Native Airport Extreme Drivers

[JoseJX]

This thread has been split, please continue here:
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-547687.html

Updated 2007-03-10!
There is nothing ppc specific in these directions.

As of 2.6.17_rc1, bcm43xx is included with the kernel. I recommend using the latest kernel with Larry's patches applied as needed.

To find which card you have:

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lspci -n | grep 14e4:43

This should return something like this:

0001:10:11.0 0280: 14e4:4318 (rev 02)

Where 4318 is the card version. Note that many 4306 cards return 4320 instead of 4306.

To use bcm43xx:
1. Emerge a 2.6.17 or newer kernel
2. When configuring the kernel, enable:

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Networking -->
     <M>   Generic IEEE 802.11 Networking Stack
     [*]     Enable full debugging output
     <M>     IEEE 802.11 WEP encryption (802.1x)
     <M>     IEEE 802.11i CCMP support
     <M>     IEEE 802.11i TKIP encryption
     <M>     Software MAC add-on to the IEEE 802.11 networking stack
     [*]       Enable full debugging output

Device Drivers --> Network device support --> Wireless LAN drivers (non-hamradio) & Wireless Extensions
     <M>   Broadcom BCM43xx wireless support
     [*]     Broadcom BCM43xx debugging (RECOMMENDED)

3. Build the kernel as usual
4. Emerge bcm43xx-fwcutter
5. Get firmware from http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/bcm43xx
6. Cut and install the firmware

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# mkdir /lib/firmware
# bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware name_of_fw_file

7. Make sure that you have hotplug or >=udev-096 installed for firmware loading support, wireless-tools for the iwconfig tool and wpa_supplicant if you require WPA support.
8. To use the driver, we'll insert the module first

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# modprobe bcm43xx

If this doesn't work, please check dmesg to see what the problem is.

I recommend using wpa_supplicant with Gentoo's net scripts with current kernels (even for non-WPA connections). It's very easy to set up and works well now with bcm43xx.

Board specific notes:
Support for newer cards (4311/4312/4318/4319 chipsets) is progressing slowly. To support these cards properly, work has started on a new set of specs using a newer driver. Please be patient while we figure out what they changed (it's non-trivial). Despite this, it should work at lower rates (11M) for now.

432x and 433x cards (N PHY cards) are not supported at this time and have not even been spec'd yet. It's unlikely that they will be supported in the near future, but they are being worked on.

Big thanks to everyone who has worked on the driver and gotten us this far!

[scoobydu]

Just a big thanks to all involved for their efforts Never thought I see this happen, a native driver.

scooby

[CatOsMandros]

i love you guys

[revolthor]

huzzah! thank you from the bottom of my heart. i am anxious to get this to work, but i am stuck trying to make the softmac source. here's what happens when i run make:

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# cd source
# make
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.15-rc3/build M=/home/arthur/source modules
make[1]: Entering directory '/usr/src/linux-2.6.15-rc3'
  CC [M] /home/arthur/source/ieee80211softmac_assoc.o
/home/arthur/source/ieee80211softmac_assoc.c: In function 'ieee80211softmac_reasoc':
/home/arthur/source/ieee80211softmac_assoc.c:65: error: too few arguments to function
/home/arthur/source/ieee80211softmac_assoc.c:68: error: 'net' undeclared (first use in this function)
/home/arthur/source/ieee80211softmac_assoc.c:68: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once
/home/arthur/source/ieee80211softmac_assoc.c:68: error: for each function it appears in.)
/home/arthur/source/ieee80211softmac_assoc.c: At top level:
/home/arthur/source/ieee80211softmac_assoc.c:61: warning: 'ieee80211softmac_reassoc' defined but not used
/home/arthur/source/ieee80211softmac_assoc.c:87: warning: 'ieee80211softmac_deasoc' defined but not used
make[2]: *** [/home/arthur/source/ieee80211softmac_assoc.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [_module_/home/arthur/source] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory '/usr/src/linux-2.6.15-rc3'
make: *** [modules] Error 2

im pretty sure i have all the kernel stuff set up right but have no clue what's going wrong here.

