Discussion:
Broadcom wireless
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Bob
2019-04-19 22:43:01 UTC
Permalink
I am moving an old Dell Latitude Laptop, which was connected for
years to my router by an ethernet cable to a location where I need a
wireless connection. It has Slackware 14.1 installed. Command 'uname -r'
yields a 3.10.17 kernel with 'uname -m' I686 kernal architecture
installed. I note that Slackware 14.1 as installed has two sets of modules
in /lib/modules - 3.10.17 and 3.10.17-smp.
Command 'lspci -k' yields
Network controller: Broadcom BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN(ver 01)
Subsystem:
Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Minicard Kernel Modules: ssb, wl
I downloaded, compiled and installed the Broadcom-sta SlackBuild
module wl.ko pkg, ssb module already exists. Command modprobe wl yields
ERROR: could not insert 'wl': Exec format error
and the module does not load. Then running command dmesg | tail yields
this note
wl:version magic '3.10.17-smp SMP mod_unload PENTIUMIII' should
be 3.10.17 mod_unload 486
As an alternate I downloaded, compiled and installed the
SlackBuild b43 module and firmware packages. Modprobe installs but does
not work with no error messages that I can find.
I researched this problem without finding any help. I'm stuck.
Can anyone point me towards a usable solution to get my wireless
working?
John Forkosh
2019-04-20 02:28:59 UTC
Permalink
Post by Bob
I am moving an old Dell Latitude Laptop, which was connected for
years to my router by an ethernet cable to a location where I need a
wireless connection. It has Slackware 14.1 installed. Command 'uname -r'
yields a 3.10.17 kernel with 'uname -m' I686 kernal architecture
installed. I note that Slackware 14.1 as installed has two sets of modules
in /lib/modules - 3.10.17 and 3.10.17-smp.
Command 'lspci -k' yields
Network controller: Broadcom BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN(ver 01)
Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Minicard Kernel Modules: ssb, wl
I downloaded, compiled and installed the Broadcom-sta SlackBuild
module wl.ko pkg, ssb module already exists. Command modprobe wl yields
ERROR: could not insert 'wl': Exec format error
and the module does not load. Then running command dmesg | tail yields
this note
wl:version magic '3.10.17-smp SMP mod_unload PENTIUMIII' should
be 3.10.17 mod_unload 486
As an alternate I downloaded, compiled and installed the
SlackBuild b43 module and firmware packages. Modprobe installs but does
not work with no error messages that I can find.
I researched this problem without finding any help. I'm stuck.
Can anyone point me towards a usable solution to get my wireless
working?
Well, "usable solution", yes, but probably not what you had in mind...
I recently upgraded to slackware64-current (aka 15.0x64), and lspci -k
shows
03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4352
802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter (rev 03)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. BCM4352
802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
Kernel driver in use: bcma-pci-bridge
Kernel modules: bcma
And that "just works", whereas I could never get older 12.2 to work.
Not sure how similar your "BCM4311" is to my "BCM4352", etc.
--
John Forkosh ( mailto: ***@f.com where j=john and f=forkosh )
dillinger
2019-04-21 04:36:25 UTC
Permalink
Post by Bob
I am moving an old Dell Latitude Laptop, which was connected for
years to my router by an ethernet cable to a location where I need a
wireless connection. It has Slackware 14.1 installed. Command 'uname -r'
yields a 3.10.17 kernel with 'uname -m' I686 kernal architecture
installed. I note that Slackware 14.1 as installed has two sets of modules
in /lib/modules - 3.10.17 and 3.10.17-smp.
Command 'lspci -k' yields
Network controller: Broadcom BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN(ver 01)
Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Minicard Kernel Modules: ssb, wl
I downloaded, compiled and installed the Broadcom-sta SlackBuild
module wl.ko pkg, ssb module already exists. Command modprobe wl yields
ERROR: could not insert 'wl': Exec format error
and the module does not load. Then running command dmesg | tail yields
this note
wl:version magic '3.10.17-smp SMP mod_unload PENTIUMIII' should
be 3.10.17 mod_unload 486
As an alternate I downloaded, compiled and installed the
SlackBuild b43 module and firmware packages. Modprobe installs but does
not work with no error messages that I can find.
I researched this problem without finding any help. I'm stuck.
Can anyone point me towards a usable solution to get my wireless
working?
If you want to use an alternate driver you may have to blacklist the
driver shipped with Slackware.
m***@gmail.com
2019-04-29 01:21:07 UTC
Permalink
Post by dillinger
Post by Bob
I am moving an old Dell Latitude Laptop, which was connected for
years to my router by an ethernet cable to a location where I need a
wireless connection. It has Slackware 14.1 installed. Command 'uname -r'
yields a 3.10.17 kernel with 'uname -m' I686 kernal architecture
installed. I note that Slackware 14.1 as installed has two sets of modules
in /lib/modules - 3.10.17 and 3.10.17-smp.
Command 'lspci -k' yields
Network controller: Broadcom BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN(ver 01)
Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Minicard Kernel Modules: ssb, wl
I downloaded, compiled and installed the Broadcom-sta SlackBuild
module wl.ko pkg, ssb module already exists. Command modprobe wl yields
ERROR: could not insert 'wl': Exec format error
and the module does not load. Then running command dmesg | tail yields
this note
wl:version magic '3.10.17-smp SMP mod_unload PENTIUMIII' should
be 3.10.17 mod_unload 486
As an alternate I downloaded, compiled and installed the
SlackBuild b43 module and firmware packages. Modprobe installs but does
not work with no error messages that I can find.
I researched this problem without finding any help. I'm stuck.
Can anyone point me towards a usable solution to get my wireless
working?
If you want to use an alternate driver you may have to blacklist the
driver shipped with Slackware.
On my Macbook,
lspci -k

