[EN] Very Newbie Kernel question

[sayth]

Currently the kernel in debian unstable doesn't support some hardware especially network cards etc.

The new fedora kernel3.4 for f17 has used open source drivers and resolved most of the networking problems(most). Is it hard hard for siduction/debian to utilise this work already done and implement this kernel or a kernel based of this new implementtion?

[devil]

could you maybe be more unprecise?
just let us in on what cards/modules we are talking about.
btw.: we do not use debian kernels, and i know of no problems with our kernel.

greetz
devil

[towo]

The problem is not the kernel, it's the missing firmware in debian.

[dibl]

Hi sayth, welcome to the forum!

For hardware issues, we have a terminal utility "inxi" that produces a nice summary of your installed system and hardware.  So if you will open a terminal and enter

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inxi -v3 then copy and paste that output into your forum post, and ask your question, we'll be able to see your hardware bits. And it will help the readers if you will put code tags around the inxi output (use the "Code" button above the forum window, or use the "[" and "]" brackets and follow BBCode format).

Then the other thing, to help yourself, is to review this part of our manual, and follow the procedure to (a) add "contrib" and "non-free" to your source repositories, and then (b) identify and install your needed non-free firmware.

[bevo]

@dibl
your contribution to this forum is really appreciated  

[dibl]

Danke -- happy to help.

Besides, we need an Australian-speaker here!   :lol:

[sayth]

Thanks for the replies I was referring to broadcom wireless. In fedora 17 they have included broadcom support (GMA (poulsbo) graphics and Broadcom wireless chipset support from release notes http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/F17_Beta_release_announcement). Its the first time fedora has ever supported broadcom and apparently its due to broadcom now actively supporting linux.

@dibl will post inxi -v3 when I have access to the machine.

My broadcom wireless is

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Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM57780

[dibl]

I found useful information here. You need to connect the laptop with an ethernet cable, then follow the procedure that I linked in the siduction manual to first add contrib and non-free to your source repos, then detect the chip, then download the needed non-free firmware.

[sayth]

I found useful information here. then download the needed non-free firmware.

Ah yes but that's the point(in a convoluted fashion) I am making. The firmware is no longer non-free. It's free and as such that's now why Fedora has accepted it. that was my understanding.



http://lwn.net/Articles/404248/

[dibl]

Firmware is not the same as driver software.  That old article does not say that they are providing source code for the firmware.  Based on this I think your situation is that you have a kernel module available, but no firmware until you install it (same situation as the b43 driver).  I'm talking a bit over my head on this point -- towo would know for sure.

[sayth]

Yeah I am trying to find out why the change occurred from Fedora 16(and before) to fedora 17 now supporting broadcom chipset support. This archwiki page https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Broadcom_wireless had a lot of info.
Seems the open source drivers are brcmsmac/brcmfmac and appeared to be resolved in fedora kernel from 3.2.2 so that wireless worked for most broadcom chipsets.

Found this debian post http://www.mail-archive.com/debian-bugs-dist@lists.debian.org/msg1026472.html again saying 3.2 caused a problem for which there was a patch( assuming this led to 3.2.2)

In Linux 3.2 you can enable either CONFIG_BCMA (bcma bus driver,
> supporting the b43 driver) or CONFIG_BRCMSMAC (brcmsmac driver) but not
> both.  Debian has a patch that resolves this conflict, and they are both
> enabled.  However, if you don't apply that patch then you need to make
> sure CONFIG_BCMA is disabled before you can enable CONFIG_BRCMSMAC.

[dibl]

Found this debian post http://www.mail-archive.com/debian-bugs-dist@lists.debian.org/msg1026472.html again saying 3.2 caused a problem for which there was a patch( assuming this led to 3.2.2)

In Linux 3.2 you can enable either CONFIG_BCMA (bcma bus driver,
> supporting the b43 driver) or CONFIG_BRCMSMAC (brcmsmac driver) but not
> both.  Debian has a patch that resolves this conflict, and they are both
> enabled.  However, if you don't apply that patch then you need to make
> sure CONFIG_BCMA is disabled before you can enable CONFIG_BRCMSMAC.

Our current towo kernel version is 3.4, so I would assume the patch has been incorporated for some time.  You really should try the current siduction release, follow the procedure in the manual, and see whether you have any problem or not.

[towo]

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/media/data2/upload
towo:Defiant> grep -i bcma /boot/config-3.4-0.towo.4-siduction-amd64
CONFIG_B43_BCMA=y
# CONFIG_B43_BCMA_EXTRA is not set
CONFIG_B43_BCMA_PIO=y
CONFIG_BCMA_POSSIBLE=y
CONFIG_BCMA=m
CONFIG_BCMA_BLOCKIO=y
CONFIG_BCMA_HOST_PCI_POSSIBLE=y
CONFIG_BCMA_HOST_PCI=y
# CONFIG_BCMA_DEBUG is not set

/media/data2/upload
towo:Defiant> grep -i brcm /boot/config-3.4-0.towo.4-siduction-amd64
CONFIG_BRCMUTIL=m
CONFIG_BRCMSMAC=m
CONFIG_BRCMFMAC=m
CONFIG_BRCMFMAC_SDIO=y
CONFIG_BRCMFMAC_USB=y
# CONFIG_BRCMDBG is not set

And again, it can't work ootb, since we do not ship the firmware, because of dfsg reasons.

So probably you need:

firmware-brcm80211 - Binary firmware for Broadcom 802.11 wireless cards