[cocozz]

Same problem there

[fuoco]

softmac build is a bit broken but you can use an older changeset. maybe try this link:

http://softmac.sipsolutions.net/source/ ... 31;type=gz

[cocozz]

Well...

root@floquet:/home/cocozz/Programas/softmac/source# tar -xvvzf ../softmac-source-repository-2167883c86e8.tar.gz
gzip: stdin: not in gzip format
tar: Child returned status 1
tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors

[darklesi]

Hi there

Well maybe you will want to try tar -xf softmac-source-repository-2167883c86e8.tar.gz cause this is not a .gz file

However, i can compile it but i can't insert it :S

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insmod: error inserting 'ieee802111softmac.ko': -1 Unknown symbol in module

Thanks in advance

[bz31]

Hi there

Well maybe you will want to try tar -xf softmac-source-repository-2167883c86e8.tar.gz cause this is not a .gz file

However, i can compile it but i can't insert it :S

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insmod: error inserting 'ieee802111softmac.ko': -1 Unknown symbol in module

Thanks in advance

ieee80211softmac.ko, not 2111
Or maybe load first the module ieee80211.

[darklesi]

Thanks man, i think i was sleeping when i was doing this ... forgot to modprobe de module first!

Cheers

[nbarrientos]

All working OK.

Thank you.

[cocozz]

root@floquet:/home/cocozz/Programas/bcm43/trunk/fwcutter# ./fwcutter AppleAirPort2
Driver version unknown or wrong input file.


Too newer driver version ? Im on an ibook g4

[bz31]

root@floquet:/home/cocozz/Programas/bcm43/trunk/fwcutter# ./fwcutter AppleAirPort2
Driver version unknown or wrong input file.


Too newer driver version ? Im on an ibook g4

I had the same problem.
I download this driver : http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/ ... x1033.html and extract the AppleAirPort2 file.

[nbarrientos]

$ sha1sum AppleAirPort2
0d9893651e0a245564504ee497c0253471d71434 AppleAirPort2

works nice, panther version IIRC.

Regards,

[cocozz]

Well one more problem ( maybe the last ? ).

I cant insert the module

root@floquet:/home/cocozz/Programas/bcm43/trunk/driver# insmod bcm43xx.ko
insmod: error inserting 'bcm43xx.ko': -1 Unknown symbol in module

What can I be missing ?

[nbarrientos]

Well one more problem ( maybe the last ? ).

I cant insert the module

root@floquet:/home/cocozz/Programas/bcm43/trunk/driver# insmod bcm43xx.ko
insmod: error inserting 'bcm43xx.ko': -1 Unknown symbol in module

modprobe firmware_class

[cocozz]

Says not found

[nbarrientos]

Says not found

CONFIG_FW_LOADER=m in your 2.6.15-rcX config file.

Regards,

[cocozz]

Yes ,

root@floquet:/usr/src/linux-2.6.15-rc5# cat config | grep FW_LOADER
CONFIG_FW_LOADER=m

[nbarrientos]

Yes ,

root@floquet:/usr/src/linux-2.6.15-rc5# cat config | grep FW_LOADER
CONFIG_FW_LOADER=m

bcm43xx 413332 0
arc4 1664 0
firmware_class 9504 1 bcm43xx
ieee80211_crypt_wep 5024 0
ieee80211_crypt_tkip 11520 0
ieee80211_crypt_ccmp 7360 0
ieee80211softmac 32000 1 bcm43xx
ieee80211 44468 2 bcm43xx,ieee80211softmac
ieee80211_crypt 5408 4 ieee80211_crypt_wep,ieee80211_crypt_tkip,ieee80211_crypt_ccmp,ieee80211

bed time, good luck.

[bz31]

Well one more problem ( maybe the last ? ).

I cant insert the module

root@floquet:/home/cocozz/Programas/bcm43/trunk/driver# insmod bcm43xx.ko
insmod: error inserting 'bcm43xx.ko': -1 Unknown symbol in module

What can I be missing ?

I had also the same problem on my debian.
I "cp bcm43xx.ko" to the directory of kernel modules, then did a "depmod", then "modprobe bcm43xx.ko".

[JoseJX]

Sorry about the softmac breakage, it's fixed in my repo.
Merged... please use the official repo again

[simprix]

