synchronicity

Constructing meaning from coincidence

davidwatson.org

Contact david@davidwatson.org

Broadcom 4306 On Feisty Fawn

01/02/2012@06:13:44

I've now completed upgrading all of my machines to various versions of Ubuntu Feisty Fawn and I'm pleased to report that it has gone more smoothly than any previous version of Ubuntu in each case. I've got 3 machines running Ubuntu and 2 running Kubuntu, and with the exception of the nvidia drivers on my dual opteron AMD64 Kubuntu at work, everything works great.

One thing that may not be obvious, even for seasoned Linux users, is that much less configuration is required with ndiswrapper on Feisty. If you're using a wireless laptop with Feisty, and like me, you've got a Broadcom bcm4306 card, you actually don't have to do much of anything to get wireless working with Feisty.

Simply install the package bcm43xx-fwcutter from your favorite package manager (synaptic, adept, or good ole apt-get or aptitude) and it will prompt you to download and install the firmware required for the Broadcom chipset. Once this install is complete, just reboot and the wireless chipset will connect without issue.

UPDATE

Thanks to Thomas who commented on this post below:

Just wanted to update everyone on bcm43xx-fwcutter. Because the boredlinks.googlepages.com/wl_apsta.o is no longer existent the setup is not automatic as it was before. Now you must download the driver yourself and extract the firmware and place it in your /lib/firmware folder.

Link to driver:

http://sidulus.textdrive.com/bcmwl5sys.zip

Command:

sudo bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware ~/Desktop/bcmwl5.sys

My name is David Watson. I'm a creative person from a small town in Western Pennsylvania called Fallston. I went to school in the Beaver and New Brighton school districts before graduating from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.

I met my wife, Wendy teaching at Mars High School where I taught the drum line and she taught the color guard. After graduation, we lived in Boston and Seattle before returning to the Pittsburgh area, where I earn my living making software.

This site chronicles my ideas, photographs, music, and technology. I hope you find something of value here. If you'd like to collaborate, please contact me on Linked In or at the email address above. Thanks for visiting!