Broadcom Wireless Driver - Open Firmware Installation Script

Hey guys, this is just a little script I wrote for Ubuntu(Jaunty or newer) to automatically install opensource firmware for my broadcom(Dell Wireless 1390) card. It should work with most Broadcom/Dell Wireless Cards out there. It's released under the MIT License, have fun!

Code:

#!/bin/bash
#Automatic Open Firmware Installer for Broadcom Wireless Devices
#Copyright (c) 2010 Thomas Chace

#Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
#of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
#in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
#to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
#copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
#furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
#
#The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
#all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
#
#THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
#IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
#FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
#AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
#LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
#OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
#THE SOFTWARE.

sudo apt-get -y install git-core bison flex build-essential
cd
rm -r b43
mkdir -p b43
cd b43
git clone git://git.bu3sch.de/b43-tools.git
cd b43-tools/assembler
make
sudo make install
cd ../..
sudo mv /lib/firmware/b43 /lib/firmware/b43-proprietary
wget http://www.ing.unibs.it/openfwwf/firmware/openfwwf-5.2.tar.gz
tar -xvf openfwwf-5.2.tar.gz
cd openfwwf-5.2
make
sudo make install
sudo mv /lib/firmware/b43 /lib/firmware/b43-open
sudo ln -s /lib/firmware/b43-open /lib/firmware/b43
echo “options b43 qos=0″ | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/b43.conf
echo “options b43 nohwcrypt=1″ | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/b43.conf
cd
rm -r b43

To run it, simple copy and paste that code into a text editor such as gedit, save it in your home directory under the name "open-b43.sh" without quotes. Then open up a terminal and type:

Code:

bash open-b43.sh

It requires you to enter your password, so when it asks, just enter it and press enter/return.

Have fun

 

nice work thomas..thanks for posting that

 

Hey, this looks about like what I need to get Ubuntu working on my parents' laptop! Just wondering if you know what would have to be done differently to get this working From a Live CD with no Internet access?

I am trying to get my parents' laptop on Ubuntu or Kubuntu because it's old and can't really keep up on 1gb of memory. The problem I have is the broadcom card. I want to be able to do it in a live CD so that means that it has to be installed each time.

I was thinking of making a shell script to get the wireless card working from the CD (apparently everything is on the CD), repackage the is0, placing the shell script on the desktop and changing permissions to make it executable. Then all we'd need to do is boot from live cd, double click on shell script and wireless is working.

 

Have you tried the non-free STA driver? Usually you can enable it right from the LiveCD by going to System > Administration > Hardware Drivers.

Also, you could do this on an existing Ubuntu PC(Broadcom wireless or not, doesn't matter), and copy over /lib/firmware/b43-open and /etc/modprobe.d/b43.conf and place them in in /lib/firmware and /etc/modprobe. d on the new system.
Assuming those files are in the home directory:

Code:

sudo cp b43-open /lib/firmware/b43-open
sudo cp b43.conf /etc/modprobe.d
sudo ln -s /lib/firmware/b43-open /lib/firmware/b43

 

I just installed 10.04 on a brand new Dell 1545 and installed the STA driver and it worked right a way. All the horror stories I heard of Broadcom cards just didn't materialize.

Colin

 

I made a ubuntu/debian/linuxmint package for those who are interest. Be sure to disable the STA driver first.

I'll post it when I'm home.