Arch Linux

big_gie

Member

Registered: 2005-01-19

Posts: 637

Linux 2.6.17: Broadcom driver merged!!!

A new linux kernel v2.6.17 feature:

#  The reverse-engineered Broadcom 43xx driver has been merged. As a result, the list of wireless network cards supported by Linux has just grown considerably.

This means we wont have to use ndiswrapper anymore! This is a great news for many laptop users.

As anyone tryed it yet?

kth5

Member

Registered: 2004-04-29

Posts: 657

Website

Re: Linux 2.6.17: Broadcom driver merged!!!

this also is great news for mac users with airport extreme.

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I recognize that while theory and practice are, in theory, the same, they are, in practice, different. -Mark Mitchell

stonecrest

Member

From: Boulder

Registered: 2005-01-22

Posts: 1,190

Re: Linux 2.6.17: Broadcom driver merged!!!

I was surprised to find that this affects quite a few users, myself included! I have a microsoft mn-720 card which apparently also uses this broadcom driver

Here is a list of users that are impacted btw:

Dell      TrueMobile 1180 Mini-PCI Card
HP Compaq     NX9110 802.11b Mini-PCI card
Asus     WL-103b PC Card
Linksys     WMP11 rev2.7
Dell     TrueMobile 1370 Mini-PCI Card
Compaq     Compaq Presario V2417LA Notebook PC
Compaq     v2000z Mini-PCI Card
HP Compaq     nx6110 PY511EA laptop
HP Compaq     nx6125 laptop
HP Compaq     Presario R4225CA Laptop
Asus     Z9200K Laptop
Asus     A6Q00K Laptop
Apple     Airport Extreme 2 Card
AMBITG     T60H906.00
Acer     Aspire 3002LCi Laptop
Acer     Aspire 3003LCi Laptop
Acer     Aspire 3613WLMi Laptop
Acer     Ferrari 3400 laptop
Acer     Ferrari 4000 laptop
Acer     Aspire 5021WLMi Laptop
U.S.Robotics     Wireless MAXg PC Card
Belkin     F5D7000 PCI Card
HP     Pavilion zv6000
Fujitsu     Amilo A1650 Laptop
Siemens     Gigaset PC Card
Dell     TrueMobile 1300 Mini-PCI Card
Dell     TrueMobile 1300 PCMCIA Card
Dell     TrueMobile 1350 Mini-PCI Card
HP     nx9105 Laptop
HP     zd7000     
HP     zd8000 Laptop
Compaq     Presario R3xxx PCI on board
Asus     WL-100G PC Card
Asus     M6R, A2S on board
Motorola     WN825G PC Card
Apple     Airport Extreme Mini-PCI Card
Buffalo     WLI-PCI-G54
Askey Computer Corp.     54g MaxPerformance 802.11g (Rev 03) Mini-PCI Card
TRENDnet     TEW-401PC
Linksys     WMP54G PCI Card
Linksys     WMP54GS PC Card
Linksys     WMP54G PC Card
Linksys     WPC54G (ver.1.2) PC Card
Belkin     F5D7001 PCI Card
Belkin     F5D7010 PC Card
Belkin     F5D7011 PC Card
eMachines     Notebook M5313
eMachines     Notebook M5405
eMachines     Notebook M6811 (likely identical for all M68xx)
Dell     TrueMobile 1400 Mini-PCI Card
Dell     Wireless 1450 (802.11a/b/g) Dual-Band WLAN miniPCI Card
Microsoft     MN-720 PC Card
Microsoft     MN-730 PCI Card

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I am a gated community.

mtrivs

Member

From: Syracuse, NY

Registered: 2005-12-26

Posts: 183

Re: Linux 2.6.17: Broadcom driver merged!!!

I have the HP ZV6000 with the broadcom wireless card.  Does this change mean that now i will be able to just modprobe a module and then i will be able to use my wireless card?  If so what is the name of the module i should use.