03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter (rev 03)
Subsystem: Apple Inc. BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
Kernel driver in use: wl
Kernel modules: bcma, wl

the broadcom-sta driver (wl) from Slackbuilds works but is unstable, keeps getting disconnected frequently. Only WICD can handle it, the network manager cannot. Same behavior on both slackware 14.2 and slackware-current. Seems that Broadcom has not updated the driver since 2015.

Interestingly Raspberry pi works with the brcmfmac driver, but that is probably a different variant of BRCM wifi.
Jim Diamond
2019-04-30 19:08:05 UTC
Permalink
Post by m***@gmail.com
Post by dillinger
Post by Bob
I am moving an old Dell Latitude Laptop, which was connected for
years to my router by an ethernet cable to a location where I need a
wireless connection. It has Slackware 14.1 installed. Command 'uname -r'
yields a 3.10.17 kernel with 'uname -m' I686 kernal architecture
installed. I note that Slackware 14.1 as installed has two sets of modules
in /lib/modules - 3.10.17 and 3.10.17-smp.
Command 'lspci -k' yields
Network controller: Broadcom BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN(ver 01)
Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Minicard Kernel Modules: ssb, wl
I downloaded, compiled and installed the Broadcom-sta SlackBuild
module wl.ko pkg, ssb module already exists. Command modprobe wl yields
ERROR: could not insert 'wl': Exec format error
and the module does not load. Then running command dmesg | tail yields
this note
wl:version magic '3.10.17-smp SMP mod_unload PENTIUMIII' should
be 3.10.17 mod_unload 486
As an alternate I downloaded, compiled and installed the
SlackBuild b43 module and firmware packages. Modprobe installs but does
not work with no error messages that I can find.
I researched this problem without finding any help. I'm stuck.
Can anyone point me towards a usable solution to get my wireless
working?
If you want to use an alternate driver you may have to blacklist the
driver shipped with Slackware.
On my Macbook,
lspci -k
03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter (rev 03)
Subsystem: Apple Inc. BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
Kernel driver in use: wl
Kernel modules: bcma, wl
the broadcom-sta driver (wl) from Slackbuilds works but is unstable,
keeps getting disconnected frequently. Only WICD can handle it, the
network manager cannot. Same behavior on both slackware 14.2 and
slackware-current. Seems that Broadcom has not updated the driver
since 2015.
Interestingly Raspberry pi works with the brcmfmac driver, but that
is probably a different variant of BRCM wifi.
Probably. For another data point, I have this in my macbook:
03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM43602 802.11ac Wireless LAN SoC (rev 01)
Subsystem: Apple Inc. BCM43602 802.11ac Wireless LAN SoC
Kernel driver in use: brcmfmac
Kernel modules: brcmfmac

I would describe the quality of the card+driver as "so-so" at best.
At home I usually plug in a bluetooth wifi adapter
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0bda:0179 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8188ETV Wireless LAN 802.11n Network Adapter
and that works way better than the Broadcom one.

