Results 1 to 9 of 9

Thread: Broadcom 440 NIC Support

  1. #1
    Junior Member registered user
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Posts
    14

    Broadcom 440 NIC Support

    I think Knoppix uses the "b44" module to support my Broadcom 440 NIC. Anyway, Knoppix has no problems using the 440 for eth0. I am new to Linux, so I have tried several Live CD distros, Knoppix, Mepis, PCLinuxOS, Slax, Suse, Peanut, DamnSmall, Feather and Puppy. All support the Broadcom 440 with no problems. (I am not sure if all use the "b44" module.) I have installed all of these distros to my HD and I manage booting with the Lilo boot manager.

    I like Knoppix, so I thought it might be interesting to install a "real" distro such as Debian v3.0 r5. What a nightmare! USB mouse wouldn't work, no drivers for my Nvidia video adapter, X Window configuration, etc. Anyway, I finally got a working installation only to find no support for the Broadcom 440 NIC.

    I know this is a Knoppix forum, but I haven't found a good Debian forum, so here is the question. Is there some way to "transplant" the Knoppix "b44" module to Debian? Or does anyone have a suggestion for getting support for the Broadcom 440 NIC installed in my Debian system?

    Thanks, jimbo

  2. #2
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Posts
    7
    is the broadcom 440 supported thru the ndis wrapper? I've never used that chip before, but that might be worth looking into for support of your nic.

  3. #3

  4. #4
    Senior Member registered user
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    Long Island, NY USA
    Posts
    1,510
    Debian 3.0r5 is about 3 years old & it is known as Woody and is considered Debian stable. This means that programs & packages only get updated with security fixes so all the packages work well but are quite old. Many of those distros you mentioned use the up to date 2.6.x branch of the Linux kernel as default. Debian 3.0r5 uses the 2.2.x branch as default and according to Debian package listsings, the latest 2.4 kernel is 2.4.18.

    Knoppix 3.7 provides kernels 2.4.27 and 2.6.9 and Knoppix 3.8.x uses 2.6.11.x. Both the 2.4.x & 2.6.x branches have a kernel module called b44. Support for b44 was added to kernel 2.4 series in 2.4.22 as seen via the changelog here on line 240. The 2.6 series kernels also support b44 as seen in the 2.6.9 Changelog at line 27077. According to the changelogs, the 2.4 is getting backported fixes for the b44 driver via the work being done on the 2.6 kernel, so the Knoppix 2.6.x kernel should be more reliable.

    In order to get support for your NIC you need to use the 2.4.22 or higher OR 2.6.0 or higher. In order to get the latest support for usb2/firewire/sata etc you should probably be aiming to use the 2.6.x kernel branch but that is not an option in Debian 3.0r5. The Debian group is working on a new release of Debian 3.1 called Sarge and it is expected in about a month. It will include the 2.6.8 kernel and it too has the b44 driver. If you do not wish to wait a month, then you can choose to manually compile & install a new kernel. You can find directions in the links that tdjokic provided.

    I hope this helps.
    James

  5. #5
    Junior Member registered user
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Posts
    14
    Thanks for the great insight! Everything is in much better focus now.

    One last question/comment. Why does a major distribution such as Debian lag so far behind a distro such as Knoppix?

    Thanks again, jimbo

  6. #6
    Senior Member registered user
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    Long Island, NY USA
    Posts
    1,510
    The Debian developers split the distro into categories based on stability: stable, testing, unstable and sometimes even experiemental. Debian stable is what it is: old working stable programs. Debian testing is the testing & proving grounds for the next stable release. Debian unstable is where new and untested packages get inserted into the distro. Experimental in mostly unoffical and usually not supported. So thats what the categories are.

    Why is Debian stable so out of date? Debian developers must coordinate a MEGA release for about tested 9000 packages across a wide variety of platforms: i386 (386,486,pentium,p2,p3,p4,celeron,xeon), ia64 (itanium), alpha (dec alpha), sparc (sun microsystems), arm (StrongARM), amiga, s390 (IBM Mainframe), x86_64 (amd & intel 64bit), hppa (HP PA RISC), m68k (Motorola 68000). This is a huge undertaking and they about a year late. Hopefully in a month Debian testing will become Debian stable and we (the community at large) will get a good known working Debian system.

    So how does Knoppix stay up to date? Knoppix pulls its packages from multiple categories (stable, testing, unstable) to make a working up to date system.

