openSUSE 11 and bcm43xx-fwcutter/ndiswrapper?

English Network/Internet
#1

I’ve had a look at openSUSE 10.3 in the past and it was really nice, except the package management was lacking…it was extremely slow! I’ve heard that openSUSE 11 has 400% faster package management (or something like that) and it has KDE4 by default. So I thought that I could install it on my new computer I’m going to build with my dad. My dad asked me to teach him a bit about Linux and I decided that openSUSE 11 with KDE4 would be easiest to teach.

Anyway, for any of this to happen, I’m going to need internet access. There isn’t a wired connection. It wireless only, and it’s a broadcom based card, meaning I’ll have to use bcm43xx-fwcutter or ndiswrapper. I’m just wondering if any of these two (preferably ndiswrapper, because it works better) are there on the KDE4 installation CD by default…

#2

Ndiswrapper was installed by default by the KDE4 live disc on my laptop, using the 11.0 RC1 disc. So I would think it safe to assume that the final release will also include it :slight_smile:

#3

That was fast :slight_smile:

Thanks, that means it will definately work for me :smiley:

Also just wondering, will openSUSE 11 use sudo by default or will it use su?

#4

b43 and b43-legacy are the successors of bcm43xx, and should work fine, simply install b43-fwcutter, then
Get the right firmware, extract it, and run

su
b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware *firmwarefile.o*

then reboot, and Network Manager Should work with your card

#5

Cool, seems a lot more simpler than ndiswrapper :slight_smile: Is this “b43-cutter” included with the KDE4 CD?

#6

It’s available in the standard repo, but here’s the links to the RPM’s anyway
32-bit
64-bit

#7

use the B43 driver as mentioned above, I was using Ndiswrapper because it worked, but now that I switched I’m happy to say that b43 works and is way faster for me, plus skips the “configuring” step now. Once you install fwcutter run these comands to get wireless.

Use version 4.150.10.5 of Broadcom’s proprietary driver.
Download and extract the firmware from this driver tarball:

export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"
wget http://mirror2.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2
tar xjf broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2
cd broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5/driver
sudo …/…/b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w “$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR” wl_apsta_mimo.o

#8

I’ve finished building the computer! And now openSUSE 11 is on here running fine mostly.

I’ve gotten the wireless to work, but for some reason, only unencrypted internet is working. And I want WPA-PSK to work…I can detect wireless networks fine…

#9

miggols99 wrote:
> I’ve finished building the computer! And now openSUSE 11 is on here
> running fine mostly.
>
> I’ve gotten the wireless to work, but for some reason, only unencrypted
> internet is working. And I want WPA-PSK to work…I can detect wireless
> networks fine…

Do you have a Broadcom device? If so, and it works with unencrypted
networks, it should work with WEP, WPA and WPA2.

Larry

#10

I followed the steps above to activate my wlan card on a laptop that I just got. I installed OS 11 today and after following the above mentioned, I got the blue light on the laptop to come on, I just can’t see any wireless networks. For my other laptop w/ a broadcom bcm 43xx and OS 10.3 I have to use wifi-radar, knetworkmanager won’t work…do I maybe need another program?

#11

barryhenry76 wrote:
> I followed the steps above to activate my wlan card on a laptop that I
> just got. I installed OS 11 today and after following the above
> mentioned, I got the blue light on the laptop to come on, I just can’t
> see any wireless networks. For my other laptop w/ a broadcom bcm 43xx
> and OS 10.3 I have to use wifi-radar, knetworkmanager won’t work…do I
> maybe need another program?

What does the output of dmesg have to say about your wireless?

If you input the command ‘iwlist s’, are any networks shown?

I use NetworkManager to set up my networks.

Larry

#12

you probably had to install different firmware look here: b43 - Linux Wireless

#13

#dmesg
b43-phy0: Broadcom 4306 WLAN Found
phy0: Selected rate control algorithm ‘pid’
Broadcom 43xx driver loaded Features: PMLR, Firmware-ID: FW13]

#iwlist s
wlan 0 No scan results

#14

I followed exactly what this site recommended for the kernel that I’m using.

#15

How would wicd be? I’ve heard it’s a good replacement for NetworkManager…and if I wanted to get hold of it…how?

#16

First of all thanks for the great work done on this wonderfull system ! :slight_smile: I have been using SuSE since version 9, and this 11.0 with new KDE is very good.

But now to the problems with this Broadcom-device which is in my old HP Pavilion zv5000EA. In 10.2 I was able to use ndiswrapper, but in 10.3 it was not stable.

