Which Broadcom STA driver do I install from the ones listed in Synaptic?

[klaus2008]

Greetings, utu!

In post #12 you wrote that you found out where to find patches for the source files of the wl kernel module. I think that you should try these patches. In principle the only new steps are the download of the patch files and the creation of a new source tar ball. I can't say whether these instructions are sufficient because I do not own a Broadcom WLAN card myself.

I would suggest that you open an LXTerminal and issue the following commands while being connected to the internet.

1. Install the source files.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install broadcom-sta-source

2. Download the patches: bc_wl_abiupdate.patch and switch_to.patch

sudo wget -O /usr/src/bc_wl_abiupdate.patch http://www.mindwerks.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/bc_wl_abiupdate.patch
sudo wget -O /usr/src/switch_to.patch http://www.mindwerks.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/switch_to.patch

If wget does not find the patch files you have to open the webpage you found in a web browser and correct the URLs.
3. Extract the sources:

cd /usr/src
sudo tar xjf broadcom-sta.tar.bz2

4. Patch the source, save the old source archive and create a new tar archive.

sudo patch -p0 modules/broadcom-sta/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c < /usr/src/switch_to.patch
sudo patch -p0 modules/broadcom-sta/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c < /usr/src/bc_wl_abiupdate.patch
sudo mv broadcom-sta.tar.bz2 broadcom-sta.tar.bz2.old
sudo tar cjf broadcom-sta.tar.bz2 modules/broadcom-sta
sudo rm -rf modules/broadcom-sta

5. Build the module with the module assistant.

sudo m-a build broadcom-sta

6. Install the new package and the missing broadcom-sta-common.

sudo dpkg -i broadcom-sta-modules-3.4.9_5.100.82.112-7+3.4.9-10.00.Custom_all.deb
sudo apt-get install broadcom-sta-common

7. Edit the configuration file.

sudo leafpad /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-knoppix.conf

I think that file should look like the following.

# modprobe blacklist for KNOPPIX
# some blacklisted modules are in the configuration file /etc/modprobe.d/broadcom-sta-common.conf

# graphics/KMS drivers should not get autoloaded by udev
blacklist nvidia
blacklist nouveau
blacklist nvidiafb
blacklist intelfb
blacklist mbp_nvidia_bl.ko
blacklist rivafb
blacklist i915
blacklist radeon

After you have made the changes you should save the file and close the text editor.

8. Reboot your system and try to load the kernel modules cfg80211 and wl.

sudo modprobe cfg80211
sudo modprobe wl

If everything works fine you can add these kernel modules to the configuration file /etc/modules.

I hope that helps. Comments and corrections are always welcome.

[utu]

Thanks, Klaus2008.

Tried your instructions in post #31. Things failed at Step #5
Hoping to include the last screen as an attachment.

[klaus2008]

I think step #5 has finished and you were trying to install the new package using

sudo m-a install broadcom-sta-source

Did you also try the instructions I gave at step #6?

I think that you could also try

sudo apt-get install broadcom-sta-common
sudo m-a install broadcom-sta-source