Dnia środa, 24 marca 2010 o 16:27:26 Larry Finger napisał(a):

On 03/24/2010 08:32 AM, Mariusz Fik wrote:

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Hi, I made some feature request about include opensource firmware[1] for broadcom wifi cards into default installation media. https://features.opensuse.org/306619

I made a package with this firmware in my home repo[2]. It has been build for oS 11.2 and Factory and resides in noarch. After installing this package, firmware is located in '/lib/firmware/b43- open'. b43 tries to load firmware first from '/lib/firmware/b43', if there is no firmware tries load from '/lib/firmware/b43-open'. Here is a dmesg output:

[ 1298.420958] b43-phy2: Broadcom 4318 WLAN found (core revision 9) [ 1298.529980] phy2: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel' [ 1298.556896] Broadcom 43xx driver loaded [ Features: PML, Firmware-ID: FW13 ] [ 1303.347086] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: requesting b43/ucode5.fw [ 1303.360600] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: requesting b43-open/ucode5.fw [ 1303.386197] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: requesting b43-open/pcm5.fw [ 1303.406365] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: requesting b43-open/b0g0initvals5.fw [ 1303.430840] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: requesting b43-open/b0g0bsinitvals5.fw [ 1303.533063] b43-phy2: Loading OpenSource firmware version 410.31754 [ 1303.533085] b43-phy2: Hardware crypto acceleration not supported by firmware [ 1303.533094] b43-phy2: QoS not supported by firmware [ 1303.606220] Registered led device: b43-phy2::tx [ 1303.628692] Registered led device: b43-phy2::rx [ 1303.630645] Registered led device: b43-phy2::radio [ 1303.654720] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready

Then if we want install proprietary firmware, we execute 'install_bcm43xx_firmware', which install firmware into '/lib/firmware/b43'. Then dmesg output looks like this one:

[ 116.655170] b43-phy1: Broadcom 4318 WLAN found (core revision 9) [ 116.771684] phy1: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel' [ 116.829284] Broadcom 43xx driver loaded [ Features: PML, Firmware-ID: FW13 ] [ 121.359077] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: requesting b43/ucode5.fw [ 121.376799] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: requesting b43/pcm5.fw [ 121.394859] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: requesting b43/b0g0initvals5.fw [ 121.412569] b43 ssb0:0: firmware: requesting b43/b0g0bsinitvals5.fw [ 121.548055] b43-phy1: Loading firmware version 410.2160 (2007-05-26 15:32:10) [ 121.610461] Registered led device: b43-phy1::tx [ 121.637110] Registered led device: b43-phy1::rx [ 121.639184] Registered led device: b43-phy1::radio [ 121.663270] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready

So it is not in conflict with our existing solution. Which devel project should I choose for this firmware?

[1] - http://www.ing.unibs.it/openfwwf/ [2] - http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/Fisiu/

Are you aware that the current release of openfwwf has a serious bug that panics the kernel under heavy load? Kernels 2.6.33 and newer have fixed the panic, but not the problem. As I originally found the bug, I am working with the openfwwf authors and have recently tested an experimental firmware for them that does not have the problem, but it is not yet ready for release.

I agree that open-source firmware should be included even though current versions only support a very small subset of BCM43XX devices; however, including firmware that can crash the machine is not a viable option for general users. Please wait until the problem is fixed.

Larry

Anyway Fedora and Sidux use it. Maybe other distros use it too... Will openSUSE 11.3 use .33 kernel? If yes, as You said, it got panic fixed. -- Pozdrawiam / Best regards, Mariusz Fik, openSUSE Community Member

Dnia środa, 24 marca 2010 o 18:08:18 Larry Finger napisał(a):

On 03/24/2010 10:44 AM, Mariusz Fik wrote:

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Anyway Fedora and Sidux use it. Maybe other distros use it too... Will openSUSE 11.3 use .33 kernel? If yes, as You said, it got panic fixed.

I do know that Fedora uses the openfwwf. The wireless maintainer, john Linville, makes sure that all the b43 devs get Cced on all pertinent Fedora Bug reports.

Kernel 2.3.34 will be in 11.3, thus the panics are not a problem, unless some 11.2 user grabs it. I guess that I would have no objection to installing the openfwwf on every system with a Broadcom wireless device as long as the fwcutter package is also installed and the script executed as soon as network is available. The driver is written to prefer the proprietary firmware over the open-source version, thus as soon as the proprietary firmware is installed, it does not matter how buggy the openfwwf is. What I want to avoid is having some user run his system for months and then have his wireless crash because his firmware is buggy.

Larry

The main goal of open source firmware is include it into installation media. This will help many users to get online over their broadcom wifi cards. The range of wifi cards which work 'out on the box' will grow. Current script 'install_bcm43xx_firmware' will be of course available and can be executed immediately after user gets online. Installing proprietary firmware makes opensource one unnecessary. -- Pozdrawiam / Best regards, Mariusz Fik, openSUSE Community Member

On Mar 25, 2010, at 8:49 AM, Larry Finger wrote:

On 03/25/2010 08:13 AM, Mariusz Fik wrote:

...

The main goal of open source firmware is include it into installation media. This will help many users to get online over their broadcom wifi cards. The range of wifi cards which work 'out on the box' will grow. Current script 'install_bcm43xx_firmware' will be of course available and can be executed immediately after user gets online. Installing proprietary firmware makes opensource one unnecessary.

Of course that is the goal. As a b43 developer, I support it completely. The question here is "Is it right to include software known to be buggy?". My answer is a resounding "No".

That should depend on how stable it is expected to be when openSUSE goes to GM. There's lots of buggy code in the current milestone - how else will it get tested? - James mason, 'bear454'

Larry -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-factory+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-factory+help@opensuse.org

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