[NTLUG:Discuss] firmware installation

Wed Oct 29 10:26:56 CDT 2008

What OS are you using?
 What version / distribution do you use?   e.g.  SuSe 11.0  Slackware 12.1
Fedora 8 ....

On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 10:15 PM, Allen Meyers <chef11994 at sbcglobal.net>wrote:

> A great deal of goggling and communication with HP assures me that bcm4303
> 802.11b-only chip, that my unit has uses b43legacy.
> What I need to know is the exact command line to use to install this
> hardware. Additionally provide me with the destination or path where this
> should reside. Obviously this is way way beyond my capability.
> http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#firmwareinstallation
> What follows is no doubt more information then you need, but better more
> then not enough.
> Yes I know the experienced user will scratch his head and say its all there
> just follow instructions. Please humor this old man and translate for me.
>
> Thank you very much
>
> Allen
>
> firmware installation
> The
> Broadcom wireless chip needs software, called "firmware", that runs on
> the wireless chip itself during operation. This firmware is copyrighted
> by Broadcom and it must be extracted from Broadcom's proprietary
> drivers. To get such firmware on your system, you must download the
> driver from a legal distribution point, as noted below. 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.
> Some
> distributions have special methods for installing the firmware. In
> general these consist of a special command entered at a terminal.
> Because the propietary driver containing the firmware cannot be
> included in the distribution, you will need a working connection to the
> Internet. Please post details for distros that are missed at
> bcm43xx-dev at lists.berlios.de.
>        1. openSUSE 11.0 uses the following command:
>        * sudo /usr/sbin/install_bcm43xx_firmware
>        2. Ubuntu (all flavors) and Debian use the following command:
>        * sudo /usr/share/b43-fwcutter/install_bcm43xx_firmware.sh
>        3. Gentoo
> systems supply a pre-compiled binary for b43-fwcutter. You need to
> "emerge b43-fwcutter", and then follow the instructions below to
> download the Broadcom driver. The line that invokes b43-fwcutter will
> need to be changed to execute the program emerged above.
>        4. Mandriva's
> graphical network card configuration tool, drakconnect, will extract
> the firmware from the Broadcom driver, which must be downloaded before
> configuring the card. For versions through 2008 Spring, you will need
> the V3 driver described below. Beginning with 2009, you will need
> either the V3 or V4 driver depending on whether your device uses
> b43legacy or b43. Either the wget command below, or a browser download
> will get the appropriate file.
> Note:
> If you cannot use your distribution's packages, you need to have a
> compiler and headers for libc installed. The reason for this
> requirement is that you will have to build fwcutter.
> There are different versions of firmware and tools you may need:
> Driver  Kernel  Firmware  Firmware extractor  Instructions
> b43  Linux-2.6.24, including 2.6.24-rcX and 2.6.24.Y  4.80.53.0 b43-fwcutter v. 011  Go
> b43  Linux-2.6.25 and newer, compat-wireless-2.6 package, current GIT trees
>  4.150.10.5  b43-fwcutter v. 011  Go
> b43legacy  Any  3.130.20.0  b43-fwcutter v. 011  Go
> bcm43xx (deprecated)  Any  3.130.20.0  bcm43xx-fwcutter v. 6  Go
> To accomplish this task, do the following:
> You are using the b43 driver from linux-2.6.24
> If you are using the b43 driver from linux-2.6.24, follow these
> instructions.
> Use version 011 of b43-fwcutter.
> Download, extract the b43-fwcutter tarball and build it:
> wget http://bu3sch.de/b43/fwcutter/b43-fwcutter-011.tar.bz2
> tar xjf b43-fwcutter-011.tar.bz2
> cd b43-fwcutter-011
> make
> cd ..
> Use version 4.80.53.0 of Broadcom's proprietary driver.
> Download and extract the firmware from this driver tarball:
> export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"
> wget http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2
> tar xjf broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2
> cd broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0/kmod
> sudo ../../b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w "$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR"
> wl_apsta.o
> Note
> that you must adjust the FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR path to your
> distribution. The standard place where firmware is installed to is
> /lib/firmware. However some distributions put firmware in a different
> place.
> You are using the b43 driver from linux-2.6.25 or newer
> Follow these instructions if you are using the b43 driver from linux-2.6.25
> and newer or compat-wireless-2.6, or from any current GIT tree.
> Use version 011 of b43-fwcutter.
> Download, extract the b43-fwcutter tarball and build it:
> wget http://bu3sch.de/b43/fwcutter/b43-fwcutter-011.tar.bz2
> tar xjf b43-fwcutter-011.tar.bz2
> cd b43-fwcutter-011
> make
> cd ..
> Use version 4.150.10.5 of Broadcom's proprietary driver.
> Download and extract the firmware from this driver tarball:
> export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"
> wget http://mirror2.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2
> tar xjf broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2
> cd broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5/driver
> sudo ../../b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w "$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR"
> wl_apsta_mimo.o
> Note
> that you must adjust the FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR path to your
> distribution. The standard place where firmware is installed to is
> /lib/firmware. However some distributions put firmware in a different
> place.
> You are using the b43-legacy driver
> If you are using the b43legacy driver, follow these instructions.
> Use version 011 of b43-fwcutter.
> Download, extract the b43-fwcutter tarball and build it:
> wget http://bu3sch.de/b43/fwcutter/b43-fwcutter-011.tar.bz2
> tar xjf b43-fwcutter-011.tar.bz2
> cd b43-fwcutter-011
> make
> cd ..
> Use version 3.130.20.0 of Broadcom's proprietary driver.
> Download and extract the firmware from this driver:
> export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"
> wget http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o
> sudo ./b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w "$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR"
> wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o
> Note
> that you must adjust the FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR path to your
> distribution. The standard place where firmware is installed to is
> /lib/firmware. However some distributions put firmware in a different
> place.
> You are using the deprecated bcm43xx driver
> If you are using the old deprecated bcm43xx driver, follow these
> instructions.
> Use version 006 of bcm43xx-fwcutter.
> Download, extract the bcm43xx-fwcutter tarball and build it:
> wget http://bu3sch.de/b43/fwcutter/bcm43xx-fwcutter-006.tar.bz2
> tar xjf bcm43xx-fwcutter-006.tar.bz2
> cd bcm43xx-fwcutter-006
> make
> cd ..
> Use version 3.130.20.0 of Broadcom's proprietary driver.
> Download and extract the firmware from this driver:
> export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"
> wget http://downloads.openwrt.org/sources/wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o
> sudo ./bcm43xx-fwcutter-006/bcm43xx-fwcutter -w "$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR"
> wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.oNote
> that you must adjust the FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR path to your
> distribution. The standard place where firmware is installed to is
> /lib/firmware. However some distributions put firmware in a different
> place.
> _______________________________________________
> http://www.ntlug.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>

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