Ubuntu-12.10 instead broadcom-sta - firmware for b43

[ralul]

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 ....

[ralul]

Ubuntu Quantal runs my wireless with additional b43 firmware, not brcm.
And:
It does not run with Towos linux-image

[DeepDayze]

maybe some secret sauce?

[agaida]

Maybe ubuntu. They dosn't care about.

[ralul]

Maybe they are tight with vendors. Like I have heard Dell had released a newer broadcom-sta in january

[agaida]

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.

[ralul]

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 ...

[ralul]

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 Expand

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

[ralul]

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 Expand

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

[ralul]

I solved my issue! I have wireless internet connection using Ubuntu-12.10 linux-firmware-nonfree on my Gentoo, it loads:

Code Select Expand

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 Expand


# 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?

[towo]

@Towo could you disable this?

Done.