Differences between revisions 67 and 68
Revision 67 as of 2017-09-06 23:21:41
Size: 4501
Comment: Updated documentation to reflect Debian 9 stable. Used steps outlined on my Stretch laptop.
Revision 68 as of 2019-07-15 10:30:55
Size: 4812
Editor: RogerShimizu
Comment: Add "Switch between wl/OSS drivers"
Deletions are marked like this. Additions are marked like this.
Line 36: Line 36:

== Switch between wl/OSS drivers ==
{{{
 #!/bin/sh

ip link set wlp2s0 down >/dev/null 2>&1
ip link set wlp2s0b1 down >/dev/null 2>&1
modprobe -r wl brcmsmac
modprobe -r cfg80211 brcmsmac cordic brcmutil bcma

if [ "$1" = "wl" ]; then
        modprobe wl
else
        modprobe brcmsmac
fi
}}}

Translation(s): English - Español - Français - 简体中文 - Русский


Broadcom BCM4311, BCM4312, BCM4313, BCM4321, BCM4322, BCM43224, BCM43225, BCM43227, BCM43228, BCM43142, BCM4331, BCM4352, BCM4360 devices (wl)

This page describes how to enable support for WiFi devices based on Broadcom wireless LAN chips, using the vendor driver on Debian systems.

The proprietary Broadcom wireless LAN driver (wl, aka broadcom-sta) provides support for some Broadcom-based PCI/PCIe hardware. It includes a binary-only component targeted for the x86 or x86-64 architecture. Supported devices are listed at the end of this page.

<!> The driver depends on the x86 or x86-64 architecture (Debian i386 and AMD64 ports respectively).

{i} The BCM4313, BCM43224 and BCM43225 chips are alternatively supported by the open source brcmsmac driver. The BCM4311, BCM4312, BCM4321, BCM4322 and BCM4331 chips are alternatively supported by the open source b43 driver.

Installation

  1. Add a "non-free" component to /etc/apt/sources.list for your Debian version, for example:

    # Debian 9 "Stretch"
    deb http://httpredir.debian.org/debian/ stretch main contrib non-free
  2. Update the list of available packages. Install the relevant/latest linux-image, linux-headers and broadcom-sta-dkms packages:

    # apt-get update
    # apt-get install linux-image-$(uname -r|sed 's,[^-]*-[^-]*-,,') linux-headers-$(uname -r|sed 's,[^-]*-[^-]*-,,') broadcom-sta-dkms

    This will also install the recommended wireless-tools package. DKMS will build the wl module for your system.

  3. Unload conflicting modules:

    # modprobe -r b44 b43 b43legacy ssb brcmsmac bcma
  4. Load the wl module:

    # modprobe wl
  5. Configure your wireless interface as appropriate. See also known issues.

Switch between wl/OSS drivers

 #!/bin/sh

ip link set wlp2s0 down >/dev/null 2>&1
ip link set wlp2s0b1 down >/dev/null 2>&1
modprobe -r wl brcmsmac
modprobe -r cfg80211 brcmsmac cordic brcmutil bcma 

if [ "$1" = "wl" ]; then
        modprobe wl
else
        modprobe brcmsmac
fi

Known Issues

  • The Sonics Silicon Backplane driver (ssb) conflicts with the wl driver (545388).

    • b44, b43, b43legacy and ssb are blacklisted by default as of broadcom-sta 5.10.91.9.3-3 (brcm80211 and brcmsmac since 5.100.82.38-1, 5.100.82.38-2 respectively).

    • This prevents use of any Ethernet device supported by b44.
  • Frequent disconnections can be experienced. This may be resolved by disabling power management via:
    • iwconfig(8) (e.g. iwconfig wlan0 power off)

    • laptop-mode-tools: set WIRELESS_BATT_POWER_SAVING=0 within /etc/laptop-mode/conf.d/wireless-power.conf

  • Wireless channels 12 and 13 are not available for use (636119).

  • Inability to join networks with hidden SSIDs (698697).

  • Upgrading from Debian 6.0 "Squeeze" to Debian 7 "Wheezy" may require network configuration amendment (648396).

See bugs reported on this package in the Debian Bug Tracking System.

Supported Devices

Version 6.30.223.271-5

This driver is packaged for the Debian 9 "Stretch" release as broadcom-sta-dkms.

  • Broadcom BCM4311 (PCI IDs 14e4:4311, 14e4:4312)
  • Broadcom BCM4312 (PCI ID 14e4:4315)
  • Broadcom BCM4313 (PCI ID 14e4:4727)
  • Broadcom BCM4321 (PCI IDs 14e4:4328, 14e4:4329, 14e4:432a)
  • Broadcom BCM4322 (PCI IDs 14e4:432b, 14e4:432c, 14e4:432d)
  • Broadcom BCM43224 (PCI IDs 14e4:0576, 14e4:4353)
  • Broadcom BCM43225 (PCI ID 14e4:4357)
  • Broadcom BCM43227 (PCI ID 14e4:4358)
  • Broadcom BCM43228 (PCI ID 14e4:4359)
  • Broadcom BCM43142 (PCI ID 14e4:4365)
  • Broadcom BCM4331 (PCI ID 14e4:4331)
  • Broadcom BCM4352 (PCI ID 14e4:43b1)
  • Broadcom BCM4360 (PCI IDs 14e4:43a0, 14e4:4360)

See Also


CategoryHardware | CategoryWireless | CategoryProprietarySoftware