Hi, I'm trying to use bcm43xx-fwcutter to get my wireless card to work, however I'm having trouble. I don't have a wired connection, so moved the files for it onto my laptop using a pendrive, but i don't know how to actually install it.

Any help would be appreciated

Welcome to LQ!

Getting this running isn't too bad you usally have to unpack the tarball with the tar command and then compile the program. If you can get the tarball unpacked there are good instructions in the README or INSTALL files.

Thanks for the response!

I have already unpacked the files into my home directry, and then on any guide I can find I am told to use "sudo bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware w1_apsta-3.130.20.0.o" to put the files needed where they need to be, at which point it tells me "sudo: bcm43xx-fwcutter: command not found"

You're either missing a step (compiling the program) or you just have a syntax problem.

Do you know if you downloaded a binary package or was it the source code?

If you downloaded the binary, then get into the directory where you unpacked everything, make sure that w1_apsta-3.130.20.0.o is in there and run:


sudo ./bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware w1_apsta-3.130.20.0.o

See that ./ in front of hte command? That tells Linux to look in the directory you're currently in for bcm43xx-fwcutter. Normally, Linux just looks in whatever directory is on your PATH.

If you downloaded the source code, just get into the unpacked directory and run make (and you don't have to bee root to do it). That will create the binary and you can run it as I described above.

Personally, I'd tell the firmware cutter to commit suicide. I could never get the thing to work. Learn about the Linux filesystem, modules, and the kernel a little bit. Afterwards, attempt to use ndiswrapper.

#2

You have to tell us what kind of card it is. I'm pretty sure it's a broadcom, though. You need to be more specific.

That's funny, I've never had any problem at all with fwcutter. To be honest, it is one of the easiest programs out there to compile and run.

Ndiswrapper is OK, but in general it is usually a better idea to use a real Linux driver.

Its working! In the end I just found a download of the binary package and it worked fine straight away. Now I just have to sit within a few metres of the router for it to work grr.

Thanks for all of your help!

That may be one of the bits of unfinished business with the bcm43xx driver, particularly if you've got a 4318 chipset in your card. This may be one of those instances where ndiswrapper is a better choice. The two can co-exist on your machine, but you just have to make sure you're only using one at a time.

I agree, but using fwcutter (or ndiswrapper for that matter) means you're not using a fully native Linux driver; parts of the thing are "loaned" from the Windows driver files, so overall I consider that "driver" not to be a "real" Linux driver. Either way is worse than using a fully working native Linux driver if you ask me, but since Broadcom 43xx cards don't have such a thing, it's necessary to use Windows driver instead. FWcutter and NDISwrapper are simply two different ways of doing it. I myself installed NDISwrapper, mainly because I had not heard about FWcutter yet, and since I've had no trouble after that, I didn't take the time to try FWcutter out.

I'm still a bit mad at Broadcom for not releasing any drivers for Linux, nor giving helping hand to those who could write them.

Yeah, the execs at Broadcom need to rent a clue. However, this problem is far from unique to Broadcom. I think that most wireless cards out there require at least some firmware, and in the cases I'm aware of, that firmware is proprietary. Even the well supported chipsets like Intel and Atheros have proprietary firmware and I guess I don't expect that to change any time soon.