On Thu, May 10, 2012 at 10:25 PM, Julian Calaby <julian.calaby@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi Lina,
>
> Firstly, which distribution are you using, is it Ubuntu? Debian? Suse?
> Fedora? or something else?
Debian,
The going-to-be-retired kernel version 3.2.5
Recently I forget to follow up, does it still need the compat-wireless
in 3.3.5 for
03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4331 802.11a/b/g/n (rev 02)
>
> On Thu, May 10, 2012 at 11:38 PM, lina <lina.lastname@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I want to clear the
>> b43-fwcutter-015
>> broadcom-wl-*
>> and all it related.
>
> Ok, the first thing you need to understand is which files do what and
> how they're related.
>
> Broadcom wireless devices which are driven by the b43 driver have three "parts":
>
> 1. The driver in the kernel itself. This is called "b43". This
> controls the hardware and provides an interface between the kernel
> wireless code and the actual hardware.
I compared what under the
/lib/modules/3.3.5/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/
form the time-stamp, I notice the b43 was installed at the same time
with kernel,
Thanks for confirming me that the b43 driver is in kernel itself.
>
> 2. The firmware, this lives in /lib/firmware or wherever your distro
> puts it and are called ucode*.fw. The firmware is software which runs
> on the actual wireless card and runs the hardware at a low level.
:/lib/firmware$ ls -1
3.2.5mj-lina
3.3.5
b43
$ cd 3.3.5/
$ ls
3com bnx2 edgeport korg qlogic ti_5052.fw
yamaha
acenic bnx2x emi26 matrox r128 tigon
adaptec cis emi62 mts_cdma.fw radeon ttusb-budget
advansys cpia2 ess mts_edge.fw sun whiteheat.fw
atmsar11.fw cxgb3 kaweth mts_gsm.fw tehuti whiteheat_loader.fw
av7110 e100 keyspan_pda ositech ti_3410.fw yam
another question, why I have so many things under /lib/firmware/3.3.5,
Did I build a heavy kernel, what does those firmware for? are they for
some other type of firmware?
Thanks ahead,
>
> 3. As broadcom has not distributed firmware for these devices in the
> linux-firmware repository, a separate tool called b43-fwcutter is used
> to extract the firmware from other Broadcom drivers.
I start to understand now.
trying hard to get the meaning of the firmware, can guess now, still
lack a strong sense of what it is though.
Thanks for your explaination.
>
>> The reason I want to clear is that today I installed the kernel 3.3.5,
>> but still keep the last version 3.2.5
>>
>> I want to clear the b43 related in 3.2.5, and re-install in 3.3.5
>
> Ok, so part 1, the driver, is part of the kernel and will be upgraded
> when you upgrade your kernel from version 3.2.5 to 3.3.5.
Ha ... I didn't upgrade. I just obtained from kernel.org, not from
debian repository.
now kept two, is it redundant? maybe just in case.
>
> The firmware (part 2) and b43-fwcutter (part 3) do *not* depend on the
> version of the kernel driver, and may safely be left alone when you
> upgrade your kernel.
>
>> Thanks ahead for your suggestions.
>>
>> P.S I have done some robust blind clear, but
>> # lsmod
>> Module Size Used by
>> b43 353456 0
>> mac80211 381396 1 b43
>> cfg80211 178201 2 mac80211,b43
>> pcmcia 40801 2 ssb,b43
>> pcmcia_core 18294 1 pcmcia
>>
>> seems I have removed the compact-wireless
>
> Firstly it's 'compat-wireless' not 'compact-wireless'.
^_^. I did lack of understanding.
>
> Secondly, deleting system files without knowing exactly what you're
> doing is a _really_bad_ idea.
>
> Thirdly, what precisely are you trying to do?
>
> Are you:
> 1. Trying to use the stock driver in 3.3.5?
in 3.3.5
> 2. Trying to use the stock driver from 3.2.5?
keep it as plan C or D, in case I have problem or mess up something in
future, so I can ...
> 3. Trying to use the driver in compat-wireless from a later kernel version?
Can I ? I don't know the latest progress in this area, no need the
compat-wireless support in latest kernel version?
>
> If you are trying option 1, using the stock driver in 3.3.5, then you
> should have to do _nothing_ other than upgrade the kernel. I strongly
> recommend doing this unless you require some feature or bug fix that
> is not present in kernel version 3.3.5. Your distribution should
> provide a package for obtaining the firmware, I strongly recommend you
> install it and _leave_it_alone_.
Before strangly it not work in the 3.3.5, or maybe something not
activate in my network manager,
so I came up the idea to remove the one in 3.2.5, I didn't realize
it's independent from kernel version until later.
another reason to remove it from 3.2.5 is to reduce the chance of my /
get saturated. I only give 666M.
>
> If you are trying option 2, using the stock driver from 3.2.5, then
> you cannot upgrade your kernel as the driver from kernel version 3.2.5
> _will_not_work_ with kernel version 3.3.5. Also, the driver in kernel
> version 3.3.5 will have received many improvements over the version in
> 3.2.5 and as such, will perform better than the older version. I
> _strongly_ recommend that you use the driver in kernel version 3.3.5.
Thanks, I will.
>
> If you are trying option 3, then you will need to re-compile whichever
> version of compat-wireless you wish to use *every* time you upgrade
> your kernel. Remember that the version of compat-wireless *must* be
> greater than the version of your kernel. I recommend you do not use
> compat-wireless unless you need some feature or bug fix that is not
> present in your current kernel.
>
>> Sorry I do really lack understanding about what's going on.
>
> Yes, you really do.
Now better. haha ...
>
> May I strongly recommend you use the stock drivers that come with your
> kernel and the firmware that comes with your distribution. You seem to
> be very insistent on doing this yourself, and it is simply not
> necessary.
>
> Also, remember to use reply-all when replying.
Yes. Thanks Julian,
>
> Thanks,
>
> --
> Julian Calaby
>
> Email: julian.calaby@xxxxxxxxx
> Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/julian.calaby/
> .Plan: http://sites.google.com/site/juliancalaby/
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