Thanks in advance

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~HP ZV6000 Series CTO~
-AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.0GHz
-1.5GB RAM
-128MB ATI Mobility Radeon X200m
-80GB 5400RPM HD
[img]http://imagegen.last.fm/scarface/recenttracks/mtrivs.gif[/img]

stonecrest

Member

From: Boulder

Registered: 2005-01-22

Posts: 1,190

Re: Linux 2.6.17: Broadcom driver merged!!!

I have the HP ZV6000 with the broadcom wireless card.  Does this change mean that now i will be able to just modprobe a module and then i will be able to use my wireless card?  If so what is the name of the module i should use.

Yes that's what it means, and I believe it is just bcm43xx (bcm43xx.ko).

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I am a gated community.

big_gie

Member

Registered: 2005-01-19

Posts: 637

Re: Linux 2.6.17: Broadcom driver merged!!!

I have the HP ZV6000 with the broadcom wireless card.  Does this change mean that now i will be able to just modprobe a module and then i will be able to use my wireless card?  If so what is the name of the module i should use.

Yes that's what it means, and I believe it is just bcm43xx (bcm43xx.ko).

No more ndiswrapper installation, no more windows driver downloads, extracting or all. This is great news. Combined with the new nvidia driver that (supposely) support suspend-to-disk, linux on laptop just got better.

Snowman

Developer/Forum Fellow

From: Montreal, Canada

Registered: 2004-08-20

Posts: 5,212

Re: Linux 2.6.17: Broadcom driver merged!!!

I've splitted the nvidia stuff: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?p=169442

phunni

Member

From: Bristol, UK

Registered: 2003-08-13

Posts: 787

Re: Linux 2.6.17: Broadcom driver merged!!!

I've just installed arch on a system that has only got wireless access to the internet...

Since I can't find any of the required packages on the install CD I'm guessing that I'm stuck...  Looking at the wiki guide, I'm guessing that I need at least the bcm43xx-fwcutter package - is that all I need?  Where can I get that from?

Does that also contain the driver module?  I've tried a modprobe bcm43xx and it's not found

Edit: I've managed to get and install the firnware package - but I can't find a file anywhere that is my windows driver...

My card is a belkin wireless G: F5D7000uk I've looked on the install cd and can;t see anything - can anyone enlighten me...?

Edit #2: Never mind - despite being in thelist of supported cards mentioned above, I actually think this is a RaLink card with an rt61pci chipset.  I'll look further into that...

inf

Member

From: Vantaa, Finland

Registered: 2006-07-18

Posts: 102

Website

Re: Linux 2.6.17: Broadcom driver merged!!!

Hello,

I have just installed Arch Linux to my home laptop, and now I'm testing my workplaces wifi card (Linksys WPC54G). I assume this uses the same broadcomm driver than those in the list.

I found the wiki entry to howto setup the card. I was wondering is there a gui alternative for example monitoring the card/network?

djpharoah

Member

From: SoCal

Registered: 2006-06-18

Posts: 185

Re: Linux 2.6.17: Broadcom driver merged!!!

I was wondering is there a gui alternative for example monitoring the card/network?

There is as far as I know if you are using Gnome. Gnome has wifi-radar and gnome-network-manager. One might work better for you than the other. Or you can just use Gnome built in network monitoring.

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IBM T41p - 2373-xXx - kernel26thinkpad

phrakture

Arch Overlord

From: behind you

Registered: 2003-10-29

Posts: 7,879

Website

Re: Linux 2.6.17: Broadcom driver merged!!!

No more ndiswrapper installation, no more windows driver downloads, extracting or all. This is great news. Combined with the new nvidia driver that (supposely) support suspend-to-disk, linux on laptop just got better.

"No more ndiswrapper" isn't true - here the bcm43xx driver craps out every 20 mins or so.  Using ndiswrapper works flawlessly.

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http://phraktured.net