wireless b43 driver doesn't work on Acer Aspire One

Hi all,
I tried to use Linux live on an Acer Aspire One. I tried different distributions like Ubuntu, Mint13, Mint14, Macbuntu, Scientific, etc... But I always had a problem.

When the pc boot it from USB (the Aspire One doesn't have any CD reader) it says that the "wireless driver b43" or something like this is missing and it suggest to go to Linux official website to do the update of this driver of the kernel.

So I did it, I went on the suggested website, I updated the kernel, but the problem didn't solve.

Is it normal? If I install Linux on that PC will I have the same problem?

Where did you get the driver? Also, did you read the b43 wikis on Welcome - Linux Wireless FWIW, Broadcom has new linux drivers on their site (and firmware if necessary) which work very well - my laptop also has a b43 device. In any case, the wikis on linuxwireless have all the info you need (including Broadcom links) and instructions.

I got the feeling he is running live usb rubberman from his last sentence.

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Originally Posted by rokytnji

I got the feeling he is running live usb rubberman from his last sentence.

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Good catch Roky; however, you can download and install the driver and firmware on a running live system. I've done that myself in the past when showing people how "easy" it is to do that stuff!... and it actually worked (on my Dell D630 w/ b43 wifi). Of course, he may also be booting from a USB HD that is a full installation. What more can you tell is Westita?

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Good catch Roky; however, you can download and install the driver and firmware on a running live system. I've done that myself in the past when showing people how "easy" it is to do that stuff!... and it actually worked (on my Dell D630 w/ b43 wifi)

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Till we know what is going on if he is live usb a reboot wipes all changes without a persistent usb install. This might be what is confusing
the OP. Just saying is all. You are the broadcom expert compared to me though. I dodged broadcom because of past posts that don't
apply in this day and aGE.

Does one use wl,b43,b43 legacy. You know the drill.

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Originally Posted by rokytnji

Till we know what is going on if he is live usb a reboot wipes all changes without a persistent usb install. This might be what is confusing
the OP. Just saying is all. You are the broadcom expert compared to me though. I dodged broadcom because of past posts that don't
apply in this day and aGE.

Does one use wl,b43,b43 legacy. You know the drill.

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I go to Welcome - Linux Wireless b43 wiki page, and follow the latest instructions. It has worked well for me to install on both Ubuntu, and Scientific Linux (RHEL) 6.x. SL is what I'm using now. With current/recent distributions, the legacy code is not advisable, generally. My experience with the linuxwireless website has been almost completely positive, though you do need to read their docs carefully, matching the drivers to your kernel, and such. This last time I did it, I found there that whereas you used to have to extract and use the Windows driver, Broadcom has come out with quite good support for Linux now, and that works a treat! I can even hibernate and suspend the system and have the WiFi just work when I start it up again. It didn't used to be so good... :-)

Of course all this stuff changes - I just went back to the wiki and find that it has all changed again! Arrrgh! However, for most BC hardware, it should not be too difficult to get it working. You only need the legacy driver and firmware for the old 802.11b-only chip sets from what I read. Anything that is 802.11abg will work with the b43 driver. 802.11n is supported for some chip sets. See the list here: http://www.linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43

I have some difficulties to follow you two :lol:.

Some months ago I tried to install the b43 driver, but the result was always the same. I tried on both live with persistence and without the persistence, nothing changed.

Now you are talking about the 80211 driver. I'm tring to figure it out how to install it on the links that you posted, but I'm having some trouble to understand it. I've understood that I need to install this driver in the kernel and when I boot the OS I need to use textual commands to activate it. But honestly I did not get how to install it :shock:.

Please be patience, I'm a really newbie :lol:

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Originally Posted by WestITA

I have some difficulties to follow you two :lol:.

Some months ago I tried to install the b43 driver, but the result was always the same. I tried on both live with persistence and without the persistence, nothing changed.

Now you are talking about the 80211 driver. I'm tring to figure it out how to install it on the links that you posted, but I'm having some trouble to understand it. I've understood that I need to install this driver in the kernel and when I boot the OS I need to use textual commands to activate it. But honestly I did not get how to install it :shock:.

Please be patience, I'm a really newbie :lol:

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No problem. I helped others in your situation through the same knothole. First, boot up and then run the commands "lspci", "lsmod", and "lsusb" and post the output here, preferably inside code blocks (so the forum site software doesn't create smileys and such from the output).

Or just this one command

Code:

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sudo echo uname: && uname -a -m -p && echo lspci: && lspci && echo lsusb: && lsusb && echo lsmod: && lsmod && echo ifconfig: && ifconfig && echo ifconfig -a: && ifconfig -a && echo iwconfig: && iwconfig && echo resolv.conf: && cat /etc/resolv.conf && echo route: && route -n

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and like always flexible says

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preferably inside code blocks (so the forum site software doesn't create smileys and such from the output).

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Now I don't have the time to do it 'cause I'm really busy and I'm installing different Linux live on my pendrive, but tomorrow I'll do it and I'll post you the code result.