laptops (Was: Re: No Go Lenovo)

[bogstad at pobox.com (Bill Bogstad)]

On 5/10/07, Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org> wrote:

> Basically, most AMD based laptops use the Broadcom chips. The more
> recent Linux distros come with a Broadcom native driver, however the
> Broadcom firmware is not distributed with the distros. It is fairly
> simple to get the appropriate Broadcom Windows  driver and extract the
> firmware with a tool called bcm43xx-fwcutter. Much cleaner than using
> ndiswrapper. My wife uses my laptop frequently, and has not had a
> problem with the wireless.

Not so much here.  I tried a fresh Ubuntu install (7.04) on an HP with
built-in Broadcom just a few days ago.  Fwcutter did not work for me.
Couldn't even see any access points let alone associate with them.
Intel is actually  involved in development of  Linux drivers for their
chipsets.  Broadcom isn't.  I won't buy Broadcom wireless again until
this changes.   It's just not worth the hassle.  If there is some
other distro I could
download to check for "hassle-free" Broadcom wireless setup, let me know.

Bill Bogstad

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