Wifi impossible to install without physical network connection

[haiqu]

Attempted to install wifi "firmwares" from Windows per instructions at ​https://www.haiku-os.org/guides/daily-tasks/wireless and since I'm on a purely wireless connection I installed 'wget' and downloaded the script which - per the Notes section - can be run from any other OS.

Pure rubbish. Windows doesn't recognise shell scripts. Well, it might with a full Unix shell emulation, but that's a bit much to expect. End result is that I can't connect to the internet on this machine using Haiku.

How about someone just bundles up the files in a zipfile for download?

[humdinger]

You can attach the zipfile to this ticket, while investigating if the licenses of those firmwares are compatible with this means of distribution.

[haiqu]

That would be awesome Humdinger. However I can't do this personally, having no way to download the files (see description) since I'm working via wifi on a yacht.

[haiqu]

Further comment: The downloadable script at ​https://www.haiku-os.org/guides/daily-tasks/wireless is out-of-date, it points to the old svn database. Additionally the instructions talk about setting it up from the terminal, when this is now handled by the Network preflet.

[humdinger]

Thanks for noticing the outdated baseURL in the scripts (though the scripts still work)! I've attached the two corrected scripts that Niels can upload again when he has a minute, (same as for #11516).

I don't have Windows installed. If anyone has and can convert these scripts to something that can run on Windows, please attach those two for Niels to upload.

Maybe once that's done, the guide can be adapted to what's in the ​Userguide, which itself should be updated to reflect the new networking preflet.

[humdinger]

Script for Alpha4

[humdinger]

script for PM Haiku

[haiqu]

Attaching zipfile. I managed to get wifi working by attaching to my brother's router via a cable.

To install this, unzip to /boot and run install-wifi-firmwares.sh

Ticket should be closed now.

[haiqu]

Proprietary drivers for wifi

[humdinger]

I suspect that the reason that there is a script for users to execute themselves in the first place, is that the firmwares licensing forbids "direct" distribution of the binaries. It'd therefore be more helpful to have a corresponding Windows batch file that does the downloading and zipping.
I know, it's totally stupid...

[haiqu]

Yep. There's a wget for Windows so that would work.

Edit: As long as it doesn't have a raft of dependencies and frobbity installation instructions, like so much "free" software. If it needs to be run from the terminal most windoze users will give up ...

​http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/wget.htm

[haiqu]

Here's the batchfile, it copes with pre- and post-alpha cases.

You'll need to install wget for windows (link in last message) and zip for windows ​http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/zip.htm IN THEIR DEFAULT LOCATIONS in order to use this.

I also note that the scripts available online are now broken, the headers have been replaced with a pointer to the "oldhaiku" directories. Needs fixing for other systems, my batchfile corrects it for windows users.

[haiqu]

Usage: Drop the batchfile into a temp Windows directory (or onto the desktop) and double-click. You should see a zipfile automagically appear very shortly. :-)

[pulkomandy]

In Windows 7 and later, PowerShell could be used to remove the dependency on wget: ​https://teusje.wordpress.com/2011/02/19/download-file-with-powershell/

However it's noce to have a batch script that runs in XP and previous versions.

[haiqu]

Fix minor script error

[haiqu]

Since about 25% of Windows systems being used worldwide are XP or lower it makes sense to provide a solution that caters for all systems. Well, anything from Win2k onward anyhow.

Frankly I've never used Windows 7 or beyond, and don't ever plan to.

[richienyhus]

I created a GCI task last year to add some Windows-to-Haiku migration features to the C# app ​HaikuOnAStick, although the task was never accepted.

Basicly the master plan would be to get it to grab the lastest Haiku nightly or release, the firmware for the system's wifi chip and then the system settings and personal information (contacts etc) that the user wants to migrate.

Then it would create a USB stick with a bootable Haiku system on a bfs partition and a small fat32 partition with the information retrieved via Windows.

It could be packaged and distributed by Chocolaty and Nuget (the Windows equivalent of HaikuPorter and HaikuPorts)

[miqlas]

Updated downloader script

[miqlas]

Here is the updated script.

Change:

baseURL was ​http://cgit.haiku-os.org/haiku/tree/src/system/libroot/posix, now ​http://cgit.haiku-os.org/haiku/plain/src/system/libroot/posix.

So you won't get the HTML tags in the byteswap.h files.

[humdinger]

@nielx, you think you could update that script on the website with miqlas' latest? Thanks!

[humdinger]

Since the website moved to be static, I could upload the updated/new scripts. Thanks miqlas and haiqu!

[fsv141]

Guys, I do not understand what and where to download! In the user manual - old links to scripts for off-line installation wi-fi and these files do not work! Downloaded from here *.bat file does not work! It produces a zip with a size of 5 kb. Well, can not you do everything right? We will never occupy any significant segment of OS users!

[waddlesplash]

Do you actually need that firmware anyway? 99% of hardware does not; we include firmware for all Intel WiFi chips on the regular install. Only old Broadcom chips need the archive.

[fsv141]

Yes, I need. I want to install a Haiku on Lenovo E10-30. This is a very suitable platform for Haiku to make a music computer. But all the proposed scripts do not work for me. Files are not downloaded in Windows (with the wget and zip installed), because all the paths have changed. I tried to assemble the components separately and assemble them independently into a zip archive, but the install-wifi script does not install them. Tell me why it is impossible to simply make an off-line installation package? Download it, copy to flash-drive and run into haiku? Why all these contrived difficulties?

And further. When I install TinyCore Linux, then I have a wi-fi works without problems. Why can't make it in Haiku as well?

[kallisti5]

Why all these contrived difficulties?

While the script in question needs to be updated (or maybe even moved into a Haikuports package?), the core reason for its existence isn't up to us.

Some of Broadcom's wireless chipsets require a binary blob to function. This binary was released under unclear closed licensing. If we were to re-distribute the binary blob, we would be open to legal litigation from the Broadcom company.

Here's an example from ArchLinux:

b43 Two reverse-engineered open-source drivers are built-in to the kernel: b43 and b43legacy. b43 supports most newer Broadcom chipsets, while the b43legacy driver only supports the early BCM4301 and BCM4306 rev.2 chipsets. To avoid erroneous detection of your WiFi card's chipset, blacklist the unused driver.

Both of these drivers require non-free firmware to function. Install b43-firmwareAUR, b43-firmware-classicAUR or b43-firmware-legacyAUR from the AUR.

Note: BCM4306 rev.3, BCM4311, BCM4312 and BCM4318 rev.2 have been noticed to experience problems with b43-firmware. Use b43-firmware-classicAUR for these cards instead. BCM4331 noticed to have problems with b43-firmware-classic. Use b43-firmware for this card instead.

-- ​https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Broadcom_wireless

ArchLinux solves the issue by shipping b43 firmwares via a 3rd party repository.

[waddlesplash]

ArchLinux solves the issue by shipping b43 firmwares via a 3rd party repository.

Looks like FreeBSD packages them directly, but does not ship them: ​http://firmware.openbsd.org/firmware/6.4/

We should take a look at using those.

[waddlesplash]

But actually this is all unrelated. fsv141, your WiFi device is not supported by our drivers at all; see ticket #6480. The firmware files for that device we can distribute, I think.

[fsv141]

Ok. So I have to build a music computer based on TinyCore Linux... :(

However, regardless of my problems, the scripts still do not work. In any case, the bat for Windows for sure.

By the way, it seems like my chip Broadcom BCM943142HM.