Arch Linux

bgc1954

Member

From: Edmonton, AB, Canada

Registered: 2006-03-14

Posts: 1,160

bcm43xx for broadcom wireless

Hi all,

I was just reading a post http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=43952 and it talks about the bcm43xx package being kaput.  I am running the 2.6.24 kernel and am still obviously able to use it--I'm on the laptop now using bcm43xx.  I checked out linuxwireless.org and I'm not convinced yet that I need to change over from bcm43xx--works fine for me.  I guess what I'm trying to ask, for any of us that use bcm43xx, is what's going to break our wireless during upgrades or is it strictly a bcm43xx-fwcutter issue?

---

Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils ... - Louis Hector Berlioz

Abadaar

Member

From: Stockholm, Sweden

Registered: 2006-11-10

Posts: 28

Re: bcm43xx for broadcom wireless

I don't really get your question, but I can tell you that I am using the new b43 driver on my 4309 card successfully. I haven't really seen any difference between this new driver and the old one yet.

The new driver requires v4 firmware instead of the v3 for bcm43xx. That might include some improvements for some.

But if it already works fine for you, it's really no need tha change until the old driver stops working.

bgc1954

Member

From: Edmonton, AB, Canada

Registered: 2006-03-14

Posts: 1,160

Re: bcm43xx for broadcom wireless

Well, I was kinda bored this morning so I switched over to the b43 driver and followed the instructions on linuxwireless.org.  Everything working fine although the power and link lights on the pcmcia card don't light up now--guess I'll save some battery power on the laptop now, heh...heh.

---

Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils ... - Louis Hector Berlioz

ph0tios

Member

Registered: 2008-02-23

Posts: 126

Re: bcm43xx for broadcom wireless

Hello, I'm new to Arch, it's nice to meet you all.

I have a dell inspiron 1501 with a BCM94311MCG wlan mini-PCI.  I've tried multiple methods to get it working with no luck(the method in the wiki, www.linuxwireless.org, and ndiswrapper). It worked with all the live distros, but no surprise there..most of them are outdated, etc. Since some of you seem to be using the bcm43xx stuff successfully, maybe you can help. First off, just in case anyone is wondering, the light that tells it is on doesn't come on, but from other threads I've noticed this doesn't necessarily mean it isn't on. hwd -s shows it as well. It is also in the module section of /etc/rc.conf

iwconfig gives me this:

lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wmaster0  no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:""
         Mode:Managed  Channel:0  Access Point: Not-Associated
         Tx-Power=0 dBm
         Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr=2346 B
         Encryption key:off
         Link Quality:0  Signal level:0  Noise level:0
         Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
         Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

I can enter the essid, wep key, etc...doesn't matter what I put, it doesn't work. I don't know if it matters at all, but in some of the live distros it normally came up as eth1. And in the past when I have seen wireless cards on various distros come up as wmaster0 and wlan0 together, they generally don't work.  Anyone have any ideas?

By the way, I am loving me some arch, regardless. Just wishing wireless would work on my laptop is all.

ph0tios

Member

Registered: 2008-02-23

Posts: 126

Re: bcm43xx for broadcom wireless

On second thought I did finally find a solution...apparently a recent one. Like with the a few other people b44 is conflicting with ndiswrapper...so I was able to use ndiswrapper after all...just needed a few modifications to /etc/rc.conf.

bgc1954

Member

From: Edmonton, AB, Canada

Registered: 2006-03-14

Posts: 1,160

Re: bcm43xx for broadcom wireless

Remember, google is your friend.  According to this http://hardware4linux.info/component/20872/ most people with your computer do use ndiswrapper.  On my thinkpad T21 I have used both the bcm43xx and now the b43 with no problems, the only difference being that the b43-fwcutter firmware that they point you to in linuxwireless.org doesn't light up the pcmcia card.  Other than that I notice no difference.  You should be able to get the bcm43xx or b43 driver to work, if you wanted to, according to the hardware4linux site.

---

Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils ... - Louis Hector Berlioz