Mageia forum

Recently I questioned https://forums.mageia.org/en/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=42#p310 the absence in Mageia of out-of-the-box support for certain Broadcom wireless hardware such as the bcm4318 in my Compaq V2000. The availability of open drivers for kernels since 2.6.36 greatly eases installation, making it possible to configure a notebook with that hardware but without an existing connection to the Internet.

I first saw this new kernel feature when I ran a DVD of aptosid a few months back. Using their WICD, I was able to establish wireless from the DVD. It was a real let-down when I installed Mageia Alpha 2 on that same notebook not to be able to find the b43 firmware and drivers included. As I reported following the post linked above, the 'buntus also have not included it in their kernels. Does anyone know why? Is it not in the plan to offer this feature of the recent kernels in Mageia? I'm willing to file a bug report if it will help get this done. I know how to download the firmware and install the drivers, but IMO this is an implementation that should be out-of-the-box in Mageia.

A couple of hours ago I ran the Fedora 15 Beta Live KDE CD on that notebook. Because Fedora aims to be "free-er" than many others, I did not expect it to include the firmware/drivers on the CD, but, running it without a wire, I just wanted to see what the desktop looked like. To my great surprise, Network Manager saw my network when I scanned for it, AND it connected once I supplied the WPA2 password.

DShelbyD wrote:...running it without a wire, I just wanted to see what the desktop looked like. To my great surprise, Network Manager saw my network when I scanned for it, AND it connected once I supplied the WPA2 password.

Yes, this is the way it is supposed to be. Not supplying those drivers on the installation media is to avoid. You can get any other drivers (webcam, proprietary graphic drivers) later but having a working network connection by initial installation is a must-have, with the same importance as the necessary drivers for harddisk controllers.

Bug report filed (request for a new feature) citing the two posts above:

https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=923

Wobo, thanks. I trust that you don't mind being dragged into my whining in this report!

I reported it before somewhere here... With Alpha2 I had to plug in a wire, get the driver tarball, do a configur/make to get the module. Haven't tested with Beta1 yet.

wobo wrote:...With Alpha2 I had to plug in a wire, get the driver tarball, do a configur/make to get the module. Haven't tested with Beta1 yet.

I just test with the DVD64. I go to configure the wlan0 wireless (not "Windows drivers") and it asks for the b43 firmware from the "Core" source, which I interpret to be the DVD; so I shove the DVD into the slot and there appears to be an installation. I return to the configuration page, and it asks whether I want to install wpa_supplicant. Oh, alright; so the DVD spins again.

I continue with the attempt to configure, and the system is involved in an endless search for drivers on the HD. Nothing happens, so I quit the process after 5 minutes. I start the configuration process again from the beginning, and it complains that there is no firmware present. Good grief.

I'm eager to test Fedora 15 KDE on that machine (Gnome 3 is impossible -- I've tried it and get extremely aggravated, not knowing what to do with it), so I'll do that rather than go through the painful process of hooking up a wire, downloading the firmware and driver package, etc., etc. I'll try again with Mageia Beta 2 -- if there is any visible movement on incorporating the Broadcom firmware and drivers.

David

DShelbyD wrote:...and it complains that there is no firmware present.

That's the main issue. The firmware for this chip is not included.

It still is missing in Beta 2, so with no features to be added until after release, it seems Broadcom wireless not be part of the magic of Mageia 1.

DShelbyD wrote:It still is missing in Beta 2, so with no features to be added until after release, it seems Broadcom wireless not be part of the magic of Mageia 1.

Maybe worth checking as well Shelby?
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=143#p976

Been there, done that -- no joy. Fedora 15 Beta sees the Broadcom, and configuration can be completed without downloading anything on a wire. So can Pardus 2011. So can aptosid.

This page: http://hany.sk/~hany/RPM/f-updates-14-x86_64/b43-openfwwf-5.2-5.fc14.noarch.html

It's a Fedora Project update page (for Fedora 14) linking to and describing the open firmware for certain Broadcom chipsets. The rest of the stuff below is quoted from that page. See especially the last item (the copyright). This firmware package makes dkms-broadcom-wl, b43-fwcutter, and the proprietary driver package broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5 and the fetching/installing/initializing thereto appertaining unnecessary for those with the affected chipsets. It's out there, it's free, and it simplifies wireless connectivity dramatically. I can't see why Mageia would not offer it.

