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Shade · 12-29-2003, 09:43 AM

Added specs (which aren't entered in this listing)
lspci output:
14:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation: Unknown device 4320 (rev 03)
Chipset: Broadcom 4320

Card works very very well.
However, it is not picked up by hotplug or cardmgr.
On my laptop, A Toshiba Satellite 2675, the card gets power after cardmgr sees there is a card inserted, but no driver is loaded.

I used the ndiswrapper project at http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net
in order to use the windows XP drivers.
The ndiswrapper project creates a module which "wraps" around the Windows XP driver to load it into the kernel.

After setting that up, the card works absolutely flawlessly.

Notes -- You'll need your kernel sources to compile the module, and minimal skill to set up automation. I hacked an entry into /etc/rc.d/rc.modules which looks like this, to automatically bring up the card on boot.

Code:

/sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper
/usr/local/bin/loaddriver 14e4 4320 /usr/local/share/ndiswrapper/*.sys /usr/local/share/ndiswrapper/*.inf

/usr/sbin/iwconfig eth0 essid any
/sbin/ifconfig eth0 up
/sbin/dhcpcd eth0 &

Happy wireless-`G`ing :)

-Shade

kersten78 · 09-19-2004, 05:43 AM

Like Shade said, use ndiswrapper. I used ndiswrapper .09 and .10 with both distros, and they both worked flawlessly. A few things I'd recommend:
1) Read the INSTALL file that comes with ndiswrapper. It's simple, thorough, and it works. Especially note the part about kernel source.
2) Use the XP drivers that come on the supplied CD. They are specific to your particular chipset.
3) When setting your parms with iwconfig, set the essid last. Supposedly when you set the essid with iwconfig it rescans the card, so you should have your encryption/key correctly set before you set essid.
4) If you write a script to activate the card on boot, be careful. The modprobe ndiswrapper command takes a while to finish. If you try to set the iwconfig settings too quickly, they will not take. I had to add a "sleep 6" command after the modprobe in my script. This is basically it:

Code:

#!/bin/sh
#rc.wlan0
modprobe ndiswrapper
sleep 6
iwconfig wlan0 key open myhexkeyxx
iwconfig wlan0 essid myessid
ifconfig wlan0 up
dhcpcd -t 10 -d wlan0

I just call the script from /etc/rc.local and I'm up and running on boot. I'm using open WEP encryption with a 10 bit hex key, and all I have to set is the essid and key. You shouldn't have to worry about the channel, mode, etc. Also, I'm not sure if the ifconfig wlan0 up command is necessary--it seems to work without it, but it doesn't hurt anything, so it's still in my script. Basically, give the modprobe a few seconds to finish and then configure the settings for your router.
If you can follow the directions, you shouldn't have any trouble. Good luck, and feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
-Kris

sphynx · 01-12-2005, 09:38 PM

I had to use Linuxants driverloader. This may be due to the fact that it took me 6 tries to find the right driver, or that i was unknowing trying to set it up under two different kernels. It works well, in fact i'm on it right now. I just wish that the preloaded ndiswrapper worked better. it didn't work with any of the 6 drivers i threw at it. driverloader did.

jschiwal · 02-06-2006, 06:27 AM

If using YaST to configure the device, don't check the pcmcia box when adding the device. If you do, you can't enter ndiswrapper as the module. I would also recommend keeping the ndiswrapper source on your computer. The Makefile has 2 convenient targets, make rpm and make deb. One of the packages produced will be the ndiswrapper.ko kernel module. You will need to make a new kernel module if you update the kernel such as during an online security update.

cwwilson721 · 06-22-2006, 10:37 PM

With ndiswrapper, I got 54m speed on it, but no power level, or signal info.

So next, I tried the bcm43xx driver. After a horror show of trying this and that, I finally got it to work. Kinda.
Only 'b' speeds (11m), and still no power, and getting WPA to work was a nightmare.

All in all, skip this card, and get just about anything else.
I bought a Belkin 5D7010, and it does everything.

Aranel · 08-19-2006, 11:21 AM

I'm running a Linksys WPC54G v1.2 on an Acer TravelMate 230 laptop.

I used to run Mandriva One, which used NdisWrapper to set the device up without a problem (with the bcmwl5.sys and lsbcmnds.inf files, of course). This was all done in a user-friendly, graphical manner, and I never had a problem. Mandriva's built-in wireless applet reported that the signal was always sub-optimal - even when my laptop was right next to the router - but KWifiManager's findings were accurate.

Later on, I switched distributions to Debian. I had much less luck with NdisWrapper that time around, however (possibly because I'm new to Linux; I've heard success stories from others). Then I heard about the BCM43xx driver and how it's implemented directly into 2.6.17+ kernels, so I upgraded my kernel to use it. After setting it up and playing around with it for about twenty minutes, I finally got it to connect, and it's worked as advertised ever since. Signal info et al. works beautifully, as well.

A couple things should be noted, though. For one thing, the speed is limited to 11M (not a problem for me, but it might be for some). For another, if I use DHCP to automatically connect, I have to bring the device down and up again, then run dhclient eth1, before it connects (although it works without trouble if I specify the IP address, subnet mask, gateway, etc.). I've also heard that newer versions of this card use a different chipset (Atheros?), so a different driver would have to be used unless NdisWrapper functions properly. Finally, WEP encryption seems to work okay, but I have not tried WPA.