# Adding wireless to PPC 9.0 STABLE



## macunkie (Jul 2, 2012)

I've successfully installed 9-STABLE on my 15" Powerbook PPC.  I successfully got Xorg up and running and after a week of a [cmd=]make install clean[/cmd] in the x11/gnome2 port I now have Gnome up and running. I'm able to connect to the web via ethernet and load a browser.  Still need to install firefox.

Now I'm trying to understand the Handbook concerning wireless setup and modules versus a kernel compile of capabilities.  I'm a newbie to FreeBSD and just installed the standard configuration, but I did install the source.

The Handbook states:



> 32.3.2 Basic Setup
> 32.3.2.1 Kernel Configuration
> To use wireless networking, you need a wireless networking card and to configure the kernel with the appropriate wireless networking support. The latter is separated into multiple modules so that you only need to configure the software you are actually going to use.
> 
> ...



I added both 
	
	



```
if_ath_load="YES"
```
 and 
	
	



```
if_wi_load="YES"
```

My Powerbook does have wireless capabilities, but in network preferences or "anywhere" I don't see an option to connect to a "wireless" network. So do I have to start all over and somehow study how to build a custom kernel to include wireless capabilities?

If so where do I get started?

Thank you,  Samuel.


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## wblock@ (Jul 2, 2012)

The very first question to answer is what type of wireless chipset is installed.  Try this:
`% pciconf -lv | grep -B3 network`

What does that show?  If it lists an Atheros card, that's good news.  See Quick Wireless Setup On FreeBSD.

Either way, please show the output.


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## macunkie (Jul 2, 2012)

wblock@ said:
			
		

> The very first question to answer is what type of wireless chipset is installed.  Try this:
> `% pciconf -lv | grep -B3 network`
> 
> What does that show?  If it lists an Atheros card, that's good news.  See Quick Wireless Setup On FreeBSD.
> ...



Don't see an Aheros Card:
Here is my output:

```
localhost# pciconf -lv | grep -B3 network
none0@pci1:0:18:0:	class=0x028000 card=0x004e106b chip=0x432014e4 rev=0x03 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Broadcom Corporation'
    device     = 'BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller'
    class      = network
--
gem0@pci2:0:15:0:	class=0x020000 card=0x00000000 chip=0x0032106b rev=0x80 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Apple Computer Inc.'
    device     = 'UniNorth 2 GMAC (Sun GEM)'
    class      = network
```

I tried the quick setup method and rebooted and no go.
I'll check out the manual methods.


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## wblock@ (Jul 3, 2012)

Ah, Broadcom, the kiss of death.  There is a chance that card will work with bwi(4).  See that man page (it's a link).  You have to install a port for the firmware that makes that card operate, then load it in /boot/loader.conf.


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## macunkie (Jul 3, 2012)

wblock@ said:
			
		

> Ah, Broadcom, the kiss of death.  There is a chance that card will work with bwi(4).  See that man page (it's a link).  You have to install a port for the firmware that makes that card operate, then load it in /boot/loader.conf.



So at term # man bwi ?

So are you running a ppc version of FreeBSD ?
What port ?


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## wblock@ (Jul 3, 2012)

macunkie said:
			
		

> So at term # man bwi ?



Yes, or click the link in post #4.



> So are you running a ppc version of FreeBSD?



No.


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## macunkie (Jul 17, 2012)

*Still trying wireless on my powerbook*



			
				wblock@ said:
			
		

> Yes, or click the link in post #4.
> No.



Hope your still out there wblock in FreeBSD forum land somewhere.  I finally got around to installing the "bwi" port and then adding to my /boot/loader.conf

```
if_ath_load="YES"
if_wi_load="YES"
if_urtw_load="YES"
if_bwi_load="YES"
```
When I run the command 





> # ifconfig


 I get the following output:

```
localhost# ifconfig
fwe0: flags=8802<BROADCAST,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
	options=8<VLAN_MTU>
	ether 02:0a:95:db:71:32
	nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
	ch 1 dma -1
gem0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
	options=8000b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,LINKSTATE>
	ether 00:0a:95:db:71:32
	inet6 fe80::20a:95ff:fedb:7132%gem0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x6 
	inet6 2002:42e9:489:0:20a:95ff:fedb:7132 prefixlen 64 autoconf 
	inet 192.168.1.132 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
	nd6 options=23<PERFORMNUD,ACCEPT_RTADV,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
	media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
	status: active
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 16384
	options=3<RXCSUM,TXCSUM>
	inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128 
	inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x7 
	inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000 
	nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
```
I know the gem0 is my ethernet I'm connected to and lo0 has something to do with localhost.  I don't see the name of my wireless network in the above code...,  so does this mean that the "bwi" is the wrong option for discovering my network ?  Or should I do some more studying of the ifconfig command and the wireless portion of the handbook to see if there is more I'm missing in my "loader.conf" .

Thanks as always for any input !!!

Samuel


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## kpa (Jul 17, 2012)

Look at the dmesg(8) output for clues, it's possible that the card you have isn't supported by any of the drivers you loaded or there's some other problem with the drivers.


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## wblock@ (Jul 17, 2012)

macunkie said:
			
		

> Hope your still out there wblock in FreeBSD forum land somewhere.  I finally got around to installing the "bwi" port and then adding to my /boot/loader.conf
> 
> ```
> if_ath_load="YES"
> ...



There is not much point in the first three.  bwi(4) will not work without the firmware, which needs to be loaded here in addition to the driver itself.


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## macunkie (Jul 17, 2012)

wblock@ said:
			
		

> There is not much point in the first three.  bwi(4) will not work without the firmware, which needs to be loaded here in addition to the driver itself.



I did goto the port 





> ports/net/bwi-firmware-kmod


 and did a "make install clean".  It seemed to build fine.   Just don't know if there is any other configuration that needs to be done besides adding 





> if_bwi_load="YES" to the loader.conf


 to the loader.conf ?  I'll do some more reading of the man pages for bwi, but so far I'm still in the dark looking for confirmation that my system sees my wireless network .

Thanks as always !

Samuel..


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## wblock@ (Jul 17, 2012)

Add to /boot/loader.conf:

```
bwi_v3_ucode_load="YES"
```

If bwi(4) will work with that card, bwi0 should appear.


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