newer. I haven't found a discussion which would clarify this for a nontechie such as myself.(There is also a confusing reference to b43 vs bcm43xx drivers, the former being newer and requiring a different fwcutter program.)
So, if I wanted to try DSL-N, I would still have to "upgrade" to 2.6.16-rc2 or higher. I have not done such ever...
Alternatively, I could try the ndiswrapper route with DSL 4 rc 3; maybe it won't be a pain <g>.
Thanks for comments.
Steve
Posted by Key on Sep. 10 2007,15:53
Do the same as I do and wait for DSL 5 
Until then, you can try Knoppix 5 as well.
But currently, there is no perfect system.
Knoppix 5 has a superb automatic hardware support but is too big and there is unfortunately no small version available yet.
DSL 3 and DSL 4 have less hardware support due to the 2.4.x kernel.
Posted by stevesr0 on Sep. 14 2007,14:17
I want to use wireless now and I would like to use DSL, if for no other reason that I like many things about it and would like to use it to increase my linux user skills.I would appreciate any comments from people who have used the ndiswrapper tool in the latest version of DSL (as of this writing, 4.0 RC3), about ease of use and pitfalls. (I have trolled the fora here but haven't seen a discussion of this.)
Thanks in advance.
Steve
Posted by Key on Sep. 14 2007,15:07
I always hope, that there is a pre-pre-pre-pre version of DSL 5 with a 2.6.x kernel available, but unfortunately this could take further months 
And nobody of the experts want to release a current DSL version with a 2.6.x kernel.
What a pity!
Let's wait for further days/weeks/months ..
Posted by Juanito on Sep. 14 2007,15:08
I have the following Broadcom wireless device:| Code Sample |
| $ lspdi 0000:01:03.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4309 802.11a/b/g (rev 03) |
This works with ndiswrapper and the winxp driver bcmwl5.sys and bcmwl5a.inf and the following mini-script:
| Code Sample |
| $ sudo cat /opt/myndis.sh #!/bin/bash # /usr/local/bin/ndiswrapper.sh /mnt/sda1/ndiswrapper/bcmwl5a.inf wlan0 essid 11:22:33:44:55:66:77:88:99:AA:BB:CC:DD 2>&1 >/dev/null # EOF |
Posted by stevesr0 on Sep. 14 2007,16:26
Thanks; is this with the newest version of DSL (4.0 rc3) or a custom version based or...?I will try this the next time I boot up the DSL live CD.
Steve
Posted by stevesr0 on Sep. 17 2007,03:29
I tried to configure my wireless card with ndiswrapper, but no go.When I did lspci, no broadcom card was detected (mine is usually declared as a 4306). I sought the info after booting with another distribution and the pci id was stated to be 00:0c.0 with the other info being 14e4:4320. I used this to try to identify the drivers that ndiswrapper recommended, but it was a tad confusing.
When running in Windows, I replaced the original Broadcom driver and inf because of a "serious" exploit possible with that version (v. 3.30.15.5) by downloading and installing a broadcom driver from the Linksys site (v. 4.100.15.5).
It is possible that this driver doesn't work with ndiswrapper; I didn't see any information about this.
However, when I tried to configure the driver using your miniscript, starting with sudo cat /opt/myndis.sh, the response was invalid no such file.
Later, after trying to configure with the ndiswrapper button in the DSL panel, I noted that there was an myndis file in the /ramdisk/home/dsl directory which contained the script you mentioned. However, ndiswrapper reported that the connection failed.
I appreciate further suggestions and will be happy to try the older driver if that seems likely to work better.
Steve
Posted by Juanito on Sep. 17 2007,03:50
| Quote |
| However, when I tried to configure the driver using your miniscript, starting with sudo cat /opt/myndis.sh, the response was invalid no such file. |
- that's because I made the file myself. I have two, this one and another without the WEP code that I use to connect in airports, etc.
I'm not sure if you realised this already, but you need both driver files - the *.inf and the *.sys for ndiswrapper to work. I remember that I had to try several drivers before I found one that would work (even though they all worked with winxp). I also found that it is better to reboot after each failed attempt - at least until you're sure you have a working driver.
Maybe the ndiswrapper site is the best place to start - they have many links to drivers for many different cards, see < here > for the list starting with "b"
Posted by stevesr0 on Sep. 17 2007,13:03
I placed the .inf and the .sys files in the same directory as the instructions state (somewhere <g>) and put the path to the directory in the ndiswrapper window, which then constructed a myndis file whose contents matched the one you constructed manually.Sure, it is possible that another .sys and .inf combo will work.
I will give it a try as I have time.
BTW, do you have a version, revision number, date and size for the .inf and .sys files that worked for you? I am curious; the listing at Ndiswrapper is kind of confusing - the one I saw was a serious of anecdotes. There is another listing that has a recommended list by item (such as manufacturer and model of laptop or card).
Thanks
Steve
Posted by Juanito on Sep. 17 2007,13:19
The files I have are:bcmwl5.sys 335kb version 3.70.22.0 BCM 802.11g Network Adapter wireless driver
bcmwl5a.inf 44kb
Interestingly (or not) the same driver worked for my previous card (Dell Wireless 1350 WLAN Mini-PCI Card) as for this card (Dell Wireless 1450 Dual Band WLAN Mini-PCI Card) - both made by Broadcom
Posted by stevesr0 on Sep. 17 2007,19:26
Thanks.Steve
Posted by Juanito on Sep. 18 2007,04:39
Drop me a pm if you would like me to send the files as an e-mail attachment.
Posted by stevesr0 on Sep. 25 2007,03:31
Well, I resorted to manual install and loading of the driver, using very basic ndiswrapper commands and then using the netcardconfig utility in the DSL panel and that works nicely. (I do have to remember to mount the hard drive which holds the driver and .inf files. The original .sys and .inf files that came with the OEM windows XP install on my eMachines (6809) laptop worked.I have started another thread to "complain" about the failure of the backup/restore of the configuration (filetool.lst mechanism), but that aside, I now have a chance to function on using the distrobution.
Thanks.
Steve