Make Broadcom WLAN work (e.g., for MacBooks)

[probonopd]

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/595446/configuring-bcm4360-macbook-air-on-freebsd-to-connect-to-wifi

[probonopd]

Added the packages:

93218c5

Possibly additional configuration is needed as described above.

[probonopd]

Argh, https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/installing-broadcom-bcm43236-wifi-on-11-3-missing-firmware-error.76470/ says

There is no package for net/bwm-firmware-kmod, you need to build this from ports.

Maybe we can get the firmware from the existing Ubuntu package.

[probonopd]

https://steemit.com/freebsd/@valkyr/freebsd-on-lenovo-ideapad-s10-feat-broadcom-bcm4312

Seems to be quite involved to get this thing running!

[probonopd]

Also see 93218c5

[dotdash70]

The 4312 does work on NomadBSD with some lines added to the loader.conf. I replaced the card with an Atheros, but I have a laptop where it is easy to switch, so I could do some testing once the firmware is added.

[probonopd]

once the firmware is added

How would one do that in the most straightforward way? (How does it work on NomadBSD?)

Looking at https://github.com/nomadbsd/NomadBSD/blob/51c823f62993b14a5e2552c319191ccd38f1bbee/build.cfg#L83-L84 they are using

• net/bwi-firmware-kmod
• net/bwn-firmware-kmod

There is also

• b43-fwcutter
• bwn-firmware-kmod

Where is the firmware actually contained?

[dotdash70]

pkg info on my nomad system shows: bwn-firmware-kmod-0.1.2 (bwi is for an older broadcom chipset).
You may need to install from ports due to the license, not sure I haven't tried on pure FreeBSD.
The nomad system has bwn_v4_ucode.ko, bwn_v4_lp_ucode.ko, bwn_v4_n_ucode.ko in /boot/modules.
I added the following to /boot/loader.conf:
if_bwn_load="YES"
bwn_v4_ucode_load="YES"
bwn_v4_lp_ucode_load="YES"

I was going to try just copying the modules over and editing the loader.conf, but it appears modifying the run from usb system is non trivial. I might be able to scrounge anpther laptop HDD to try a full install on.

[probonopd]

Hint: You can also install helloSystem to a >= 8 GB USB stick rather than to an internal hard drive (I am typing this from one).

[dotdash70]

I got a laptop I could do an install to the HDD on and tested with the Broadcom 4312 card. This card is a b/g, but I also have a 4313, which is the n version. I tried fetching ports, but the bwn-firmware-kmod port requires kernel source, so I stopped there. It looks like it also requires the b43-fwcutter port. I installed from 0.5.0_OE141-FreeBSD-12.2, so I copied the .ko files from my Nomad system (also 12.2 based) into /boot/modules. I added if_bwn_load="YES" and bwn_v4_lp_ucode_load="YES" to the loader.conf and rebooted and was able to configure the card and connect to the network. I tried bwn_v4_ucode_load first, but the error messages showed it was looking for the lp firmware. I'm on that laptop now. pciconf shows:
bwn_pci0@pci0:12:0:0: class=0x028000 card=0x000c1028 chip=0x431514e4 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries'
device = 'BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY'
class = network
snippet from ifconfig:
parent interface: bwn0
media: IEEE 802.11 Wireless Ethernet OFDM/48Mbps mode 11g
status: associated

[probonopd]

Thanks for testing @dotdash70. Can you please give the exact names of the files you copied?

[dotdash70]

bwn_v4_lp_ucode.ko
bwn_v4_n_ucode.ko
bwn_v4_ucode.ko
(from NomadBSD 1.4)
The 'proper' way of doing it is something like: install kernel sources, install bw43-fwcutter port, install bwn-firmware kmod port.

[dotdash70]

Additional Notes:
I had to manually add the wlan entries to /etc/rc.conf to get the adapter to come up. I also copied over the working wpa_supplicant.conf from the Nomad system.

I tried the 4313 card, and that one is not supported under FreeBSD.
Found some more detailed information on Broadcom wireless cards in FreeBSD here:
https://landonf.org/code/freebsd/Broadcom_WiFi_Improvements.20180122.html
Most of that was over my head, but it appears newer chipsets require the FullMAC driver, which is not currently implemented.
This may happen in FreeBSD 13.x as work on SDIO progresses. Source: https://wiki.freebsd.org/SDIO

[probonopd]

If one has Ports installed:

sudo su
cd /usr/ports/net/bwn-firmware-kmod && make install

Source: https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/595474

We would probably need to build that package ourselves, so that we can include it in the ISO. But first we need to understand the Legalese involved.

To build a package:

In the Makefile comment out the line

# NO_PACKAGE=   this is a modified version of a restricted firmware

then run sudo make package.

FreeBSD% sudo make package
===>  Building package for bwn-firmware-kmod-0.1.2
FreeBSD% pkg info bwn-firmware-kmod       
bwn-firmware-kmod-0.1.2
Name           : bwn-firmware-kmod
Version        : 0.1.2
Installed on   : Sat Oct  2 14:10:08 2021 CEST
Origin         : net/bwn-firmware-kmod
Architecture   : FreeBSD:12:amd64
Prefix         : /usr/local
Categories     : net kld
Licenses       : 
Maintainer     : swhetzel@gmail.com
WWW            : UNKNOWN
Comment        : Broadcom AirForce IEEE 802.11 Firmware Kernel Module
Annotations    :
        FreeBSD_version: 1202000
Flat size      : 411KiB
Description    :
Firmware kernel module for bwn(4)

Rinse and repeat with bwi-firmware-kmod.

[probonopd]

On Mac mini Mid 2010 (Macmini4,1) FreeBSD 13.0-RELEASE based helloSystem 0.7.0 (Live) getting KLD bwn:v4_ucode.ko: depends on kernel - not available or version mismatch.

/boot/modules/bwn_v4_ucode.ko exists, and trying to load it manually results in the same message in dmesg.

FreeBSD breakage?