How to get WiFi working on Easy Peasy [Ubuntu 9.04] [solved]

[ddl]

Hi, i have installed Easy Peasy [which is a variety of Ubintu NR 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope] on Lenovo S12 [Intel Atom]. evetything seems to work well except the wireless/WiFi. In: Administration>Hardware Drivers, there was a driver Broadcom B43 wireless driver which i pressed on Activate, but nothing happened, still i get no wireless internet. Please help, how to get the WiFi working?
Thanks for any help.

[pseudo]

On Ubuntu, when I use this option, I have to have a working internet connection (though an ethernet cable) so the driver can be downloaded, and then the system requires rebooting.

Did the Hardware Drivers program display any confirmation/error messages?

Are you happy with the command line? (I can link you to a walkthrough to get it working if you are)

[ddl]

Thanks very much. in the meantime i did some research with google, it seems that the driver suited to my hardware isn't Broadcom B43 wireless driver. the right one is rather Broadcom 802.11 Linux STA driver. yes i have wired connection. I tried to search for it in synaptic, or with

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get --reinstall install bcmwl-kernel-source

but it wont show up in synaptic or the terminal gives me

couldn't find package bcmwl-kernel-source

the package can be downloaded manually at http://packages.ubuntu.com/da/karmic/bc ... nel-source
They don't recommend to do it this way, I'm still a kind of a newbie, never installed anything this way, but it seems to be the only option of installing that driver? why is it that the package wont show up in neither terminal or Synaptic? Perhaps because it is meant for Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic, the one i have is Easy Peasy, basically Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty.
Yes i can run commands in terminal [mostly with copy-pasting]
thanks for any help.

[pseudo]

Right, I would have suggested pretty much that process as documented here:
http://s10lenovo.com/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=3511

Using the second method and ensuring you remove any other WiFi modules that may be present.

However, it appears that the proprietary STA driver is not in the Jaunty repositories. Is there a reason you are using Easy Peasy and not just UNR? (Not fussed, but it seems strange that they haven't migrated to Karmic yet)

Could you run the below code on your machine? Just to check you have the correct WiFi card for this driver:

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$ lspci | grep Network
05:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g (rev 01)

lspci - list pci cards present
grep - filter results and only show lines with "Network" in them

You could try using the Drivers from the Broadcom site:
http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php

The README is pretty comprehensive and I have done this before with little hassle. Ask if you need more help.

[ddl]

Hi, thanks. the reason I'm using the Easy Peasy [- Ubuntu 9.04] is because, i first wanted to install Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.10 Karmic, before going ahead with a full install, i tested it Live USB on my Lenovo S12, it was so Buggy freezing so bad without even being able to shutdown with commands [it is interesting to note, on the live USB session with UNR 9.10, i entered into Hardware Drivers, there, as far as i remember, were waiting, out of the box, two drivers for wireless to chose from to be activated, one of them i guess, was the now much desired Broadcom 802.11 Linux STA!].
in my Terminal i get:

03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4312 802.11b/g (rev 01)

since i cant have [i guess it will only do with 9.10 Karmic] what the README tells in http://www.broadcom.com/docs/linux_sta/README.txt

Ubuntu:
------
Go to System->Administration->Hardware Drivers
Choose the Broadcom STA wireless driver
Activate

Sometimes the driver does not show up in the Hardware Drivers choices. In
this case, try reintalling the driver from the GUI or shell like this:

From the GUI:
Package Manager (System>Administration>Synaptic Package Manager). Click the
Reload button in the upper left corner of Synaptic to refresh your index then
search for and reinstall the package named bcmwl-kernel-source.

From the shell:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get --reinstall install bcmwl-kernel-source

In either GUI or text case, after reinstalling, reboot your machine.

Now go back to System->Administration->Hardware Drivers
and you should see the driver enabled and working.

how can i install the package manually?
Thanks for any help.

[pseudo]

From the readme...

You will need to install the correct building tools to compile your own driver:

Code: Select all

On Ubuntu, you will need headers and tools.  Try these commands:
sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-generic
sudo apt-get build-dep linux

Download the source code, I will assume you have downloaded it into your home directory, and extract the contents:

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cd ~/Downloads
mkdir hybrid_wl
cd hybrid_wl
tar xzf ../hybrid-portsrc-x86_32-v5.60.48.36.tar.gz

Compile the source code into binary:

Code: Select all

make clean
make

"When the build completes, it will produce a wl.ko file in the top level directory."

This is the driver module for the kernel, move it to the right place:

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sudo cp wl.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/net/wireless/wl.ko

Follow the instructions from:

Fresh installation:
------------------

to finish the job. Bearing in mind that any command prefixed by a # means you need root privileges (use sudo)

Let us know if you struggle

[ddl]

Hi. thanks.
The issue is solved, I was helped by an expert. Thing didn't go smoothly as in the README http://www.broadcom.com/docs/linux_sta/README.txt. Workarounds had to be devised. In the end the Broadcom STA was successfully installed. One particularly sticky point was how to prevent ssb module to load each reboot and therefore prevent the broadcom STA to run sudo rmmod ssb wasn't enough, nor
echo "blacklist ssb" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf.
I was given a script:
sudo gedit /etc/init.d/wifi-fix.sh
Inside gedit:
#!/bin/sh
modprobe -r b43 ssb
modprobe lib80211
modprobe wl
then in terminal:
cd /etc/init.d
sudo chmod +x wifi-fix.sh
sudo update-rc.d wifi-fix.sh defaults
It solved the issue.
it is ok now, works great. I guess the best option would be to have Karmic 9.10, the driver is precompiled, and should work just by a mouse cleek. but as i mentioned it had problems on my Lenovo s12
Thanks for help and goodwill

[pseudo]

Well I'm glad you got it working, although I must say I am mystified... I have had no issues with the WiFi on my S10e (the same Broadcom card) with Ubuntu, Arch or others.

Good thinking on creating a shell script to run at boot though.

One thing, if you wish to use "gedit" as a root user you should always use "gksudo" rather than straight "sudo"

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/graphicalsudo

Enjoy!

[ddl]

Hi.

I must say I am mystified...

I'm sorry i didn't keep a proper log of my terminal for the process of installing the driver [and the problems that appeared in its course and their workarounds]. Perhaps others who try to get wifi on Easy Peasy or UNR 9.04 Jaunty, could have benefit of that.

I have had no issues with the WiFi on my S10e (the same Broadcom card) with Ubuntu

i guess its all went smooth for you because you installed that driver on UNR 9.10 Karmic which has a precompiled package, just waiting to be installed.
Thanks

[pseudo]

I guess its all went smooth for you because you installed that driver on UNR 9.10 Karmic which has a precompiled package, just waiting to be installed.

Nope, I ran 9.04 on it when I first got it, I used the b43 driver which was rubbish so compiled my own STA from the Broadcom site... never mind, it's all working now