Wireless Internet Debian on custom LiveCD/DVD

[gotenks05]

Well, I've been using a Mac and have been using Linux distros for a while, mainly Ubuntu and Ubuntu-based distros, but I have been quite dissatisfied with one thing in Ubuntu and the fact that the Mac OS is unstable on my system now, so I have considered trying Debian, the Linux distribution that Ubuntu is based off of and I did not like how I could not boot into it on my Mac. As a result, I have decided to make a LiveCD/DVD of Debian Lenny. So far, I've got it at a good state of use with a couple of problems. The one I want to ask about though is that I have got ndiswrapper installed properly and got my Mac's broadcom wireless card recognized, as well as the iSight working to an extent, on Debian, but I just can't get internet. I can connect to my wireless network though. I'm typing this on Ubuntu and I am using Virtualbox to produce the LiveCD/DVD via Remastersys. How do I get an internet connection on Debian? I typed in ifconfig, while I was running my current LiveDVD of Debian and wlan0 did show up, so I know that the interface is there.

Note: I need to get the LiveDVD burned to disc before testing out what I did, so it may take a while to get results of any suggestions, especially since testing the configuration in a virtual machine won't do any good.

[reed9]

Debian is much stricter about non-free software than Ubuntu, so most likely the driver or firmware for your wireless card isn't included.

Read this thread and post the requested info.

[gotenks05]

Debian is much stricter about non-free software than Ubuntu, so most likely the driver or firmware for your wireless card isn't included.

[had to remove the link originally mentioned in this post] and post the requested info.

Actually, Ubuntu did not include the drivers either. I had to extrect the ".exe" on Ubuntu and take the ".inf" and ".sys", when I first natively installed it. I have a copy of those files on a USB and I installed the GUI frontend to ndiswrapper, so the driver is installed and detects whether it is present or not the driver was bcmwl5, which is supposed to have a Linux driiver that I did not know about when I first got Internet working in Ubuntu.

[reed9]

The bcmwl5 indicated you have a broadcom card. There is a native linux driver for most broadcom cards as well as a driver released by broadcom. (Though there are a couple of cards the latter doesn't support.) This is generally preferable to using ndiswrapper.

For the linux driver in Debian and Ubuntu, you need to install some proprietary firmware. If you can get a wired connection for a couple minutes, you can install the firmware with

sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter

. (Debian doesn't use sudo by default, so you'd need to use su to login as root.)

Please post the output of

lspci

to confirm the card.

b43 - Linux Wireless

[gotenks05]

The bcmwl5 indicated you have a broadcom card. There is a native linux driver for most broadcom cards as well as a driver released by broadcom. (Though there are a couple of cards the latter doesn't support.) This is generally preferable to using ndiswrapper.

For the linux driver in Debian and Ubuntu, you need to install some proprietary firmware. If you can get a wired connection for a couple minutes, you can install the firmware with

sudo apt-get install b43-fwcutter

. (Debian doesn't use sudo by default, so you'd need to use su to login as root.)

Please post the output of

lspci

to confirm the card.

[link had to be removed again from this quote]

Right now, my Ubuntu setup is connected wirelessly to the Internet and the Debian VM gets Internet through that (I am using Virtualbox to make the Debian LiveCD/DVD with remastersys, after all). Do I need to remove the bcmwl5 driver from ndiswrapper, on Debian, before I install the stuff for b43?

[reed9]

Do I need to remove the bcmwl5 driver from ndiswrapper, on Debian, before I install the stuff for b43?

You'll want to unload the ndiswrapper module and make sure it doesn't load at boot. The two will conflict.

[gotenks05]

Okay, I commented out ndiswrapper in the file that loads things at boot, in case I needed it. When I tried to install b43-fwcutter just now, it said

E: Couldn't find package b43-fwcutter

I looked at Synaptic Package manager and it was definitely not listed in there.

[reed9]

You need to have the contrib section enabled in /etc/apt/sources.list.

Debian -- Details of package b43-fwcutter in lenny

[gotenks05]

Okay, I got it install and I'm now making a LiveCD using remastersys, so I can test it on my Mac.

Update: Okay, I've booted the LiveCD and wlan0 no longer exists on it. Also this is the output I got from the command that I was told to run

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)
00:07.0 Performance counters: Intel Corporation Device 27a3 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc M56P [Radeon Mobility X1600]
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 22)
03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4328 802.11a/b/g/n (rev 01)
04:03.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Agere Systems FW323 (rev 61)