Broadcom driver for 4328 b/g/n wireless device

[hajk]

I just want to report here that I've finally gotten the Broadcom 4328 (rev 05) wireless device in my MacBook Pro 4,1 (Penryn) to function properly, now using the new Broadcom Linux wl driver available at their website http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php. It works both in mixed 802.11b/g/n and in pure 802.11n (draft) mode, in the 2.4 and 5GHz bands, and with WPA2 Personal security (CCMP-AES).

Compiling is easy (I had already a proper compiling setup with the module-assistant package and the "sudo m-a prepare" command). I copied the wl.ko driver file to /lib/modules/2.6...../misc, then ran "sudo depmod -a". Broadcom claim that this module, once compiled, is "version-agnostic" and should work with all 2.6 kernels, so keep a copy around somewhere.

This new Broadcom driver, a Linux wrapper really around a Broadcom proprietary binary, suffers from the same interference by ssb that Ndiswrapper does. So, make sure to load wl before ssb. I do that through the script /usr/local/bin/wireless

#!/bin/sh
rmmod wl ssb
modprobe wl
modprobe ssb

made executable with the "sudo chmod a+x" command and added to /etc/rc.local.

Throughput is fine, but reported connection strength behaves in a funny way: the network-manager icon is fully blue at first, indicating 100% signal strength (OK, next to the AP), but then becomes white at 0%. Clicking on the icon shows my network bar 100% blue. Also the "sudo iwconfig" command shows speeds between 1 and 53Mb/s. Also, the connection drops after a period of inactivity, but comes back up promptly when loading some web page -- this is probably a feature to preserve battery power.

All told, I'm well pleased with the performance, so I'll get rid of Ndiswrapper.

[kosumi68]

This is very good news! I can confirm the 32-bit driver working on an MBA. However, as you state, the status indications are behaving oddly; iwconfig does not seem to always report the AP state. Also, I am not sure if the power consumption went up or down. Clearly some things needs fixing, but it works!

[cyberdork33]

This is very good news! I can confirm the 32-bit driver working on an MBA. However, as you state, the status indications are behaving oddly; iwconfig does not seem to always report the AP state. Also, I am not sure if the power consumption went up or down. Clearly some things needs fixing, but it works!

I heard about the wl driver but hadn't seen it in the wild. I will try to test tonight, maybe throw some debs together... Do they have anywhere to report bugs or give feedback?

[cyberdork33]

This is in L-R-M in Intrepid! It is not setup to blacklist b43 and ssb automatically though. (I think ssb is not required and is only used by b43 / b43-legacy)

Enable wl in System > Adminstration > Hardware Drivers

add 'wl' to /etc/modules

Add the following to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

blacklist b43

Then I used a script similar to the above to load the modules in the correct order.

[_mario_]

Hi,

the wl driver is also available in the linux-restricted-modules package in Hardy. The version in 2.6.24-19 doesn't yet support newer chips, but the version in 2.6.24-20/2.6.24-21 do (enable the hardy-proposed repository). Both additionally include the broadcom driver for the synaptics touchpad. I had to blacklist some modules, as the original documentation states.

Note: The version in 2.6.24-21 has a small bug: a required symbol doesn't match the provided version in the kernel package. It nevertheless works like a charm.

This yields the following /etc/modprobe.d/wl file:

# blacklist unwanted modules for wl to work
blacklist ssb
blacklist b43
blacklist b43legacy
blacklist ndiswrapper

# ignore symbols' versions (necessary on 2.6.24-21)
install wl /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install --force-modversion wl $CMDLINE_OPTS

Don't forget to run:

update-initramfs -k all -u

if you change something in /etc/modprobe.d (the initial ramdisk contains copies of these files). Otherwise the interfering modules are loaded at next reboot.

Thanks to Ubuntu, there's no need to compile.

[cyberdork33]

(enable the hardy-proposed repository).

Before anyone does this, note that enabling the proposed repository opens up a LOT of "unstable" software other than the Linux kernel. There is no need for a normal user to do that, but if you know what you are doing and are willing to deal with broken / buggy apps, go right ahead.

[_mario_]

Before anyone does this, note that enabling the proposed repository opens up a LOT of "unstable" software other than the Linux kernel. There is no need for a normal user to do that, but if you know what you are doing and are willing to deal with broken / buggy apps, go right ahead.

Thanks. I forgot to mention that. For those who nevertheless want to use these newer kernel versions, there's a safer method:

1. Enable hardy-proposed
2. Set its priority so 1, similar to experimental in Debian by creating /etc/apt/preferences with:

Package: *
Pin: release o=Ubuntu,a=hardy-proposed
Pin-Priority: 1

(see man apt_preferences). Thus, apt will never choose to install packages from this repository.
3. Use

apt-get install --target-release hardy-proposed <package name>

to install specific packages from this repository.

ciao,
Mario

[hajk]

Well, that's just great! I don't know how I could have missed that Broadcom module... the latest version has been out since 1st of July 2008. But then that Linksys WUSB54GC adapter worked so well (only problem was mechanical: would fit only on the RHS of my MBP where it got easily bent since I'm right-handed).

I'm planning to do an upgrade to Ibex (?) Intrepid (?) 8.10 (?) soon...
About blacklisting ssb: that's no good if you want to use the mini cardslot on a MBP, since the pcmcia module needs it. In that case, make sure wl gets loaded before ssb does.

[cyberdork33]

I forgot to mention that. For those who nevertheless want to use these newer kernel versions, there's a safer method

Thanks for the detail. That will be helpful.

Well, that's just great! I don't know how I could have missed that Broadcom module... the latest version has been out since 1st of July 2008. But then that Linksys WUSB54GC adapter worked so well (only problem was mechanical: would fit only on the RHS of my MBP where it got easily bent since I'm right-handed).

I'm planning to do an upgrade to Ibex (?) Intrepid (?) 8.10 (?) soon...
About blacklisting ssb: that's no good if you want to use the mini cardslot on a MBP, since the pcmcia module needs it. In that case, make sure wl gets loaded before ssb does.

Hey, I didn't know about it either...

OK, everything I was seeing was indicating that ssb is really "part of" the b43 set. I didn't know it was used for other things. I will edit.

[hajk]

.