Hi all,

I've been testing the latest Liquorix kernel, for audio use, especially as it relates to firewire audio. I'm very impressed with performance - it's the first non-rt patched kernel that does the job for me. I've also been testing a 2.6.36-lowlatency kernel for GMaq from the AVLinux distro (he pointed me to Liquorix) and so far it looks like the Liquorix kernel is going to easily win the contest.

I only have one problem so far - the broadcom sta driver doesn't work. The module seems to build fine, loads with no errors, and the wireless LED comes on, but it is unable to find any wireless networks. My wireless works fine on GMaq's 2.6.36 kernel, so I'm thinking that the problem is in the kernel config or something. Any insight into this issue would be appreciated.
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I backported many patches available in the wireless-compat-2.6.36-5-spn that didn't make it into the final release of 2.6.36 but correct their driver behavior some. Looks like it also breaks drivers that use the 2.6.36 api but are not in the mainline kernel.

I'll remove this patch set for the next kernel release.
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Thanks for the quick response. I realize it's not your problem that Broadcom has an annoying driver. It's also not a showstopper problem for me and I'll say again I really like your kernel otherwise. I look forward to your future kernel release!
Thanks.
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Just to let you know, the Broadcom sta driver has worked perfectly fine for me, using the latest 2.6.36-0.dmz.13-liquorix-amd64
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Interesting - maybe I have an issue with modules and blacklisting then? I was using the driver from Debian Sid until I started trying to figure out what might be causing this. Currently I'm building and installing the module manually. But with .dmz.13 and .dmz.14 I have the same issue., other kernels (including a vanilla-based 2.6.36-lowlatency) on the same installation the driver works. So if it's just an issue with blacklisting some modules, they must be modules that aren't included in the other kernels I am using?

What is your /etc/modprobe.d/broadcom-sta-common.conf
Or whatever the relevant file is called on your system? Do you have to do anything special to get the modules loaded and working?

Edit: I think I found something relevant. This module
cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/PHYLIB.html
libphy
is not present in the liquorix kernel, but exists in my other kernels. My wireless chip is a broadcom 4315, otherwise known as 4312 LP-PHY. Guess I'm going to try compiling a kernel with that turned on in the config and see what happens.

Edit #2: I guess that's something that has changed with some of the patches. libphy appears to be part of tg3 now. But I'm getting in over my head now, I'd better let my fingers off before I break something again. ;)
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I had no idea how hated this particular (4315) Broadcom chip is! After much searching, the solution of choice seems to be to burn it and buy another wifi adapter...

Two more things from me:
1. dmz.15 behaves just as .13 and .14 did on the sta (wl) driver.
2. It's working now for me on the b43 lh-phy driver (in PIO-only mode, whatever that is - I'm not a networking guru.)

If you want me to keep testing the wl driver on this chip I can, but for now I'll see how b43 behaves.
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Hawking Technologies is known to make good linux compatible wireless adapters: www.hawkingtech.com/products/index.php?CatID=19&FamID=33

Just make sure you google with the model number + ubuntu before committing to a purchase to be sure that it actually works out of the box or with minimal setup (firmware or so).

P.S. I have a broadcom chip too in a desktop of mine. It hardly got any use because I got so frustrated with its lack of support in linux.
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My chip is BCM43225, probably that's the difference.

/etc/modprobe.d/broadcom-sta-common.conf

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Thanks for the info, no doubt it is a difference in the chips. As I have one that's called LP-PHY, and it is different enough to need a special firmware for the b43 driver to work, I'll just make myself happy and assume without proof that whatever is different about the liquorix kernels in this regard only breaks the wl driver for LP-PHY chips. It works on the b43 driver in PIO mode and that's good enough for me. Guess I'll wait to burn it until later...
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