How to get BRCM to work?

How to get BRCM to work?

[Dan Carpenter]

I've been trying to remember the trick to get BRCM to work and I can't
remember at all.  I'm using BCM4313.  I've enabled everything with BCMA
or BRCM in the config name.

The module loads and the device shows up if I type "ifconfig wlan0" but
network manager doesn't see it and wicd doesn't see it.  (These are old
versions of nm and wicd).

This used to work under 3.8 but I didn't save my .config...  :(

I've done a google search and it seems like the broadcom driver is still
a complete mess and you need to black list modules and hack everything
yourself on a per system basis?  Is that right?  Why can't we fix this
so it works?

regards,
dan carpenter

Re: How to get BRCM to work?

[Dan Carpenter]

On Mon, Nov 04, 2013 at 02:51:11PM +0300, Dan Carpenter wrote:
> I've been trying to remember the trick to get BRCM to work and I can't
> remember at all.  I'm using BCM4313.  I've enabled everything with BCMA
> or BRCM in the config name.

Can we make BRCM select BCMA instead of depending on it?  No one wants
BCMA, they just want their wifi to work.  There is no reason that users
should have to grovel through Kconfig files to figure out how to compile
the broadcom driver instead of just using menuconfig like everyone else
does.

regards,
dan carpenter

Re: How to get BRCM to work?

[Hauke Mehrtens]

On 11/04/2013 12:51 PM, Dan Carpenter wrote:
> I've been trying to remember the trick to get BRCM to work and I can't
> remember at all.  I'm using BCM4313.  I've enabled everything with BCMA
> or BRCM in the config name.
> 
> The module loads and the device shows up if I type "ifconfig wlan0" but
> network manager doesn't see it and wicd doesn't see it.  (These are old
> versions of nm and wicd).
> 
> This used to work under 3.8 but I didn't save my .config...  :(

Are these old versions of nm and wicd only supporting the deprecated
WEXT interface? If this is the case you have to set
CONFIG_CFG80211_WEXT=y in your config.

You also need a firmware for this device /lib/firmware/brcm/bcm43xx-0.fw
and /lib/firmware/brcm/bcm43xx_hdr-0.fw are needed.

When the device gets detected by brcmsmac, it is probably not a problem
in the Broadcom driver.

> I've done a google search and it seems like the broadcom driver is still
> a complete mess and you need to black list modules and hack everything
> yourself on a per system basis?  Is that right?  Why can't we fix this
> so it works?

When you want to use the property closed source Broadcom driver then you
have to blacklist the in kernel drivers. When you want to use the in
kernel drivers, BCM4313 should get detected and the modules should get
loaded like it is done for every other PCIe device.

Hauke

Re: How to get BRCM to work?

[Dan Carpenter]

On Mon, Nov 04, 2013 at 01:04:00PM +0100, Hauke Mehrtens wrote:
> On 11/04/2013 12:51 PM, Dan Carpenter wrote:
> > I've been trying to remember the trick to get BRCM to work and I can't
> > remember at all.  I'm using BCM4313.  I've enabled everything with BCMA
> > or BRCM in the config name.
> > 
> > The module loads and the device shows up if I type "ifconfig wlan0" but
> > network manager doesn't see it and wicd doesn't see it.  (These are old
> > versions of nm and wicd).
> > 
> > This used to work under 3.8 but I didn't save my .config...  :(
> 
> Are these old versions of nm and wicd only supporting the deprecated
> WEXT interface? If this is the case you have to set
> CONFIG_CFG80211_WEXT=y in your config.
> 

I have that enabled.

> You also need a firmware for this device /lib/firmware/brcm/bcm43xx-0.fw
> and /lib/firmware/brcm/bcm43xx_hdr-0.fw are needed.

I have the firmware.

> 
> When the device gets detected by brcmsmac, it is probably not a problem
> in the Broadcom driver.
> 
> > I've done a google search and it seems like the broadcom driver is still
> > a complete mess and you need to black list modules and hack everything
> > yourself on a per system basis?  Is that right?  Why can't we fix this
> > so it works?
> 
> When you want to use the property closed source Broadcom driver then you
> have to blacklist the in kernel drivers. When you want to use the in
> kernel drivers, BCM4313 should get detected and the modules should get
> loaded like it is done for every other PCIe device.

I don't have the closed source driver.

I'll do some more testing and get back on this.

regards,
dan carpenter

Re: How to get BRCM to work?

