Wireless BCM4312 3.2 kernel
Since there is an Ubuntu package ‘firmware-b43-lpphy-installer’ which is up to date and will work against the 3.0 kernel, my earlier posts are obsolete. If you are not running Ubuntu, then you will still need to reference my post.
The latest 3.2 Linux kernel however has a few ABI changes, most notably in the network stack which effects the Broadcom’s wl module. Most notably is: .ndo_set_multicast_list which was replaced with .ndo_set_rx_mode.
Wireless BCM4312 3.0 kernel
With the latest 3.0 kernel there is still no “out of the box” support for my BCM4312 wireless chipset. Nor is there any help from Ubuntu 11.04 leaving me to use Broadcoms hybrid driver with patch.
Chipsets supported by “Broadcom’s IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n hybrid Linux® device driver” are: BCM4311, BCM4312, BCM4313, BCM4321, BCM4322, BCM43224, and BCM43225, BCM43227 and BCM43228.
My specific chipset from lspci command:
Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY (rev 01)
Wireless BCM4312 on Ubuntu with 2.6.38 and 2.6.39 kernel
My Vostro 1510 comes with an on-board wireless miniPCI card but it does not work “out of the box” with Ubuntu, even with the latest 2.6.39 kernel. The only option that works for me is the binary hybrid blob driver provided by Broadcom, but even that is out of date. They need help in order to work with 2.6.36 and upwards and I have a patch for that.
Chipsets supported by “Broadcom’s IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n hybrid Linux® device driver” are: BCM4311, BCM4312, BCM4313, BCM4321, BCM4322, BCM43224, and BCM43225, BCM43227 and BCM43228.
The my exact chipset from lspci command:
Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY (rev 01)
Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick with 2.6.37 kernel
If you want the latest (read bleeding edge) kernel that the Ubuntu developers are working, then have a look here:
Be sure to download the 3 files matching your architecture and install.
I am currently using 2.6.37-rc3-natty which will be the kernel that Natty Narwhal (11.04) will be based on. It just works, everything is detected and there is a noticeable increase in responsiveness.
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xorg 1.9 versus fglrx
With the release of Ubuntu (Meerkat) 10.10 just 10 days away, the ubuntu x-swat people have been busy getting fglrx ready for release. The fglrx now compiles against latest Meerkat kernel and finally resolves the unknown symbol issue.
In the laptop is a ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3670 and with the latest fglrx driver usability is awful. There is horrible tearing when using “Appearance -> Visual Effects -> Normal”, which had to be set back to “None” just to be usable. Even on “None”, scrolling down in documents, chrome, firefox and Skype all give blurred or stuttered graphics.
These are for me “do not use” releases.
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