I finally give up trying to get built-in wireless adapters (Broadcoms) to work under SUSE. So if time = money, it makes sense <g> to look for a pc-card or USB adapter that works with v11.0. Any successes out there? Tips on buying, installing, enjoying?
Many thanks.
My tip is to research this well, and take your time.
I find the DLink DWL-G520 with the rev-B3 chipset (hence Atheros) works well. Note one MUST be precise on the chipset version.
You could take a look here:
HCL/Network Adapters (Wireless - openSUSE
and also look at our forum wireless stickie
Additional wireless bits - openSUSE Forums
which references here:
Linux wireless LAN support http://linux-wless.passys.nl
What a useful and thoughtful reply. Yes, I’ll take the advice and be a bit more thorough this time. It’s a shame so many newbies get hit with this right out of the box. (And no wonder Apple keeps its BSD linux wedded to specific hardware!)
I hate to see people give up. Others have solved their broadcom
problems. And, I notice that you have NOT even posted
a note asking for help with your builtin. Don’t give up
so easily.
For starters, look first at:
openSUSE 11 and bcm43xx-fwcutter/ndiswrapper? - openSUSE Forums
My 2-cents…
Dave
Actually I was here before with SUSE10.3, lurking astutely and finding similar plaints and few success stores. I then went to Mandriva (not advised for a newbie) and Kubuntu (nicely treated but lots of inconsistent advice - that consistently didn’t work <g>). So this is a return to see if v11.0 had a reworked kernel with better support.
Your advice is kind, and I appreciate it. However there are no current scripts or step-by-step instructions for v11.0 and I have just spent 1-1/2 months hacking at partial instructions using 10.3 and using other distros.
Let me give you just a taste of what a newbie finds at the end of the path you just set for me:
Did you know that this is where a newbie who just wants to learn linux ends up? <g>
Anyway, I’m happy to wait for the next kernel release or until the CEO of Broadcom gets out of prison and the company changes its driver release policy. Right now trying to learn linux and finding that I have to start at the top … well, it seems wise to spend $49 on another wireless adapter and get back to page 1 of the Learning SUSE book. <g>
carls2 wrote:
> What a useful and thoughtful reply. Yes, I’ll take the advice and be a
> bit more thorough this time. It’s a shame so many newbies get hit with
> this right out of the box. (And no wonder Apple keeps its BSD linux
> wedded to specific hardware!)
Do not blame openSUSE or any other distro for this difficulty. It is
Broadcom that refuses to provide any specifications for their devices.
All drivers for their hardware used with Windows or OS X are written
by them. Furthermore, they do not allow the distros to distribute the
firmware.
The only reason you have the option of using the hardware is that it
has been reverse engineered by some very dedicated individuals. Some
of them decompiled the Broadcom drivers, figured out what they were
doing, and posted the “specifications” on the web. Other people used
these coding prescriptions to write the open-source code of ssb, b43,
and b43legacy. For these drivers, Broadcom firmware is needed. The
program b43-fwcutter takes specific Broadcom drivers and extracts that
firmware.
Active projects include writing the specs for 802.11n devices, and for
open-source firmware. When the latter project is complete, them the
BCM43xx devices will work “out-of-the-box”.
Now that I’m done preaching, you probably do not have the correct
firmware installed on your system. Check the output of the dmesg
command to verify this. You can install the firmware by entering the
command
sudo /usr/sbin/install_bcm43xx_firmware
in a console.
Larry
carls2 wrote:
> cookdav;1822744 Wrote:
>> I hate to see people give up. Others have solved their broadcom
>> problems. And, I notice that you have NOT even posted a note asking
>> for help with your builtin. Don’t give up so easily.
>
> Actually I was here before with SUSE10.3, lurking astutely and finding
> similar plaints and few success stores. I then went to Mandriva (not
> advised for a newbie) and Kubuntu (nicely treated but lots of
> inconsistent advice - that consistently didn’t work <g>). So this is a
> return to see if v11.0 had a reworked kernel with better support.
>
> Your advice is kind, and I appreciate it. However there are no current
> scripts or step-by-step instructions for v11.0 and I have just spent
> 1-1/2 months hacking at partial instructions using 10.3 and using other
> distros.
>
> Let me give you just a taste of what a newbie finds at the end of the
> path you just set for me:
>
> http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware Wrote:
>> Then you must extract the firmware from that Broadcom driver by using
>> b43-fwcutter (or bcm43xx-fwcutter) and install it in the special
>> directory for firmware - usually /lib/firmware. Please note that the
>> firmware from the binary drivers is Copyrighted by Broadcom Corporation
>> and must not be redistributed.
>>
>> Note: You need to have a compiler and headers for libc installed. If
>> you don’t know what this means, why are you not using your
>> distribution’s packages?
>
> Did you know that this is where a newbie who just wants to learn linux
> ends up? <g>
>
> Anyway, I’m happy to wait for the next kernel release or until the CEO
> of Broadcom gets out of prison and the company changes its driver
> release policy. Right now trying to learn linux and finding that I have
> to start at the top … well, it seems wise to spend $49 on another
> wireless adapter and get back to page 1 of the Learning SUSE book. <g>
Before you select another $49 wireless adapter and have to start over,
run the command
sudo /usr/sbin/install_bcm43xx_firmware
That will install the firmware you need and your BCM43xx device should
work.
Every distro is unique, which is why the instructions on the
linux-wireless web site have to allow for every possibility. For 11.0,
the script mentioned above gets the same results as the instructions
on the web page. That was not true for 10.3.
BTW, my belief is that Broadcom will NEVER change their policies.
Larry