(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

1-feb-2016
This post is now rather out of date.....

see this post for an up-to-date howto

Broadcom wrote:This is Broadcom's IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n hybrid Linux® device driver for use with Broadcom's BCM4311-, BCM4312-, BCM4313-, BCM4321-, BCM4322-, BCM43224-, and BCM43225-, BCM43227- and BCM43228-based hardware.

A Peebee-Rerwin co-production

Quite a few recent Puppies now have the wl driver built-in to the iso and no longer need this add-on pet - check the list below....

The Multi-Kernel pet attached below directly supports (the delta files are built-in) the following, mainly now superceded, 32-bit Puppies:

• Wary 5.3 k2.6.32.59 (& Wary 5.5)
  Slacko 5.3.3 for both k3.1.10-slacko_4gA and k3.1.10-slacko_paeA
  Precise 5.4.2 Retro k3.2.32 (nopae)

It also supports the following Puppies in kernel order (and earlier versions if they have the same kernel) with the addition of the delta files attached to posts in the thread:

• Click on the link to go to the appropriate post....
  Dpup Exprimo 5.x.15 k2.6.39
  Racy 5.3 k3.0.25
  Racy 5.5RC k3.0.66
  Saluki 023 k3.2.8-ski and Carolina k3.2.13-ski and Lina-Lite k3.2.13-c
  Precise 5.2.60 derivatives using k3.2.18 (e.g. MacPup)
  Precise 5.5Beta k3.8.0

To use you need to:

• 1. load rerwin_woof_fixes-delta-3f.pet (required for Wary5.3 and Slacko5.3.3 and as described in the post for your pup version)
  2. load any delta pet required (see the post for your pup version)
  3. load the multi-kernel pet (Attachment below)
  4. reboot
  5. connect using the wlan device created
  n.b. if you like a tidy PPM you can uninstall the delta pet afterwards

n.b. Lucid Puppy 5.2.8-005 k2.6.33.2 is a special case - see post #5

The following puppies have everything needed to support both the wl and b43 drivers built-in:

• Precise 5.5 & later versions
  Slacko 5.5 & later versions
  Upup Precise & Upup Raring from pemasu
  Dpup Exprimo from pemasu
  SolidPup 5.1.1-B Lite with kernel 2.6.32.28 from Tman

Background:
All puppies come with the B43 driver and firmwares for broadcom wifi. (there are some later firmwares available for the b43 driver which may be helpful for some people: Version 5.100.138 and Version 5.100.143.3)

There is an alternate driver produced by Broadcom themselves which works better than b43 for some variants - this article provides useful background (found by cowboy).

The driver is a reworking of the Broadcom STA pet that piratesmack offered here for lupu k2.6.33.2 based on version 5.60.48.36 of the Broadcom wl driver: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 596#421596

but using the latest Broadcom source (version 5.100.82.112)

The patches applied to the Broadcom source are attached to this post further down the thread:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 5&start=16

These pets require preference processing logic developed by rerwin which generalises the logic originally implemented by piratesmack and removes the need for any blacklisting or startup files.

The Multi-Kernel pet is able to support multiple kernels because it constructs the kernel specific driver at install time using xdelta3 to apply a delta file to a base driver - therefore availability of xdelta3 is a pre-requisite for installation (only seems to be a problem for Saluki - install from here).

Pemasu was kind enough to comment in the Saluki thread:

Peebee's driver pet provides wl kernel driver module for those broadcom wireless chips which does not work with b43.ko, brcmsmac.ko or brcmfmac.ko driver.

The list of the chip id's can be found from this link:
http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drive ... ed_devices

The chip id can be found with this command in console: "lspci -nn"

Download link for the multi-kernel pet if you get FORUM ERROR

PLEASE LET ME KNOW BY PM WHY YOU NEEDED TO DOWNLOAD THIS EARLIER VERSION - AND IF IT HELPED....THANKS

There are some reports out on the net of the newest driver crashing with "error 21" - a line like:

puppypc user.warn kernel: wlan%d: 5.100.82.112 driver failed with code 21

will be in the dmesg output.
If this happens to you and you've installed a pet, then you will have to uninstall it. If you are using a puppy with the wl driver built into the iso then you should blacklist the wl driver whereupon your puppy should revert to using the b43 driver. Or you can try playdayz's lupu5.2.8PLUS which contains the older 5.60.48.36 version of the wl driver.
or you can try the pet attached to this post.

This pet has been compiled from the Ubuntu Natty sources in broadcom-sta-source_5.60.48.36-3_all.deb [no longer available from Ubuntu]

This driver seems to be somewhat slower in establishing a wifi connection than the more recent driver - so please be patient.

The All-In-One multi-kernel pet for driver v5.60.48.36 (creates device wlan%) is attached below.

It supports:
Lucid Puppy 5.2.8-005 k2.6.33
Wary 5.3 k2.6.32.59
Racy 5.3 k3.0.25
Slacko 5.3.3 k3.1.10 for both 4g and pae kernels

and Saluki_023 k3.2.8-ski but install xdelta3 first

Download link for All-In-One multi-kernel pet for driver v5.60.48.36 if you get FORUM ERROR

Hmmmm.. could be bug here with permissions on /tmp.. mine are 1777, not 777.

01micko wrote:Hmmmm.. could be bug here with permissions on /tmp.. mine are 1777, not 777.

