Problem with wifi bcm43xx

[fr0z3n]

Dear All,
I got a problem with the wifi my notebook acer 4310, wifi bcm 43xx series.
I've tried to install via ndisgen but have not succeeded, is there a solution or detailed steps how to use the drivers under windows in PCBSD uses ndisgen??
thanks before.

[TerryP]

the best consensus is probably to buy a PC card that is supported.

[fr0z3n]

The following steps I have done:

Step 1: Get the Win2K/XP Driver

 bcmwl5.inf and bcmwl5.sys …

Step 2: Copy those Drivers to /sys/modules/if_ndis

# ls *.inf *.sys
bcmwl5.inf      bcmwl5.sys      bcmwl5a.inf     bcmwlntp.sys
# cp bcmwl5.* /sys/modules/if_ndis
# ls /sys/modules/if_ndis
Makefile        bcmwl5.inf      bcmwl5.sys
# cd /sys/modules/if_ndis

Step 3: Magic

# ndiscvt -i bcmwl5.inf -s bcmwl5.sys -o ndis_driver_data.h
ndiscvt: line 13: e: syntax error.
ÿþ[#

# hd bcmwl5.inf | head -3
00000000  ff fe 3b 00 3b 00 0d 00  0a 00 3b 00 3b 00 20 00  |..;.;.....;.;. .|
00000010  62 00 63 00 6d 00 77 00  6c 00 35 00 2e 00 69 00  |b.c.m.w.l.5...i.|
00000020  6e 00 66 00 0d 00 0a 00  3b 00 3b 00 0d 00 0a 00  |n.f.....;.;.....|


# iconv -c -f utf-16 -t ascii bcmwl5.inf > bcmwl5.inf.ascii
# head -3 bcmwl5.inf.ascii
;;
;; bcmwl5.inf
;;
# ndiscvt -i bcmwl5.inf.ascii  -s bcmwl5.sys -o ndis_driver_data.h

Step 4: Compile, Install

make && make install

Load the module:

kldload ndis ->to here all went well

kldload if_ndis -> error

Can anyone help me ?? please

[Cobalt]

I second TerryP. Honestly though, you can buy a card/adapter for about $25 or less and spare yourself the headache. Here's a list of cards/adapters that will work: http://www.freebsd.org/releases/7.1R/hardware.html#WLAN

NDIS is a bugger-and-a-half from what I've seen and experienced. I believe there are modules that you can load for 'exotic' devices. You can look in FreeBSD's handbook for more information. I've never been fond of radio technology, so I haven't dealt with Wi-Fi too much.

[fr0z3n]

thx to Cobalt 'n TerryP

[webhostingdesign]

this seems to be a serious shortcomming of pcbsd to be used as a real production desktop, how hard is it to include more drivers? this bcm443xx card is in millions of HP and dell laptops, it's hardly "exotic"...

i'm about to try ubuntu if i cant get an EASY solution for PCBSD to work for my BCM4311

[Cobalt]

how hard is it to include more drivers?

You'd need to reverse engineer the drivers first. Not an easy task, mind you.

[TerryP]

Rule one of choosing production hardware, use what your systems support and require

Rule one of choosing production software, make sure it works with your system

[uutorok]

this seems to be a serious shortcomming of pcbsd to be used as a real production desktop, how hard is it to include more drivers? this bcm443xx card is in millions of HP and dell laptops, it's hardly "exotic"...

i'm about to try ubuntu if i cant get an EASY solution for PCBSD to work for my BCM4311

1) try ndis on freebsd 8.0.
2) buy these cards, about $15-$20

Atheros AR5006EXS http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0477116567
Atheros AR5007EG http://cgi.ebay.com/Atheros-AR5BXB63-AR ... 286.c0.m14