Broadcom STA WL wireless kernel driver

The Linux kernel has drivers for Broadcom wireless, however, some people want the official 'wl.ko' module from Broadcom. This is an alternative driver, and if used requires that other drivers be blacklisted.

There is discussion about this on the forum, and how to compile it:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=1466

As I mentioned in that forum thread, I keep bumping the kernel version, so users will have to recompile the 'wl.ko' module each time.

So, I have automated the compile, so every time I compile the kernel, a PET is created for the 'wl.ko' module, named like this:

broadcom-sta-wl-20201202-k${KERNELVERSION}-${DISTRO_COMPAT_VERSION}64.pet

As noted in the forum, you will have to blacklist the normal Broadcom modules.

Then, when there is a new version of EasyOS (or EasyPup), with a newer kernel, then you will have to download the PET, but not install it until after the upgrade. To keep things tidy, probably best to uninstall the current PET, before upgrading.

You could use the "petget" package manager to get the new PET, and choose "download only", or grab it directly. For example, the Buster-series PETs are here:

http://distro.ibiblio.org/easyos/amd64/packages/pet/pet_packages-buster/

The reason I say to hold off installing it until after the version upgrade, is because the PET has a post-install script (pinstall.sh) that runs "depmod", which makes the 'wl.ko' module available.

Well, you could install the PET before upgrading, but remember to manually run "depmod" in a terminal after version upgrade.  

Tags: easy