Slackware 14: Install Broadcom BCM43XX Drivers

I recently got my hands on a very shy Notebook, although eager to try the GNU / Linux honeys, its name, HP 530.

A team with modest features, however, among the curiosities that make up the entrails of this cute electronic animal is a plate Broadcom BCM4312 in charge of the already indispensable task of providing wireless services to our leisure time productive work moments.

Normally this type of plates usually suppose a headache for the less knowledgeable in the subject and being Slackware 14 the main distro on this occasion, it could somehow be thought that perhaps an odyssey is approaching, nothing is further from reality.

Some time ago, I had the opportunity to work with this same model broadcom but with Archlinux as a distribution to scrutinize, and although it was not an epic battle it did take me a while to get everything in order and working 100%.

In the case of Slackware 14, the task will become quite simple.

El first step is to know the model of our plate Broadcom, for which (in root mode) we type,

# lspci -vnn -d 14e4:

What will throw us a result similar to this,

# 0001:01:01.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller[14e4:4318] (rev 02)

From here what interests us is the number that appears between [], for this example [14e4: 4318].

With this data, we go to this page for determine which controller we must install, b43 o b43legacy.

If our controller is supported and in the understanding that we know how slackbuilds work we type,

# sbopkg -i "b43-fwcutter b43-firmware"

o

# sbopkg -i "b43-fwcutter b43legacy-firmware"

Once this is done, just load the module,

# modprobe b43

or restart the computer.

Without more or more, our wireless network must be ecstatic by the received signals.