I downloaded the broadcom package direct from the source to build a wl kernel module, but found it did not work immediately following their instructions. However, I found a routine which does indeed work.
The driver is available for the 32 bit platform (yours I think) here... http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php After extracting the files from the archive into their own directory, you should launch the Terminal and then cd (change directory) until you are in that directory. There you will build a wl.ko file which will be placed into the correct directory for your current kernel. Loading that module should then make your wireless card visible immediately. I also provide instructions for how to make the change permanent, so you don't keep having to execute these instructions. Here's how. Once you are in a Terminal console in the directory of extracted files, running the following commands installs and loads up the correct driver for me (on a Dell 1525 - very similar). I think you may be able to get away without the lib80211 calls, but I'm leaving them there in case. make clean make sudo make install sudo depmod sudo modprobe -r b43 b44 ssb wl sudo modprobe lib80211 sudo modprobe lib80211_crypt_ccmp sudo modprobe lib80211_crypt_tkip sudo modprobe lib80211_crypt_wep sudo modprobe wl sudo modprobe b44 You will need to rebuild the kernel module for every new kernel update (which happens every few months). You'll notice a kernel update because the list of options on linux boot will get longer, and the number reported by... uname -r ...will change. If your wireless isn't working, go back to an earlier kernel number in the linux boot list, which will still have your changes stored. If you experience any errors, they may come from the fact that I carried out some pre-existing specialisation of my machine which I've forgotten, such as installing build-essential, dpkg-dev and the source for your kernel, which might look something like this... sudo apt-get install build-essential dpkg-dev linux-kernel-headers linux-headers-`uname -r` For preliminary debugging of what I've forgotten you could also look at something which describes how to build kernel modules like this... http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/build-linux-kernel-module-against-installed-kernel-source-tree.html I provide the steps with annotations below so you know what's going on. make clean # removes previous builds from the make directory make # builds the .ko sudo make install # moves the .ko into the right modules directory for your currently running kernel sudo depmod # updates the cache of available modules and their relationships sudo modprobe -r b43 b44 ssb wl # unloads any pre-existing and problematic drivers sudo modprobe lib80211 # adds some wireless support - probably not necessary sudo modprobe lib80211_crypt_ccmp # adds some more wireless support - probably not necessary sudo modprobe lib80211_crypt_tkip # adds some more wireless support - probably not necessary sudo modprobe lib80211_crypt_wep # adds some more wireless support - probably not necessary sudo modprobe wl # loads the wireless module sudo modprobe b44 # don't know To make the changes permanent, you can add the non-functional driver modules to the blacklist to stop them loading, following this guidance... http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/avoid-linux-kernel-module-driver-autoloading.html ..and arrange for your preferred modules to be autoloaded following this guidance... http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/1019/2/ The drivers you'll want to blacklist are the ones you had to permanently remove (modprobe -r) and the ones to autoload are the ones you had to insert (modprobe on its own). To blacklist... ssb b43 To autoload... wl b44 If you're feeling angry at Ubuntu for this stuff not working out of the box, take a look at this article, which lays the blame squarely with the hardware manufacturers for not providing properly licensed drivers, which they would find easy to do, and would help their customers. Broadcom should get new and brighter lawyers. Dell should drop Broadcom... http://blogs.computerworld.com/new_linux_broadcom_wi_fi_drivers_arrive -- wireless doesn't work https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/414281 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