Open firmware for some Broadcom 43xx series WLAN chips.
Currently supported models are 4306, 4311(rev1), 4318 and 4320.

Provides
b43-openfwwf

Requires
module-init-tools = 3.2
rpmlib(CompressedFileNames) = 3.0.4-1
rpmlib(FileDigests)
rpmlib(PayloadFilesHavePrefix) >= 4.0-1
udev >= 062
rpmlib(PayloadIsXz) >= 5.2-1

Copyright
GPLv2

DShelbyD wrote:Been there, done that -- no joy. Fedora 15 Beta sees the Broadcom, and configuration can be completed without downloading anything on a wire. So can Pardus 2011. So can aptosid.

Yes, I had the same problem with my dell netbook. Luckily, I have a Pardus 2011 partition, so I just copied the b43 folder to /lib/firmware.

After adding the new wireless connection with MCC and using the ucode5.fw file for the wlan-0, the wifi was up and running.

That´s really disappointing....
I wanted to give Mageia a try, installed the RC1 and it was impossible to activate my wlan.... there´s a Broadcom b4312 chip in my notebook and i never had problems with lots of other distros.....but with Mageia.......

Really sad, so i think there will be no chance for Mageia to be my operating system

Krille wrote:Really sad, so i think there will be no chance for Mageia to be my operating system

Speaking for myself, I'm not suggesting that it is sufficient reason to reject Mageia. The Broadcom can be configured with some time and effort. It's just that I thought all developers would be including the capability once it was available, and I'm disappointed that Mageia (and some others) don't offer it. I want to know why -- not to harrass -- but to know.

Is it so big problem for you to download needed packages manually from repos?
I have similar problem with knetworkmanager.
I have mobile internet via huawei modem which does not work with standard network center.
It took me 2 hours to download 17 rpm files and resolve all dependencies about knetworkmanager.
But this is not reason for misusing Mageia.

ferri wrote:Is it so big problem for you to download needed packages manually from repos?
I have similar problem with knetworkmanager.
I have mobile internet via huawei modem which does not work with standard network center.
It took me 2 hours to download 17 rpm files and resolve all dependencies about knetworkmanager.
But this is not reason for misusing Mageia.

It is a big problem only because the 4318 chipset would work out of the box had the free 2.6.37 and above firmware been included in the Mageia kernel. In my view, it's different with Knetworkmanager, because knetworkmanager IS included and the huawei modem is the problem, as I understand it. You see, Broadcom has provided a solution, whereas huawei has not. But Mageia has not incorporated the solution provided by Broadcom.

You are not right.
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=272

Thanks. I should have remembered that Mageia uses drakconfig for network configuration.

It would really help if someone posted the detailed instructions on what packages to get rather than just quarreling.
That would help people like me who are stuck.

My wireless chip is a Broadcom 4318. Here is how I do it.

First issue these commands, in order, separately, from the terminal:

Code: Select all

su -
urpmi b43-fwcutter

After the firmware is installed, type "exit" to get back to the user terminal and run these commands (copy and paste them into the terminal to speed up the process and prevent typos):

Code: Select all

wget http://mirror2.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2
tar xf broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2
cd broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5/driver
su
b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wl_apsta_mimo.o
modprobe b43

Your wireless light should come on after the modprobe command, but a reboot may be necessary. Configure your wireless network access using Mageia Control Center.

This sentence is from a review of Mageia at http://linuxblog.darkduck.com/2011/06/m ... magic.html. The topic is "Network."

"I still don't understand why this RPM was at all required in Fedora which supports Broadcom 43* WiFi cards out of the box."

thanks for mentioning my post here!

Not at all. Thank YOU for saying in your review what I've been saying here!

DShelbyD:
Have you entered a bug re: this issue...as I agree its a very serious omission.
Thanks
Jeffrey Bruton

jeffreybruton wrote:DShelbyD:
Have you entered a bug re: this issue...as I agree its a very serious omission.
Thanks
Jeffrey Bruton

See above: bug #923

For
Broadcom Corporation|BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY [NETWORK_OTHER]
(vendor:14e4 device:4315 subv:103c subd:137d) (rev: 01)
see: https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2266