[mdlug-newbie] Update: Detect wireless card - OpenSUSE 11.1

[Ingles, Raymond]

> From: CLMalmsten

> After reading some more online, I see that using the b43 driver might
be a
> better choice than the ndiswrapper. I'm working from this page:
> http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43, as well as some online
> forums.

 I got a Dell laptop working with the b43 driver under Ubuntu last
month. I don't have the laptop handy anymore, I'm afraid, but I would
investigate that before going the ndiswrapper route.

 Does the laptop have a wired network connection? You can use that
temporarily to download the firmware, then switch to the wireless once
it's working.

> I think my next steps will involve some/all of these steps (taken from
the
> website listed above).
> 
> export FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR="/lib/firmware"
> wget http://mirror2.openwrt.org/sources/broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2
> tar xjf broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2
> cd broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5/driver
> sudo ../../b43-fwcutter-011/b43-fwcutter -w "$FIRMWARE_INSTALL_DIR"
> wl_apsta_mimo.o
> 
> ...But before I go further I'll await the advice of the experts.

 Yeah, that sounds right. Just to give you some context, I'll explain
*why* this rigamarole is necessary. Wifi uses radio, obviously, and the
FCC has limits to how much power the wifi chips are allowed to
broadcast. So far so good... except the wifi chips don't use *hardware*
to limit the power, they use *software* (it's cheaper).

 The concern is that people could hack their wifi drivers to put out
illegally-strong signals. So, the wifi chipset makers usually don't give
out the specs needed to fully program the hardware. Instead, they have a
'firmware' that must be loaded, and then the driver talks to that
firmware to actually do networking.

 It's annoying, but we're kind of stuck with it for now. So, what you're
doing is getting that firmware (which, for *other* annoying legal
reasons, can't usually be distributed with Linux directly), and then the
b43 driver will load it onto the wifi chipset when needed.

 The good news is, once it's set up, it should work pretty well.

 Sincerely,

 Ray Ingles                                                     (313)
227-2317

  "People place their hand on the Bible and swear to uphold the
Constitution,
 They don't put their hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the
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                              - Jamie Raskin
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