Now resolved by the installation logic in the new All-In-One pets

yeah, permissions on tmp bugs are difficult to debug and may not rear their head at all if running as root. If someone creates a user (and it is possible) then trouble occurs.

THIS IS A SPECIAL CASE.....

The wl driver pet for:

Lucid Puppy 5.2.8 - Updated ISO Version 005 - APR 05 2012 with Kernel 2.6.33.2

is attached

To install the Broadcom WL driver onto lupu528-005

1. install the multi-kernel pet - attached

2. reboot

Use this link if you get FORUM ERROR

The delta file for:

Dpup Exprimo 5.X.15 with Kernel 2.6.39

is attached

To install the Broadcom WL driver onto Dpup Exprimo

1. install rerwin_woof_fixes-delta-3f.pet in post #1

2. install the delta file attached to this post

3. install the multi-kernel pet in post #1

4. reboot

The delta file for:

Racy 5.3 with Kernel 3.0.25

is attached

To install the Broadcom WL driver onto Racy 5.3

1. install rerwin_woof_fixes-delta-3f.pet in post #1 (n.b. not required for Racy 5.3.90)

2. install the delta file attached to this post

3. install the multi-kernel pet in post #1

4. reboot

The delta files for:

Saluki 023 with Kernel 3.2.8-ski

and Lina-Lite with Kernel 3.2.13-c

and Carolina with Kernel 3.2.13-ski pae

are attached

To install the Broadcom WL driver onto Saluki 023 or Lina-Lite

• 0. install xdelta3
  
  1. install rerwin_woof_fixes-delta-3f.pet in post #1
  
  2. install the delta file attached to this post (3.2.8-ski for saluki, 3.2.13-c for lina-lite)
  
  3. install the multi-kernel pet in post #1
  
  4. reboot

To install the Broadcom WL driver onto Carolina 003:

• 1. install rerwin_woof_fixes-delta-3f.pet in post #1
  
  2. install the delta file attached to this post
  
  3. install the multi-kernel pet in post #1
  
  4. reboot

Hi Peebee,

Thanks for this post!
Today I upgraded from Slacko 5.3.1 to 5.3.3 on a Compaq Evo N600c with a Linksys WPC54g pcmcia adapter. In 5.3.1 it had always worked fine and i expected the same in 5.3.3 but it was not at first place.
At the first boot it was recognized, but after saving the 2fs file and a reboot, it did not work anymore and could not get recognized the adapter.

After reading this post and installed the B43 Version 5.100.143.3 pet, it worked, but i had to manually activate the connection every time.
Then tried frisbee and that worked. It does connects slower than previously in 5.3.1, but it does connect! Thanks again.

The delta files for:

Precise 5.2.60 k3.2.18 is attached (e.g. for MacPup 5.2.9 and also Precise-Mate)

To install the Broadcom WL driver onto Precise 5.2.60

1. install rerwin_woof_fixes-delta-3f.pet in post #1

2. install the delta file attached to this post (attachment #3 - make sure you select the right one)

3. install the multi-kernel pet in post #1

4. reboot

The delta files for:

Ov-Precise-5.2.61 non-pae with Kernel 3.2.27_5.2.60

and Ov-Precise 5.3.0 with Kernel 3.2.27-upup

are attached

To install the Broadcom WL driver onto OvPrecise

1. install rerwin_woof_fixes-delta-3f.pet in post #1

2. install the delta file attached to this post (make sure you select the right one)

3. install the multi-kernel pet in post #1

4. reboot

Pemasu's Upup Precise 5.3.3.3 with Kernel 3.3.2-upup already includes the wl driver.

To update the Broadcom WL driver logic on Upup Precise:

1. install rerwin_woof_fixes-delta-3f.pet in post #1

2. reboot

A new pet that replaces all of the kernel specific pets for the 5.100 version of the driver with a single multi-kernel support version has been attached to post #1.

The way this has been implemented has been to include a base version of the driver and individual delta files that transform the base into the kernel specific version at install time. It is therefore dependent on xdelta3 being available (for saluki only you will need to install xdelta3 from the link given before installing the multi-pet). The un-needed delta files and the base driver are deleted after the kernel specific driver has been generated. The folder /opt/broadcom-sta is where all this happens.

It will be much easier to keep this single multi-kernel pet updated.

Cheers
peebee

The delta file for:

Mage2 1.9.95 with Kernel 3.3.8-mage2-p64gsw-i586

is attached

To install the Broadcom WL driver onto Mage2

1. install rerwin_woof_fixes-delta-3f.pet in post #1

2. install the delta file attached to this post

3. install the multi-kernel pet in post #1

4. reboot

BarryK has released the beta versions of Wary and Racy 5.4

These versions have rerwin's new pup_event_backend_modprobe with extended preference processing built-in from woof.

To load the Broadcom wl driver onto Wary 5.3.92:

• 1. load the multi-kernel pet from post #1

To load the Broadcom wl driver onto Racy 5.3.90:

• 1. load the delta pet for k3.0.25 from post #7
  
  2. load the multi-kernel pet from post #1

As a record.....

Open the attached file as text to see all the changes made to the original Broadcom sources.

Cheers
peebee

Delta files are no longer required for Precise 5.4 - they are now built in to the multi-kernel pet

Reserved for future use

Reserved for future use