brcm80211 - Broadcom opensource driver

couker · n00b Joined: 21 Feb 2006 Posts: 8

Hi,
I am installing gentoo on laptop with Broadcom wifi card - 44:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation Device 4353 (rev 01). This should be supported with new opensource driver in kernel 2.6.37. Compiling driver as a module is without problem, but the module needs to load firmware, which is not in gentoo portage. After some googling I am using firmware from some debian package http://packages.debian.org/unstable/kernel/firmware-brcm80211 which works ok. Wifi works and I am able to connect to my network without problems. I assume that the firmware should be the included in the portage same as eg. b43-firmware or firmwares for intel cards. Should I fill in a bug or did I miss something?

d2_racing · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 1:18 am Post subject:

You should open a bugzilla just to be sure.

Goeland86 · Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 10:31 pm Post subject:

silly question, but where do you put the firmware for the module to load it?

Did you just put it in the generic location as directed here?

This is my first laptop with a broadcom chipset, so any insight is welcome.

Thanks,

Goeland

lxg · Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2011 12:42 am Post subject:

I've written a little Howto on my website:
http://www.lxg.de/code/broadcom-4353-wireless-et-al-opensource-howto
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Goeland86 · Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2011 8:56 am Post subject:

Thanks lxg!

Works like a charm

Adwin · Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2011 3:03 pm Post subject:

Have you noticed network dropping with the brcm80211 driver?
It works fine for a few seconds, but then, just shuts down.

Goeland86 · Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2011 4:37 pm Post subject:

I've had no issues at all with the driver. In fact, I'm rather impressed, it works better than the atheros chip I had in my previous laptop, which had on occasion the network drops you mention.

But nope, this one's working just fine. Note that I compiled it as module, but all other wireless-related things are in-kernel.

lxg · Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 2:01 pm Post subject:

Bassam · n00b Joined: 05 Oct 2008 Posts: 4

As noted in this bug, the firmware is available in sys-kernel/linux-firmware.