Knoppix and my wireless adapter problem

Hi all, I'm new to Knoppix and new to linux environment in general.

My notebook is an Acer Aspire 5024WLMi (5020 series) with a Broadcom BCM4318 wireless adapter, and I run Knoppix 6.2.1 (CD, DVD, USB... I have them all :). I know there are already lots of guide for wlassistant or ndiswrapper, but there's always something wrong or something missing for a very noob user like me.

Two questions:

1) Is there any Knoppix release that already has a driver support for my wlan card? (an already done release or at least someone who can modify the latest release to make it work for my card?)

or

2)Is there someone who can help me step-by-step, very deeply step-by step :), configuring my wireless to work?

Please help

titomax82

I know a lot of people have trouble with Broadcom wifi,
but I think you are in luck. I think the BCM 4318 is provided with
a native driver in Knoppix 6.2.1.

1. I don't think you need ndiswrapper.
2. Maybe you just need to know how to work with Network Manager.
3. First of all, how did you get here? Ethernet? Router?

I want to connect to my Netgear Wireless DG834PN router... how can i do?

I get here with the same notebook using wireless in windows

Open /etc/modprobe.d/broadcom-sta-common.conf and comment out the line that says : blacklist b43
That should work for you. Please write back if it does not as there are other ways to fix this

@mecho

I have a bcm43xx card.
I don't think you want to go that way.

I have a BCM 4315.
Here's what my /etc/modprobe.d/broadcom-sta-common.conf looks like.

# wl module from Broadcom conflicts with ssb
# We must blacklist the following modules:
blacklist b44
blacklist b43legacy
blacklist b43
blacklist ssb
install wl /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install wl $CMDLINE_OPTS

It ends up installing wl, and lib80211_crypt_tkip.
I think this is standard Knoppix 6.2.1 issue, not my invention.
Works fine for me.

It's not 'native' as I thought, obviously, but I'm no purist.

Well for what I know is that the latest b43 driver works well even with bcm4318. He can google it again - there is tons of information about this specific wireless card especially in ubuntu forums. What I see as solution is that many people just remove it from restricted drivers and it works just fine. If it does not - there is no damage done

My Laptop has a BCM 4315 wireless card.

I loaded my Knoppix 6.2.1 CD.
Waited for a while until a desktop appeared.
Shortly a Network Manager applet also appeared on the lower right panel.
Almost immediately a notice 'Wireless network available' also appeared.
Clicked this applet and selected my ESSID by name.
Next a panel appeared asking for my WEP key which I provided.
Clicked connect.
Another panel asked for a passwork and I declined.
Waited a short while with animated applet circling.
Very shortly the applet was showing three bars.
Then I started typing this note using Leafpad.

When I'm done typing I'll do the following:
Fire up a browser.
Find and Log into Knoppix forum.
Post this note.

I declare I have not changed any configuration files or such.
This thing just works.
I hope it does the same for you, titomax82.

tada!

@Utu

He has BCM4318 card. It is not supported by broadcom-wl, but it is by b43.All he needs to do is make sure he has b43-fwcutter and firmware-b43-installer, then uncomment the b43 driver. But I might be wrong. I do not own broadcom card

utu....in the network monitor there is only the networking string and not the wireless one which appears on my other notebook...this means the driver is not initialized i think

meco....if i modify that file and then reboot....changes are not saved...it seems that my usb knoppix has no persistence....why?

You may be right.
But I think one should first try to see if 'it just works'
without getting into changing any files.
I was delighted to find out in my case it did.

finally i found how to make it work:

0) ethernet connection
1) aptitude update
2) aptitude install wireless-tools
3) aptitude install firmware-b43-installer (accept package even if older and accept second package suggested)
4) modprobe b43 (the only string to be repeated at every startup....maybe this depends on the blacklist)

thanks all guys

Well done - welcome to Knoppix
If you experience any erratic behavior of your internet connection it would be because you have both wl and b43 drivers loaded.You will have to find a way to blacklist wl - I never had b43 card and its just a guess.
For auto loading of modprobe b43 you might want to put the command in /etc/rc.local

I echo that 'Well Done' to both titomax82 and mecho.

I also offer the following as a summary for later BCM43XX readers:

There are two useful answers in this thread:

1. If the result of the command 'dmesg|grep -i bcm' includes the phrase
'BCM4315' you can expect Knoppix 6.2.1 to take care of you
right out of the box with no tweaks.

1. If the result of the command 'dmesg|grep -i bcm' includes the phrase
'BCM4318' you can follow the approach mecho & titomax82
have delineated here.

Hello to all, what a great distro! have read along for awhile my first Knoppix install was v6.43 live cd to newer laptop HD. Then weeks latter another great release v6.44 dvd to upgrade that cd and all works well. Even got to keep "davyboy's" art work with the upgrade. Couldn't figure out why lost it on initial cd install had 10G partition with 2G swap. Have same problem as above now with older laptop using BCM4318. My question is will this http://wicd.sourceforge.net/download.php work without mecho & titomax82, et al fix? Any other fix come along? thanks jim

@jim3630

Probably most folks here are using network manager, rather than wicd.

I notice wicd is available on synaptic, so you could try that.
You may have to disable network manager to avoid a conflict.

If you go the wicd route, let us know if this approach works for you.

Utu, thanks for the info. Which network manager do you think most folks use? Rather than try something novel first would rather follow the proved path. But if I do try wicd will keep udaterd. thanks jim

@jm3630

See post #15.
Network manager is assumed there.
AFAIK that answer is still correct in that context.
Good luck, anyway.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mecho

@Utu

He has BCM4318 card. It is not supported by broadcom-wl, but it is by b43.All he needs to do is make sure he has b43-fwcutter and firmware-b43-installer, then uncomment the b43 driver. But I might be wrong. I do not own broadcom card

---

Uncommenting b43 got my wireless working in v6.7.1 of Knoppix. The netbook I used has a BCM4313 network controler.