Enable wifi firmware on Ubuntu 12.04

Question

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

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

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

Answer 3

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.

Answer 4

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