[Arend van Spriel]

On 11/04/2013 02:07 PM, Dan Carpenter wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 04, 2013 at 01:04:00PM +0100, Hauke Mehrtens wrote:
>> On 11/04/2013 12:51 PM, Dan Carpenter wrote:
>>> I've been trying to remember the trick to get BRCM to work and I can't
>>> remember at all.  I'm using BCM4313.  I've enabled everything with BCMA
>>> or BRCM in the config name.
>>>
>>> The module loads and the device shows up if I type "ifconfig wlan0" but
>>> network manager doesn't see it and wicd doesn't see it.  (These are old
>>> versions of nm and wicd).
>>>
>>> This used to work under 3.8 but I didn't save my .config...  :(
>>
>> Are these old versions of nm and wicd only supporting the deprecated
>> WEXT interface? If this is the case you have to set
>> CONFIG_CFG80211_WEXT=y in your config.
>>
>
> I have that enabled.
>
>> You also need a firmware for this device /lib/firmware/brcm/bcm43xx-0.fw
>> and /lib/firmware/brcm/bcm43xx_hdr-0.fw are needed.
>
> I have the firmware.
>
>>
>> When the device gets detected by brcmsmac, it is probably not a problem
>> in the Broadcom driver.
>>
>>> I've done a google search and it seems like the broadcom driver is still
>>> a complete mess and you need to black list modules and hack everything
>>> yourself on a per system basis?  Is that right?  Why can't we fix this
>>> so it works?

There used to be a Kconfig item which would b43 claim the same device as 
brcmsmac. That was changed to a b43 module parameter. So the only issue 
could be if you previously had the proprietary broadcom-wl driver in 
use, because that adds blacklist entries for both b43 and brcmsmac and 
it does not get cleaned up when uninstalling.

If you never used the proprietary driver, there should be no issue with 
it and I would not recommend going there (I am biased). As you obviously 
do have a problem at hand, lets dive in. Can you send me a system and/or 
kernel log.

Gr. AvS

Re: How to get BRCM to work?

[Dan Carpenter]

It's working.  I think it was just a problem with the random old
linux-next kernel I was testing.  Sorry for the noise.

I do think it should be "select BCMA" instead of "depends on BCMA".  Is
there something I have missed?

regards,
dan carpenter

Re: How to get BRCM to work?

[Arend van Spriel]

On 11/05/2013 11:25 PM, Dan Carpenter wrote:
> It's working.  I think it was just a problem with the random old
> linux-next kernel I was testing.  Sorry for the noise.
>
> I do think it should be "select BCMA" instead of "depends on BCMA".  Is
> there something I have missed?

I agree that most users would be unaware that they need BCMA. However, 
the usual problem with 'select' is that the dependencies of the selected 
item are not selected. I believe Kconfig will fire off a warning for it, 
but the aforementioned users may only raise an eyebrow and continue.

If there are Kconfig wizards out there, please feel free to make any 
suggestions.

Regards,
Arend

Re: How to get BRCM to work?

[Hauke Mehrtens]

On 11/06/2013 10:44 AM, Arend van Spriel wrote:
> On 11/05/2013 11:25 PM, Dan Carpenter wrote:
>> It's working.  I think it was just a problem with the random old
>> linux-next kernel I was testing.  Sorry for the noise.
>>
>> I do think it should be "select BCMA" instead of "depends on BCMA".  Is
>> there something I have missed?
> 
> I agree that most users would be unaware that they need BCMA. However,
> the usual problem with 'select' is that the dependencies of the selected
> item are not selected. I believe Kconfig will fire off a warning for it,
> but the aforementioned users may only raise an eyebrow and continue.
> 
> If there are Kconfig wizards out there, please feel free to make any
> suggestions.

Currently CONFIG_BCMA does not select anything else, it just depends on
CONFIG_BCMA_POSSIBLE, when CONFIG_BCMA is selected CONFIG_BCMA_HOST_PCI
will be activated automatically, so for the case of a PCIe card it
should work with "select BCMA" in brcmsmac, CONFIG_BCMA_POSSIBLE is set
for all normal PCs.

In b43 we do the same with CONFIG_SSB and I do not know of any problems.

Hauke

Re: How to get BRCM to work?

[Arend van Spriel]

On 11/06/13 13:39, Hauke Mehrtens wrote:
> On 11/06/2013 10:44 AM, Arend van Spriel wrote:
>> On 11/05/2013 11:25 PM, Dan Carpenter wrote:
>>> It's working.  I think it was just a problem with the random old
>>> linux-next kernel I was testing.  Sorry for the noise.
>>>
>>> I do think it should be "select BCMA" instead of "depends on BCMA".  Is
>>> there something I have missed?
>>
>> I agree that most users would be unaware that they need BCMA. However,
>> the usual problem with 'select' is that the dependencies of the selected
>> item are not selected. I believe Kconfig will fire off a warning for it,
>> but the aforementioned users may only raise an eyebrow and continue.
>>
>> If there are Kconfig wizards out there, please feel free to make any
>> suggestions.
>
> Currently CONFIG_BCMA does not select anything else, it just depends on
> CONFIG_BCMA_POSSIBLE, when CONFIG_BCMA is selected CONFIG_BCMA_HOST_PCI
> will be activated automatically, so for the case of a PCIe card it
> should work with "select BCMA" in brcmsmac, CONFIG_BCMA_POSSIBLE is set
> for all normal PCs.

I remember vaguely some issues with selecting GPIOLIB. Anyway, I guess I 
should go for:

depends BCMA_POSSIBLE
select BCMA if BCMA_POSSIBLE

The first makes sure brcmsmac can only be selected on platforms where 
BCMA is possible and the second for the BCMA selection. Does that make 
sense?

Regards,
Arend

> In b43 we do the same with CONFIG_SSB and I do not know of any problems.
>
> Hauke
>