Return-path: Received: from mail-qc0-f174.google.com ([209.85.216.174]:55597 "EHLO mail-qc0-f174.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1757333Ab2EJPAD convert rfc822-to-8bit (ORCPT ); Thu, 10 May 2012 11:00:03 -0400 Received: by qcro28 with SMTP id o28so1178425qcr.19 for ; Thu, 10 May 2012 08:00:02 -0700 (PDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: References: Date: Thu, 10 May 2012 23:00:02 +0800 Message-ID: (sfid-20120510_170010_436904_03FD8660) Subject: Re: how to remove the b43 From: lina To: Julian Calaby Cc: linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Sender: linux-wireless-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: On Thu, May 10, 2012 at 10:25 PM, Julian Calaby wrote: > Hi Lina, > > Firstly, which distribution are you using, is it Ubuntu? Debian? Suse? > Fedora? or something else? Debian, The going-to-be-retired kernel version 3.2.5 Recently I forget to follow up, does it still need the compat-wireless in 3.3.5 for 03:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4331 802.11a/b/g/n (rev 02) > > On Thu, May 10, 2012 at 11:38 PM, lina wrote: >> Hi, >> >> I want to clear the >> b43-fwcutter-015 >> broadcom-wl-* >> and all it related. > > Ok, the first thing you need to understand is which files do what and > how they're related. > > Broadcom wireless devices which are driven by the b43 driver have three "parts": > > 1. The driver in the kernel itself. This is called "b43". This > controls the hardware and provides an interface between the kernel > wireless code and the actual hardware. I compared what under the /lib/modules/3.3.5/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ form the time-stamp, I notice the b43 was installed at the same time with kernel, Thanks for confirming me that the b43 driver is in kernel itself. > > 2. The firmware, this lives in /lib/firmware or wherever your distro > puts it and are called ucode*.fw. The firmware is software which runs > on the actual wireless card and runs the hardware at a low level. :/lib/firmware$ ls -1 3.2.5mj-lina 3.3.5 b43 $ cd 3.3.5/ $ ls 3com bnx2 edgeport korg qlogic ti_5052.fw yamaha acenic bnx2x emi26 matrox r128 tigon adaptec cis emi62 mts_cdma.fw radeon ttusb-budget advansys cpia2 ess mts_edge.fw sun whiteheat.fw atmsar11.fw cxgb3 kaweth mts_gsm.fw tehuti whiteheat_loader.fw av7110 e100 keyspan_pda ositech ti_3410.fw yam another question, why I have so many things under /lib/firmware/3.3.5, Did I build a heavy kernel, what does those firmware for? are they for some other type of firmware? Thanks ahead, > > 3. As broadcom has not distributed firmware for these devices in the > linux-firmware repository, a separate tool called b43-fwcutter is used > to extract the firmware from other Broadcom drivers. I start to understand now. trying hard to get the meaning of the firmware, can guess now, still lack a strong sense of what it is though. Thanks for your explaination. > >> The reason I want to clear is that today I installed the kernel ?3.3.5, >> but still keep the last version 3.2.5 >> >> I want to clear the b43 related in 3.2.5, and re-install in 3.3.5 > > Ok, so part 1, the driver, is part of the kernel and will be upgraded > when you upgrade your kernel from version 3.2.5 to 3.3.5. Ha ... I didn't upgrade. I just obtained from kernel.org, not from debian repository. now kept two, is it redundant? maybe just in case. > > The firmware (part 2) and b43-fwcutter (part 3) do *not* depend on the > version of the kernel driver, and may safely be left alone when you > upgrade your kernel. > >> Thanks ahead for your suggestions. >> >> P.S I have done some robust blind clear, but >> # lsmod >> Module ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Size ?Used by >> b43 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 353456 ?0 >> mac80211 ? ? ? ? ? ? ?381396 ?1 b43 >> cfg80211 ? ? ? ? ? ? ?178201 ?2 mac80211,b43 >> pcmcia ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 40801 ?2 ssb,b43 >> pcmcia_core ? ? ? ? ? ?18294 ?1 pcmcia >> >> seems I have removed the compact-wireless > > Firstly it's 'compat-wireless' not 'compact-wireless'. ^_^. I did lack of understanding. > > Secondly, deleting system files without knowing exactly what you're > doing is a _really_bad_ idea. > > Thirdly, what precisely are you trying to do? > > Are you: > 1. Trying to use the stock driver in 3.3.5? in 3.3.5 > 2. Trying to use the stock driver from 3.2.5? keep it as plan C or D, in case I have problem or mess up something in future, so I can ... > 3. Trying to use the driver in compat-wireless from a later kernel version? Can I ? I don't know the latest progress in this area, no need the compat-wireless support in latest kernel version? > > If you are trying option 1, using the stock driver in 3.3.5, then you > should have to do _nothing_ other than upgrade the kernel. I strongly > recommend doing this unless you require some feature or bug fix that > is not present in kernel version 3.3.5. Your distribution should > provide a package for obtaining the firmware, I strongly recommend you > install it and _leave_it_alone_. Before strangly it not work in the 3.3.5, or maybe something not activate in my network manager, so I came up the idea to remove the one in 3.2.5, I didn't realize it's independent from kernel version until later. another reason to remove it from 3.2.5 is to reduce the chance of my / get saturated. I only give 666M. > > If you are trying option 2, using the stock driver from 3.2.5, then > you cannot upgrade your kernel as the driver from kernel version 3.2.5 > _will_not_work_ with kernel version 3.3.5. Also, the driver in kernel > version 3.3.5 will have received many improvements over the version in > 3.2.5 and as such, will perform better than the older version. I > _strongly_ recommend that you use the driver in kernel version 3.3.5. Thanks, I will. > > If you are trying option 3, then you will need to re-compile whichever > version of compat-wireless you wish to use *every* time you upgrade > your kernel. Remember that the version of compat-wireless *must* be > greater than the version of your kernel. I recommend you do not use > compat-wireless unless you need some feature or bug fix that is not > present in your current kernel. > >> Sorry I do really lack understanding about what's going on. > > Yes, you really do. Now better. haha ... > > May I strongly recommend you use the stock drivers that come with your > kernel and the firmware that comes with your distribution. You seem to > be very insistent on doing this yourself, and it is simply not > necessary. > > Also, remember to use reply-all when replying. Yes. Thanks Julian, > > Thanks, > > -- > Julian Calaby > > Email: julian.calaby@gmail.com > Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/julian.calaby/ > .Plan: http://sites.google.com/site/juliancalaby/