Now in 11.0 I would give the bcm43-driver a try. I read and followed the instruction in linuxwireless.org and found I should use:
b43legacy-driver,
firmware 3.130.20.0
b43-fwcutter v.011

I copy/paste all the commands from the site and intallation went ok, but the device will not connect. Tried with/without encrypt WPA_PSK on the router, tried Knetworkconnect and ifup, and always getting nearly the same output:

uname -a:
Linux linux-l1bn 2.6.25.4-8-pae #1 SMP 2008-05-26 15:23:05 +0200 i686 athlon i386 GNU/Linux

lspci |grep BCM:
02:02.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4303 802.11b Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)

iwconfig wlan0:
wlan0 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:“Greven”
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.452 GHz Access Point: 00:0C:84:01:69:38
Tx-Power=27 dBm
Retry min limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr=2352 B
Encryption key:off
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

iwlist wlan0 scan:
wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:0C:84:01:69:38
ESSID:“Greven”
Mode:Master
Channel:9
Frequency:2.452 GHz (Channel 9)
Quality=56/100 Signal level=-54 dBm Noise level=-47 dBm
Encryption key:on
IE: WPA Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s
Extra:tsf=00000013ad15c256

dmesg | grep b43:
b43legacy-phy0: Broadcom 4301 WLAN found
input: b43legacy-phy0 as /devices/virtual/input/input8
b43legacy-phy0: Loading firmware version 0x127, patch level 14 (2005-04-18 02:36:27)
Registered led device: b43legacy-phy0:tx
Registered led device: b43legacy-phy0:rx
Registered led device: b43legacy-phy0:radio
b43legacy-phy0: Radio hardware status changed to DISABLED
input: b43legacy-phy0 as /devices/virtual/input/input10
b43legacy-phy0: Loading firmware version 0x127, patch level 14 (2005-04-18 02:36:27)
Registered led device: b43legacy-phy0:tx
Registered led device: b43legacy-phy0:rx
Registered led device: b43legacy-phy0:radio
b43legacy-phy0: Radio hardware status changed to DISABLED

cat /var/log/messages |grep “b43legacy-phy0” |tail:
Jun 20 09:13:14 linux-l1bn klogd: Registered led device: b43legacy-phy0:tx
Jun 20 09:13:14 linux-l1bn klogd: Registered led device: b43legacy-phy0:rx
Jun 20 09:13:14 linux-l1bn klogd: Registered led device: b43legacy-phy0:radio
Jun 20 09:13:14 linux-l1bn klogd: b43legacy-phy0: Radio hardware status changed to DISABLED
Jun 20 09:16:51 linux-l1bn klogd: input: b43legacy-phy0 as /devices/virtual/input/input10
Jun 20 09:16:51 linux-l1bn klogd: b43legacy-phy0: Loading firmware version 0x127, patch level 14 (2005-04-18 02:36:27)
Jun 20 09:16:51 linux-l1bn klogd: Registered led device: b43legacy-phy0:tx
Jun 20 09:16:51 linux-l1bn klogd: Registered led device: b43legacy-phy0:rx
Jun 20 09:16:51 linux-l1bn klogd: Registered led device: b43legacy-phy0:radio
Jun 20 09:16:52 linux-l1bn klogd: b43legacy-phy0: Radio hardware status changed to DISABLED

cat /var/log/messages |grep “wlan0” |tail:
Jun 20 09:24:13 linux-l1bn klogd: wlan0: Initial auth_alg=0
Jun 20 09:24:13 linux-l1bn klogd: wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:0c:84:01:69:38
Jun 20 09:24:13 linux-l1bn klogd: wlan0: Initial auth_alg=0
Jun 20 09:24:13 linux-l1bn klogd: wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:0c:84:01:69:38
Jun 20 09:24:14 linux-l1bn klogd: wlan0: authentication with AP 00:0c:84:01:69:38 timed out
Jun 20 09:24:29 linux-l1bn klogd: wlan0: Initial auth_alg=0
Jun 20 09:24:29 linux-l1bn klogd: wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:0c:84:01:69:38
Jun 20 09:24:29 linux-l1bn klogd: wlan0: Initial auth_alg=0
Jun 20 09:24:29 linux-l1bn klogd: wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:0c:84:01:69:38
Jun 20 09:24:30 linux-l1bn klogd: wlan0: authentication with AP 00:0c:84:01:69:38 timed out
l

Should I try ndiswrapper because of this old 4301/03-device?

Jan

#17

NetworkManager should support b43 and b43-legacy, what happens if you try to make it work with a WEP key using these commands

su
iwconfig wlan0 essid [insert wlan network name here] key [insert WEP key here]
ifconfig wlan0 up
dhcpcd wlan0

Do you get internet?
If you do it’s surely a problem with NM

#18

It works fine unencrypted, and I’m sure WEP will work (since it can be used via the CLI) it’s definately a problem with NM because I simply cannot connect to my WPA-PSK network, even with my Intel wireless card on my laptop!

#19

Sorry if I interrupt this thread by telling my story:o

I have switched to ndiswrapper today and was able to get that up and runing at 11.0.

I followed the instruction here on opensuse with:
ndiswrapper -i <*.inf>
ndiswrapper -m
modprobe ndiswrapper

I did >: iwlist wlan0 scan at an early time and was now sure, that the wireless lan was runing, as I could see me own and others wireless routers.

But I had some problems keeping it runing, because I tried a lot after the YAST-configure, switching between ifup and NM. Also problems with the LED-bottom! Had to boot in windows to be sure the switch was on. :smiley:

Jan

#20

The kernel-version you show indicates that you have NOT
yet upgraded from RC1 to final. You should do that FIRST,
then re-assess what problems remain. [Presumably, you
have direct-wired connection available for the upgrade?
If not, acquire a new copy of final CD/DVD.]

To upgrade across the net, do:

zypper ref && zypper dup

[It is a LARGE update!]