  7. #7
    Junior Member registered user
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Posts
    14
    I just noticed that the Net Install iso I downloaded and burned is "Sarge" and has an option to install a 2.6 kernel. But when I started to do an install of the 2.6 kernel, there was a message that listed modules that were not included but were needed by my hardware. Yep, the Broadcom 440 NIC was in the list and the module that is not there is "b44". So, even Sarge doesn't have support for the 440 yet.

    I don't feel competent to compile a new kernel yet, so I guess I will just have to wait for the final release of Sarge.

    jimbo

  8. #8
    Junior Member registered user
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Posts
    14
    OK, just an update. I went ahead with the Sarge rc3 net-install. There is an option to install kernel 2.6.8 which I took. Then a warning screen about maybe missing modules. But then later, there is a message about installing "b44" which is needed by my Broadcom 440 NIC. Anyway, the install program is now downloading packages required for X Window and KDE. It looks like about five hours of download and install time is required.

    I will let you know the results.

    Thanks, jimbo

  9. #9
    Junior Member registered user
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Posts
    14
    OK, here is the rest of the story. Sarge rc3 from March 23, 2005 supports the Broadcom 440 NIC. After I installed rc3 base system and Mozilla Firefox, I had immediate Internet access!

    Thanks for all of the comments and help.

    jimbo

Similar Threads

  1. a) NTFS, b) Broadcom Wi-Fi
    By nulldev in forum German Forum
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 03-03-2010, 06:42 PM
  2. Got wi-fi with 5.3.1 with broadcom and WEP
    By stevesr0 in forum Networking
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 09-05-2008, 04:52 AM
  3. Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN Driver
    By FletchLives in forum Hardware & Booting
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 04-18-2007, 07:07 PM
  4. Yet another broadcom nic hassle
    By fatso in forum Hardware & Booting
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 09-02-2006, 04:26 PM
  5. broadcom wireless problems
    By greywolf19 in forum Laptops
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 06-14-2006, 06:56 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  


NEW San Disk Cruzer Freedom USB Flash Drive  256MB (Windows 2000/XP only) picture

NEW San Disk Cruzer Freedom USB Flash Drive 256MB (Windows 2000/XP only)

$30.00



SanDisk 32GB Ultra Shift USB 3.2 Gen 1 Flash Drive, Evening Primrose - SDCZ41... picture

SanDisk 32GB Ultra Shift USB 3.2 Gen 1 Flash Drive, Evening Primrose - SDCZ41...

$9.99



SanDisk 32GB Ultra Shift USB 3.2 Gen 1 Flash Drive, Cattelya Orchid - SDCZ410... picture

SanDisk 32GB Ultra Shift USB 3.2 Gen 1 Flash Drive, Cattelya Orchid - SDCZ410...

$9.99



SanDisk 128GB Ultra Shift USB 3.2 Gen 1 Flash Drive, Bachelor Button - SDCZ41... picture

SanDisk 128GB Ultra Shift USB 3.2 Gen 1 Flash Drive, Bachelor Button - SDCZ41...

$22.49



Sandisk 16GB 32GB 64GB 128GB Cruzer Blade Flash Drive Memory Stick USB Lot Pack picture

Sandisk 16GB 32GB 64GB 128GB Cruzer Blade Flash Drive Memory Stick USB Lot Pack

$4.99



64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive USB Memory Stick High Speed Retractable USB Thumb Drive picture

64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive USB Memory Stick High Speed Retractable USB Thumb Drive

$5.99



Type C USB 3.0 Flash Drive Thumb Drive Memory Stick for PC Laptop 512GB 1TB 2TB picture

Type C USB 3.0 Flash Drive Thumb Drive Memory Stick for PC Laptop 512GB 1TB 2TB

$10.30



2TB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Thumb U Disk Memory Stick Pen PC Laptop Storage New picture

2TB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Thumb U Disk Memory Stick Pen PC Laptop Storage New

$10.79



LOT 32GB 64GB 128GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Memory Stick Retractable Thumb Drive picture

LOT 32GB 64GB 128GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Memory Stick Retractable Thumb Drive

$420.99



USB Flash Drive Memory Stick Pendrive Thumb Drive 4GB, 8GB, 32GB, 64GB 128GB LOT picture

USB Flash Drive Memory Stick Pendrive Thumb Drive 4GB, 8GB, 32GB, 64GB 128GB LOT

$259.34