Ubuntu 7.10 + Broadcom Wireless Probs

[Agent0range]

Hi

I've installed Ubuntu on my HP 6720S laptop today pretty much without a problem. I've managed to import my firefox settings/extensions, get IRC running, get my music playing and access my Windows Home Server shares. The main gripe I'm having though is I can't seem to get my wireless card working. Typing lspci in the terminal shows its a Broadcom 4312 rev02 and despite installing the bcm43xx-fwcutter package and enabling the firmware in Restricted Devices Manager, I can't seem to get it to work. Despite being on roaming mode it won't find my wireless routers SSID - I have to press "connect to an existing wireless network"

Any ideas - this is literally driving me crackers!

Oh and if anyone's got any advice on how to tidy my WHS shares on my linux desktop, that would be great. When I connect to the shares, it mounts each share on my desktop. Ideally I'd prefer a file on the desktop containing these mounts or something similar.

 

[russ0r]

You might find these useful:
Link
Link

Also, this might work if no luck with the above.

With regards to the windows shares, I _think_ they use samba, so you might want to do something like this:

$mkdir /home/yourlinuxusername/windowsshares1
$mount -t smbfs -o username=yourusername,password=yourpassword //server/share /home/yourlinuxusername/windowsshares1

Should work. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
You'll have to put an entry in /etc/fstab if you want them to mount every boot.

Good luck.

 

[Rich43]

Broadcom is a bad chipset for Linux support due to their company policies although it does work.. its just a hassle due to needing special firmware.

Try this command:
richie@richie-desktop:~$ ls /lib/firmware
2.6.22-14-generic bcm43xx_initval06.fw bcm43xx_microcode2.fw
bcm43xx_initval01.fw bcm43xx_initval07.fw bcm43xx_microcode4.fw
bcm43xx_initval02.fw bcm43xx_initval08.fw bcm43xx_microcode5.fw
bcm43xx_initval03.fw bcm43xx_initval09.fw bcm43xx_pcm4.fw
bcm43xx_initval04.fw bcm43xx_initval10.fw bcm43xx_pcm5.fw
bcm43xx_initval05.fw bcm43xx_microcode11.fw
richie@richie-desktop:~$

You should have similar files to me, I have previously borrowed a broadcom card for testing.

Ralink and Atheros are good alternatives but you will have to make sure your wireless manufacturer's model comes with those chipsets if you eventually choose to use alternative means of getting wireless like a usb stick.

I have a big interest in Linux wireless for some reason and I can help you.

Also, If open source drivers fail, ndiswrapper is a Plan B which runs the windows drivers under Linux using a compatibility layer..

 

[Agent0range]

Thanks for the links guys, I've followed some of the guides but to no avail. I've managed to source a belkin USB adapter that worked straight away. In a way its a disappointment to not get it sorted and have one less USB port but I've really spent far too much time being frustrated by this issue. It's a shame that its been such a bugbear to what was a pretty faultless and straightforward installation of ubuntu.

 

[Rich43]

Don't blame it on linux though, there are some very un-cooperative companies out there that even the founder of linux (Linus Torvalds) has problems with