Jim
Steve555
2019-06-18 20:19:11 UTC
Permalink
Post by Bob
I am moving an old Dell Latitude Laptop, which was connected for
years to my router by an ethernet cable to a location where I need a
wireless connection. It has Slackware 14.1 installed. Command 'uname -r'
yields a 3.10.17 kernel with 'uname -m' I686 kernal architecture
installed. I note that Slackware 14.1 as installed has two sets of modules
in /lib/modules - 3.10.17 and 3.10.17-smp.
Command 'lspci -k' yields
Network controller: Broadcom BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN(ver 01)
Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Minicard Kernel Modules: ssb, wl
I downloaded, compiled and installed the Broadcom-sta SlackBuild
module wl.ko pkg, ssb module already exists. Command modprobe wl yields
ERROR: could not insert 'wl': Exec format error
and the module does not load. Then running command dmesg | tail yields
this note
wl:version magic '3.10.17-smp SMP mod_unload PENTIUMIII' should
be 3.10.17 mod_unload 486
As an alternate I downloaded, compiled and installed the
SlackBuild b43 module and firmware packages. Modprobe installs but does
not work with no error messages that I can find.
I researched this problem without finding any help. I'm stuck.
Can anyone point me towards a usable solution to get my wireless
working?
If you're not having much luck with drivers, it might be worth trying
different hardware. I set up an old thinkpad recently with an
Intel 4965 wifi card, it's working OK with slackware 14.2. The card cost
me 2 UKP (incl. postage!) from HK, which I guess is about 3 dollars,
from ebay. It appears Dell even marketed this card as the 'D830'.
The thinkpad is pretty easy to take apart and fit the card, I've
never owned a Dell so don't know how easy it would be to fit.
--
Gnd -|o----|- Vcc Hey computer, what's the weather in Sydney?
trig -| 555 |- dschrg $> finger o:***@graph.no|tail -1|espeak
o/p -| |- thrsh
rst -|-----|- cntrl Steve555
Joe Rosevear
2019-06-18 22:22:57 UTC
Permalink
Post by Bob
I am moving an old Dell Latitude Laptop, which was connected for
years to my router by an ethernet cable to a location where I need a
wireless connection. It has Slackware 14.1 installed. Command 'uname -r'
yields a 3.10.17 kernel with 'uname -m' I686 kernal architecture
installed. I note that Slackware 14.1 as installed has two sets of modules
in /lib/modules - 3.10.17 and 3.10.17-smp.
Command 'lspci -k' yields
Network controller: Broadcom BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN(ver 01)
Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Minicard Kernel Modules: ssb, wl
I downloaded, compiled and installed the Broadcom-sta SlackBuild
module wl.ko pkg, ssb module already exists. Command modprobe wl yields
ERROR: could not insert 'wl': Exec format error
and the module does not load. Then running command dmesg | tail yields
this note
wl:version magic '3.10.17-smp SMP mod_unload PENTIUMIII' should
be 3.10.17 mod_unload 486
As an alternate I downloaded, compiled and installed the
SlackBuild b43 module and firmware packages. Modprobe installs but does
not work with no error messages that I can find.
I researched this problem without finding any help. I'm stuck.
Can anyone point me towards a usable solution to get my wireless
working?
Sounds familiar. I think the built-in wireless adapter in my Dell Latitude
laptop is Broadcom. As I recall it is an odd duck. Even when I got it
working it didn't work normally. It insisted in calling the interface that
it created by an unusal name. Perhaps it began with eth. I don't recall.

Anyway I gave up. It wasn't convenient for me to adjust to the unusual
naming of the interface. (I don't remember the details. Perhaps they would
be helpful to you. If I look them up, I'll post them.). I happened to have
a pcmcia wireless adapter, and my laptop conveniently has a pcmcia slot. It
works fine.

I would be interested in a (better) solution to the Broadcom adapter
problem, though.

-Joe

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