Broadcom wireless
Posted: Apr 21st, '11, 18:13
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.
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.