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I'm using Ubuntu 12.04 on a MacBook Pro 8,1, but my wireless driver says that the firmware is missing, I've tried with many methods on the internet but I haven't found anything, so, what do I have to do? I'm such a noob so I'd like a semi-detailed tutorial so I can understand what to do, THANK YOU

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  • Welcome to AskUbuntu. The missing firmware is (your?) the driver. Connect an ethernet cable, and wait for a prompt to install it. If nothing happens after a minute, search for Additional Drivers in the Dash. Anything there? If not, you'll need to post some info about the wireless hardware. For example, the output of lspci from a terminal (ctrl-alt-t) would be a start. May 19, 2012 at 2:49
  • @mikewhatever You may want to post this comment as an answer instead, since it includes information sufficient to fix this problem most of the time. Jun 21, 2012 at 4:02
  • Good idea! I'll do that. Jun 21, 2012 at 5:07
  • I do not have eithernet port to connect internet. The new mac book pro doesnt have it. Any other solution?
    – Rayvaci
    Mar 24, 2013 at 15:19
  • use bluetooth and tether with your phone. Still firguring out how to install drivers tho. Oct 1, 2013 at 10:56

5 Answers 5

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I own a late 2009 MacBook running Ubuntu 12.10. I went to this website and it instructed me to use the following command line:

sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer

After the installer finished, I did not see my wireless network work. I completely shut down and then restarted and when Ubuntu had finished booting, there was a prompt saying that wireless networks were available to connect to. I hope this helps.

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  • This also worked on an iMac I was having trouble with Linux Mint 17.1. Thanks!
    – jbjon
    Jun 29, 2015 at 15:53
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Connect an ethernet cable, and wait for a prompt to install the wireless driver. If nothing happens after a minute, search for Additional Drivers in the Dash. Anything there? If not, you'll need to post some info about the wireless hardware. For example, the output of lspci from a terminal ctrl-alt-t would be a start.

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For Broadcom Corporation BCM4331 802.11a/b/g/n [you can test it by : lspci -nn | grep 0280]

Run in terminal :

sudo apt-get install linux-firmware-nonfree

sudo modprobe b43

dmesg |grep -e b43 -e bcma

it worked like a magic for me..

taken from:::: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2011756

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  • Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, it would be preferable to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference.
    – Ringtail
    Dec 16, 2012 at 16:11
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I used the following script on Ubuntu 11.10 and it also works on 12.04:

From Pastebin:

# Download:
# http://linuxwireless.org/download/compat-wireless-2.6/compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2
# http://bu3sch.de/b43/fwcutter/b43-fwcutter-015.tar.bz2
# http://www.lwfinger.com/b43-firmware/broadcom-wl-5.100.138.tar.bz2

tar xjf compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2
cd compat-wireless-*
scripts/driver-select b43
make
make install
cd ..
tar xjf b43-fwcutter-015.tar.bz2
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I can't upvote or comment because I haven't enough reputation so I have to write this as an answer in itself... but all I wanted to say was:

I am using a mid-2008 Macbook 4.1 and Bodhi linux v.2.4.0 (based off of Ubuntu) and zangeed's answer above worked for me. I used synaptic package manager to download everything b43 (the broadcom driver) from the repositories. This according to too many sites should be enough. It wasn't, and this is the missing step.

These steps (exactly as they are in zangeed's answer) worked in getting the driver/card activated:

  1. sudo apt-get install linux-firmware-nonfree

  2. sudo modprobe b43

  3. dmesg |grep -e b43 -e bcma

So my advice is:

  1. open synaptic, search b43 and install pretty much anything that comes up in the results that seems relevant :) .
  2. follow the 3 steps in zangeed's answer above
  3. Upvote zangeed (if you can) to that other people see his answer

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