I am using vanilla-sources 2.6.15-rc4


i can not assign a ip address or set it to scan.
I have this in dmesg

bcm43xx: Unknown symbol ieee80211_wx_set_encode
bcm43xx: Unknown symbol ieee80211_wx_get_encode
bcm43xx: Unknown symbol ieee80211softmac_wx_set_rate
bcm43xx: Unknown symbol ieee80211_txb_free
bcm43xx: Unknown symbol alloc_ieee80211softmac
bcm43xx: Unknown symbol ieee80211softmac_wx_trigger_scan
bcm43xx: Unknown symbol ieee80211softmac_wx_get_scan_results
bcm43xx: Unknown symbol ieee80211_set_geo
bcm43xx: Unknown symbol ieee80211softmac_start
bcm43xx: Unknown symbol ieee80211softmac_wx_set_essid
bcm43xx: Unknown symbol ieee80211_rx
bcm43xx: Unknown symbol ieee80211softmac_wx_get_rate
bcm43xx: Unknown symbol ieee80211_rx_mgt
bcm43xx: Unknown symbol ieee80211_get_geo
bcm43xx: Unknown symbol ieee80211softmac_wx_get_essid
bcm43xx: Unknown symbol ieee80211softmac_stop
bcm43xx: Unknown symbol free_ieee80211softmac
ieee80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'NULL'
ieee80211: 802.11 data/management/control stack, git-1.1.7
ieee80211: Copyright (C) 2004-2005 Intel Corporation <jketreno@linux.intel.com>
bcm43xx: no version for "ieee80211softmac_wx_set_rate" found: kernel tainted.
bcm43xx driver 0.0.1
PCI: Enabling device 0001:10:12.0 (0004 -> 0006)
bcm43xx: Chip ID 0x4306, rev 0x2
bcm43xx: Number of cores: 6
bcm43xx: Core 0: ID 0x800, rev 0x2, vendor 0x4243, enabled
bcm43xx: Core 1: ID 0x812, rev 0x4, vendor 0x4243, disabled
bcm43xx: Core 2: ID 0x80d, rev 0x1, vendor 0x4243, enabled
bcm43xx: Core 3: ID 0x807, rev 0x1, vendor 0x4243, disabled
bcm43xx: Core 4: ID 0x804, rev 0x7, vendor 0x4243, enabled
bcm43xx: Core 5: ID 0x812, rev 0x4, vendor 0x4243, disabled
bcm43xx: Ignoring additional 802.11 core.
bcm43xx: Detected PHY: Version: 1, Type 2, Revision 1
bcm43xx: Detected Radio: ID: 2205017f (Manuf: 17f Ver: 2050 Rev: 2)
bcm43xx: Radio turned off
bcm43xx: Radio turned off
SoftMAC: /home/simprix/softmac-source-repository-2167883c86e8/ieee80211softmac_a ssoc.c:107:ieee80211softmac_assoc_work()
SoftMAC: associate: network not known, trying to initiate scan: failed.
bcm43xx: Error: Microcode "bcm43xx_microcode4.fw" not available or load failed.
bcm43xx: Error: Microcode "bcm43xx_microcode4.fw" not available or load failed.
ieee80211: 802.11 data/management/control stack, git-1.1.7
ieee80211: Copyright (C) 2004-2005 Intel Corporation <jketreno@linux.intel.com>
ieee80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'WEP'
ieee80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'TKIP'
ieee80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'CCMP'
bcm43xx driver 0.0.1
bcm43xx: Chip ID 0x4306, rev 0x2
bcm43xx: Number of cores: 6
bcm43xx: Core 0: ID 0x800, rev 0x2, vendor 0x4243, enabled
bcm43xx: Core 1: ID 0x812, rev 0x4, vendor 0x4243, enabled
bcm43xx: Core 2: ID 0x80d, rev 0x1, vendor 0x4243, enabled
bcm43xx: Core 3: ID 0x807, rev 0x1, vendor 0x4243, disabled
bcm43xx: Core 4: ID 0x804, rev 0x7, vendor 0x4243, enabled
bcm43xx: Core 5: ID 0x812, rev 0x4, vendor 0x4243, disabled
bcm43xx: Ignoring additional 802.11 core.
bcm43xx: Detected PHY: Version: 1, Type 2, Revision 1
bcm43xx: Detected Radio: ID: 2205017f (Manuf: 17f Ver: 2050 Rev: 2)
bcm43xx: Radio turned off
bcm43xx: Radio turned off
SoftMAC: /home/simprix/softmac-source-repository-2167883c86e8/ieee80211softmac_a ssoc.c:107:ieee80211softmac_assoc_work()
SoftMAC: associate: network not known, trying to initiate scan: failed.
bcm43xx: Error: Microcode "bcm43xx_microcode4.fw" not available or load failed.


I am using a tiger driver

[JoseJX]

simprix: You either don't have hotplug firmware loading correctly or you skipped the step on extracting the firmware.

[Cenrim]

the AppleAirport2 from my panther DVD didn't worked, so I had to download some drivers from the README but it seems, not every driver got the needed firmware
once I got a dmesg line similar to simplex'

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bcm43xx: Error: Microcode "bcm43xx_microcode4.fw" not available or load failed. 
bcm43xx: Error: Microcode "bcm43xx_microcode4.fw" not available or load failed.

so I tried another one and another one... ::)
(bash's for is your friend )

after 5 rebuild kernels and modules I got a combination, that seems to work, but I can't set the channel
watching with iwevent I get a message about setting channel to "0", no matter what my arguments for iwconfig are

now stuck with Panther again...