ap’s websphere

I was a bit disappointed when It came to my attention that the Network Controller in my DI15 is Broadcom, which don’t have any free drivers. Somebody told me that I may have to install NDISwrapper and use the windows driver to make it work. I have googled a lot for the howtos of installing and using NDISwrapper. From a blog I got the information that NDISwrapper not needed any more for Broadcom adapters, there are driver packages available for various GNU/Linux Distros, but are non-free. The only advantage is that we don’t have to go for the ugly windows stuff.

RPMs for Broadcom 802.11 wireless drivers are now available in the rpmfusion repository of fedora 10. All we have to do is 2-3 simple steps and here is what I have done in my system.

1) Enable the rpmfusion repository

You have to enable the rpmfusion repository using the command

sudo rpm -Uvh http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-stable.noarch.rpm

2) Update the repo and install the driver package

The package we have to install is broadcom-wl and it depends on the package kmod-wl

sudo yum update
sudo yum install broadcom-wl

3) Reboot the system

When the system boots up, network manager will then detect the Broadcom wireless device and you will be able to connect to the wireless network through it

NB: Make sure that the “broadcom” kernel module is loaded. if not, add a line “modprobe broadcom” in /etc/rc.modules (In debian or debian based distros add a line “broadcom” in /etc/modules)

Please post your comments/suggestions here

Yet another member to the fedora family, Fedora 10 (Codename: Cambridge) released yesterday. The key features will be the brand new Gnome 2.24 and KDE 4.1. Another interesting thing is that Fedora 10 is stepping out with full support to Malayalam.

Quoting from Jesse Keating’s mail to Fedora announce list.

From: Jesse Keating <jkeating@redhat.com>
Date: 2008/11/25
Subject: Cambridge Launched to Explore Solar System (Fedora 10)

DATELINE: 2008-11-25

KEY FINGERPRINT: 61A8 ABE0 91FF 9FBB F4B0 7709 BF22 6FCC 4EBF C273

LOCATION: GEOSYNC ORBIT, FEDORA SPACE STATION VIA GLOBAL IRC NETWORK

BROADCASTING: FREEDOM FRIENDS FEATURES FIRST

(Cue J. Strauss’ “Blue Danube.”)

THIS IS FEDORA SPACE OPERATIONS ANNOUNCING with great pleasure the
successful launch of the new ship, Fedora 10: “Cambridge.”

Strapped into the pilot seats are the latest GNOME (2.24) and KDE (4.1),
accompanied on their amazing journey by an all star crew of glitch free
audio, better printing and webcam support, and a new faster graphical
startup.

Also on this ride are wireless connection sharing and the next evolution
in PackageKit, hooking through your multimedia applications to help
install supporting software (codecs).

For developers and system administrators on this mission, we have built
in appliance tools, Eclipse 3.4, NetBeans IDE, improved virtualization
management with remote installation and storage capabilities, RPM 4.6,
and new security auditing toolsets.

Please remember to polarize viewports to properly enjoy Cambridge’s
brand new graphics theme, “Solar,” shining on the desktop. Also on this
flight is a new lightweight desktop environment, LXDE, joining the more
recent desktop envionment crew member, Sugar (from the starship OLPC
XO), and the venerable GNOME, KDE, and XFCE.

We are now leaving drydock for a 13-month mission of innovation and
exploration. Crew members and guests are invited to the forward lounge
to use, study, modify, and redistribute.

To get your copy of Fedora 10 visit http://get.fedoraproject.org/

Release Notes:-

English – http://docs.fedoraproject.org/release-notes/f10/en_US/

മലയാളം – http://docs.fedoraproject.org/release-notes/f10/ml/

The 9th candidate from the fedora family, Fedora – 9 (Code Name : Sulphur) released today. The main attraction will be the presence new released KDE-4.

Visit here to get it http://get.fedoraproject.org/

The Dynamic Duo Rocks again…