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Author Topic: [EN] Ubuntu-12.10 instead broadcom-sta - firmware for b43  (Read 10203 times)

Offline ralul

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[EN] Ubuntu-12.10 instead broadcom-sta - firmware for b43
« on: 2012/10/21, 17:08:08 »
Ubuntu-12.10 quirks:

I have just experiecened by accident, because as usual dkms didn't compile broadcom-sta wl.ko module, Quantal is able to activate my Broadcom wireless without wl.ko:

03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4321 802.11a/b/g/n [14e4:4328] (rev 05)

After a long diff of kernel sources, where I didn't found related, I searched provided /lib/firmware/brcm:
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  97344 Aug  3 20:20 bcm43xx-0.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    180 Aug  3 20:20 bcm43xx_hdr-0.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 348160 Aug  3 20:20 brcmfmac43236b.bin

I am gonna try to disable wl.ko and use this firmware with siduction ....
experiencing siduction runs better than my gentoo makes me know I know nothing

Offline ralul

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Ubuntu Quantal-12.10 adds brcm firmware
« Reply #1 on: 2012/10/22, 00:03:57 »
Ubuntu Quantal runs my wireless with additional b43 firmware, not brcm.
And:
It does not run with Towos linux-image :(
experiencing siduction runs better than my gentoo makes me know I know nothing

Offline DeepDayze

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RE: Ubuntu Quantal-12.10 adds brcm firmware
« Reply #2 on: 2012/10/22, 02:15:16 »
maybe some secret sauce?

Offline agaida

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RE: Ubuntu Quantal-12.10 adds brcm firmware
« Reply #3 on: 2012/10/22, 02:29:20 »
Maybe ubuntu. They dosn't care about.
There's this special biologist word we use for "stable". It's "dead". ~ Jack Cohen

Offline ralul

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RE: Ubuntu Quantal-12.10 adds brcm firmware
« Reply #4 on: 2012/10/22, 02:30:53 »
Maybe they are tight with vendors. Like I have heard Dell had released a newer broadcom-sta in january
experiencing siduction runs better than my gentoo makes me know I know nothing

Offline agaida

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RE: Ubuntu Quantal-12.10 adds brcm firmware
« Reply #5 on: 2012/10/22, 03:25:44 »
Maybe it is a good idea to look at their sources. The sources are available at launchpad. Ubuntu is opensource. So - if there are any needs, one should fork their sources. We have a user-repository, that fits perfectly for such needs.
There's this special biologist word we use for "stable". It's "dead". ~ Jack Cohen

Offline ralul

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RE: Ubuntu Quantal-12.10 adds brcm firmware
« Reply #6 on: 2012/10/22, 04:14:02 »
First of all I have to get it work. I didn't succeed in my first try with that new firmware in conjunction with Towos kernel.
But I have just seen a "blacklist b43" in my configs ...
experiencing siduction runs better than my gentoo makes me know I know nothing

Offline ralul

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RE: Ubuntu Quantal-12.10 adds brcm firmware
« Reply #7 on: 2012/10/22, 11:27:10 »
No, not successful having wiped any blacklist of b43 ...
I have seen Ubuntu-12-10 has a new binary /lib/udev/firmware-loader...  there are probably more tricks nessacary, but this modules load into siduction kernel as with ubuntu:
Code: [Select]
b43                   313653  0
bcma                   22872  1 b43
mac80211              214267  1 b43
cfg80211              141392  2 b43,mac80211
rng_core                3087  1 b43
ssb                    40721  2 b43,ssb_hcd
mmc_core               68892  2 b43,ssb
pcmcia                 28478  2 b43,ssb
experiencing siduction runs better than my gentoo makes me know I know nothing

Offline ralul

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RE: Ubuntu Quantal-12.10 adds brcm firmware
« Reply #8 on: 2012/10/22, 19:19:42 »
Ubuntu just made out of broadcom-sta wl.ko module a firmware. As I know Nvidia has asked Linus about that to manage with some required kernel changes, which he rejected. Has Ubuntu changed the linux kernel to achieve just this?
Ubuntu linux-firmware-nonfree changelog.gz is:
Code: [Select]
linux-firmware-nonfree (1.13) quantal; urgency=low
  * Add Modaliases: package header, so that ubuntu-drivers-common, PackageKit,
    and aptdaemon can pick up this package automatically when a covered piece
    of hardware is installed:
    - Add debian/gen-modaliases: Generate a dh_modalias input file covering
      all modaliases from all modules from the currently running kernel which
      need any firmware shipped by this package.
    - debian/rules: Add debian/linux-firmware-nonfree.modaliases target, which
      calls gen-modaliases. This should be called whenever new firmware
      gets added to this package, and occasionally for new kernels. It uses
      the system installed modules, though; fixing this to work on buildds
      would be highly welcome.
    - Add debian/linux-firmware-nonfree.modaliases: Result for current
      Ubuntu Quantal kernel 3.4.0-2-generic, generated by the rule above.
    - debian/control, debian/rules: Call dh_modaliases to insert the
      modaliases into the package header. Add dh-modaliases build dependency.

 -- Martin Pitt <martin>  Tue, 22 May 2012 18:17:56 +0200

linux-firmware-nonfree (1.11) oneiric; urgency=low
  * Get _all_ of the b43 firmware files.
    http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware
      wget http://www.lwfinger.com/b43-firmware/broadcom-wl-5.100.138.tar.bz2
      tar xjf broadcom-wl-5.100.138.tar.bz2
      b43-fwcutter -w . broadcom-wl-5.100.138/linux/wl_apsta.o

 -- Tim Gardner <tim>  Fri, 16 Sep 2011
see this:
"b43-fwcutter -w . broadcom-wl-5.100.138"
Version of Debian: broadcom-sta-5.100.82.112
experiencing siduction runs better than my gentoo makes me know I know nothing

Offline ralul

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RE: Ubuntu Quantal-12.10 adds brcm firmware
« Reply #9 on: 2012/10/23, 02:30:45 »
I solved my issue! I have wireless internet connection using Ubuntu-12.10 linux-firmware-nonfree on my Gentoo, it loads:
Code: [Select]
lsmod|grep b43
b43                   375881  0
bcma                   29575  1 b43
mac80211              232227  1 b43
cfg80211              194013  2 b43,mac80211
ssb                    42607  1 b43

The critical .config variables:
Code: [Select]

# diff config-3.6-3.towo-siduction-amd64 \
       config-3.6.3-1003 \
                      |grep B43 \
                      |grep -v LEGACY

< CONFIG_B43_PCMCIA=y
< CONFIG_B43_SDIO=y
< CONFIG_B43_LEDS=y
< CONFIG_B43_HWRNG=y
I think the issue is B43_PCMCIA, which selects SSB_PCMCIAHOST :( Is anyone using a broadcom wireless adapter via PCMCIA these days?
 
@Towo could you disable this?
experiencing siduction runs better than my gentoo makes me know I know nothing

Offline towo

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RE: Ubuntu Quantal-12.10 adds brcm firmware
« Reply #10 on: 2012/10/24, 11:03:00 »
Quote
@Towo could you disable this?

Done.
Ich gehe nicht zum Karneval, ich verleihe nur manchmal mein Gesicht.