Installing wireless network cards using the b43 driver
From Mandriva Community Wiki
Linux supports most Broadcom 802.11g wireless network cards with the b43 driver. This driver is installed by Mandriva by default, but you need to install the firmware by hand, because Broadcom does not permit to redistribute this and does not help the Linux developers and users with their wireless cards. Note that the 802.11n cards are not supported at all yet!
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How to recognise whether you have a network card supported by the b43 driver
Start Mandriva's hardware management tool from the Control Center ("Configure Your Computer" in your application menu), and find your Broadcom wireless card under the Ethernet category. It should say something like this:
Vendor: Broadcom Corporation Description: BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller
The exact BCM43xx number can be slightly different. Supported by the b43 driver are: BCM4306 (rev. 3), BCM4309, BCM4311, BCM4312, BCM4318.
BCM4303 and BCM4306 (rev. 2) do not work with the b43 driver, but do work with the b43legacy driver. To find out the exact revision of your card, use the lspci command in a terminal.
BCM4328 and BCM4329 are 802.11n chips and not supported yet.
List of devices supported by the b43 driver
Here's a non-exhaustive list of wireless cards which are known to work with the b43 driver:
- PC Card: Asus WL-100g Deluxe
- Mini PCI/PCI-Express cards integrated in laptops:
Another list of supported devices can be found on http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43/devices
Installing the firmware needed by the b43 driver
Before trying to install the firmware, you have to make sure the b43-fwcutter tool is installed on your system. Launch the Software Installation tool in Mandriva ("Install/Remove Software" in your application menu), and check whether b43-fwcutter is installed. If that's not the case, install it by selecting the checkbox and clicking on the Apply button.
Then follow these instructions, depending of which version of Mandriva you use:
Installing the firmware on Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring (2008.1)
- Open a terminal (in your application menu in Tools you will find Terminal or Konsole)
- Execute the following commands, by copying and pasting them in the terminal:
wget http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2 tar xf broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2 cd broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0/kmod su b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wl_apsta_mimo.o modprobe b43
(after the su command, you will need to type your root password)
If all goes well, you can now connect to a wireless network by clicking on the network applet icon next to your clock on the desktop.
Installing the firmware on Mandriva Linux 2009.0 or higher
- Open a terminal (in your application menu in Tools you will find Terminal or Konsole)
- Execute the following commands, by copying and pasting them in the terminal:
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
(after the su command, you will need to type your root password)
If all goes well, you can now connect to a wireless network by clicking on the network applet icon next to your clock on the desktop.
