WiFi Driver Issue on PowerBook G4 1.5Ghz

**Unix-Man** · March 13th, 2009

Hello I just finished a Dual boot of OS X 10.5 Leopard and Linux 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon.
When im in Linux i cannot connect to my wireless network and when i try running the "Restricted Driver Manager" and try to enable the Driver for my WiFi card it gives me some error saying

"The software source for the package bcm43xx-fwcutter is not enabled"

I would really like some help with this WiFi issue because if i can't have internet on Ubuntu i have no reason to Dual boot it.

Thanks Unix-Man

**pytheas22** · March 13th, 2009

Please boot to Ubuntu, plug your computer into the Internet via ethernet and run these commands:

Code:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install bcm43xx-fwcutter

You should be asked at some point if you want to download and install firmware automatically; say yes. Then reboot and your wireless should work.

These steps will work in Ubuntu 8.04 and up. I'm not positive about 7.10, but they should probably work there as well (is there a reason you're using 7.10 instead of a more up-to-date version of Ubuntu?).

**Unix-Man** · March 13th, 2009

Yea the 8.04 version had a lot of issues and wouldn't allow me to change any settings and it would give me random error messages it was just really glitchy and not very stable 7.10 doesn't have many issues at all just this WiFi thing

Also thanks SO much this is the only answer i have gotten and i have made 3 posts about this issue

**Unix-Man** · March 13th, 2009

All right i did the terminal command and this is what it came up with

nick@nick-laptop:~$ sudo apt-get install bcm43xx-fwcutter
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Couldn't find package bcm43xx-fwcutter
nick@nick-laptop:~$

Does that mean it can't find the package on the internet or on the Hard drive it's self?

**pytheas22** · March 13th, 2009

Sorry that didn't work. It seems that the package it needs isn't in the repository. You probably need to enable additional repositories (I don't remember which ones are enabled by default in 7.10). But as an alternative solution, please try running these commands:

Code:

mkdir firmware
cd firmware
wget http://burnthesorbonne.com/files/bcm43xx-firmware.tar.gz
tar -xzvf bcm43xx-firmware.tar.gz
sudo cp *fw /lib/firmware

Then reboot. Any luck now? If not, we can try enabling the extra repositories.

**Unix-Man** · March 14th, 2009

i cannot thank you enough, unfortunately i can't try this until tomorrow because im away from home but thanks you a million times for your help i'll let you know what happens with those commands

**Unix-Man** · March 15th, 2009

Okay We tried commands and they didn't work even after we rebooted so i think we should try enabling the extra repositories
Can you explain how?

**pytheas22** · March 15th, 2009

Sorry that didn't work. To enable the package containing the bcm43xx-fwcutter package, go to System>Administration>Software Sources. Under the 'Ubuntu Software' tab, you will have a list of software sources under the heading 'Downloadable from the Internet'. Make sure that all the boxes in this list are checked (and in particular the box for the 'universe' repository, which I believe contains the package you need). Then close the window. If you're asked about reloading the sources list, say yes. Then try running these commands again:

Code:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install bcm43xx-fwcutter

Hopefully it will work this time.

HOWEVER, I was thinking about this today and seem to remember that the bcm43xx driver in Ubuntu 7.10 did not support some wireless cards in certain Macs--even though it claimed the card, the card wouldn't work with it. This has been fixed in later versions of Ubuntu, but I'm afraid that even with the bcm43xx-fwcutter package installed, your wireless card may not work. If you still can't get your card working with the instructions above, please post the output of these commands so I can look up your exact wireless card model to see what the status of it is in Ubuntu 7.10:

Code:

lspci -nn
lshw -C Network
uname -rm

And also please let me know whether your Mac is Intel or powerpc-based.

If bcm43xx won't work, there are other ways to get the card running, so don't give up. Sorry this is becoming so complicated; unfortunately, I'm a bit out of practice when it comes to Gutsy.