Ubuntu

Installing fwcutter in Gusty

Asked by coljohnhannibalsmith

I've finally gotten Gutsy to boot by installing the Alternate Install CD. Now I can't get my Internal Broadcom 43xx WiFi to work. I've read the online documentation, downloaded bcm43xx-fwcutter-006, the appropriate firmware and unzipped the "Tarball" and now all I have is @^$#^%$^% Source Code, which I now have to compile. To add insult to injury the compiling tools don't come installed in Gutsy by default. So, now I have to shut down, reinstall my Vista HDD, connect to the Internet to read several articles that state I have to install the "build-essential" package, which I also now have to learn commands for. This goes way beyond inconvenient. This is downright obnoxious!!!!!

So,now I have to figure out which file or files to compile, what to name the output file and whether to compile with the gcc or the MAKE command, since what appears to be the primary file fwcutter.c has several #includes. It appears I will also need to compile something called MAKEFILE, which doesn't have an extension. Once this is successfully installed, I will then have to extract and install the firmware.

This is a complete unadulterated nightmare. Something I never contemplated in my wildest dreams as a newcomer to Ubuntu.

Can someone please take compassion on me and email me the "compiled" fwcutter? I think I can figure out how to install it once I get this far. I need the bcm43xx-fwcutter-006 version.

Thanks, John

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marcobra (Marco Braida) (marcobra) said : 		#1

Please open a Terminal from the menu Applications->Accessories->Terminal and type:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install wget build-essential
wget http://prdownload.berlios.de/bcm43xx/bcm43xx-fwcutter-006.tar.bz2
tar jxvf bcm43xx-fwcutter-006.tar.bz2
cd bcm43xx-fwcutter-006
make
sudo make install
sudo bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o

give your user password when requested, you don't see nothing when you type it, then press enter.

Hope this helps

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coljohnhannibalsmith (john-wakefield2) said : 		#2

Marcobra,

Thanks for your response. I read the online documentation for a third time and I finally found Firmware I didn't have to compile. I was also able to find a copy of fwcutter with the ".deb" extension that I could just click-on to get "Package Manager" to install automatically. I was then able to get fwcutter to extract the Firmware and install it without much additional difficulty.

BTW, I did try your example to get experience with compiling in Linux. It worked as you described. Thank you for the concrete example.

I seem to be having more trouble with the technical documentation for Ubuntu than with Windows. Apparently my level of confidence with advanced Windows installations isn't translating well to Ubuntu. It also seems the Ubunto Docs are sometimes out of date and are just harder to read for some reason. Anyway, I now have a working Broadcom installation.

I must say, since I didn't get the graphic WiFi screen I'm used to, I was scared to death when I actuallly tried to use it. I read the Docs again and they said to execute:

"sudo iwlist eth1 scan"

and this would list my networks. When I tried this from home with no WiFi networks available the command returned:

"No scan results"

This scared me even more. When I finally tried it at Starbuck's the result was quite different. Not only did I get the "tmobile" network; but I got several networks nearby. I also got the more familiar graphical display as well. I must say I was quite pleased. Firefox got me on after I entered my Network Username and Password and I surfed the Net as effortlessly as in Windows. When I downloaded a movie that "Tempo" didn't have a Codec for, it asked me for permission to search for one, and after two tries found one that worked. It only took seconds.

Also, while the command for downloading the OS updates was a little more complicated than in Windows, because I had to execute it from a command line.

"sudo apt-get update"

The OS upadates downloaded and installed more reliably than in Windows. I didn't even have to reboot until I installed the 3D graphic accelerator driver from ATI. I can't tell you how much time I've wasted having to restart everytime I load OS updates in Windows. If I have to download any significant number of updates in Windows invariably many of them will fail and I'll have to spend an all-nighter installing them individually. This is especially true when several updates require individual retarts. I was extremely surprized how good my experience was once I got my Broadcom working.

Now that I have it working I really like Ubuntu; but God what a nightmare to install!! Unlike what "Fravia" says, this ain't for my sweet Grand Mama yet!

Thanks, John