If you want wifi drivers for Broadcom chip on open source platform like linux, please support us.

Introduction:

      Broadcom released opensource drivers named brcm80211 for its wifi devices due to pressure from the opensource community. Afterwards the drivers were splitted into two parts namely brcmsmac and brcmfmac for softmac and fullmac devices respectively.

      Brcmfmac devices are connected via USB and other means. Broadcom updates those drivers and adds support for new devices, for increasing sales by increasing the use of those devices on linux platforms especially raspberry pi.

      On the contrary broadcom has neither updated nor added any new devices to the brcmsmac drivers since long years, while a lot more (even more than that there were present at that time) new softmac devices were released in the market.

The Problem:

      Brcmsmac drivers are meant to support PCI and PCIe cards, be it inbuilt or add-on; on open source platforms like linux. But as OEMs (hardware manufacturers like the company that manufactured your laptop) are mostly their buyers, they don't care. And as OEMs mostly give support for only windows on those devices they won't care, but if you decide to switch to linux or any other open source OS later it would land you in trouble with the wifi.

      There are alternative drivers available but other drivers especially b43 isn't going to support the latest devices, 802.11n modes are not supported, as well as there are many limitations; and it takes lots of time and effort of programmers who work for the community without being paid. Moreover the broadcom's proprietary brcm-wl (close-sourced) doesn't support ap mode (i.e., you can't setup a hotspot ).

Severity:

 Remember the next device you buy may contain a broadcom wifi radio.

      Because many manufacturers use their radios, and they don't ever tell you what chips are inside. And most manufacturers keep different companies chips in same model with a different revision. So, during a warranty claim, the replacement device you get might have a broadcom wifi radio even though you didn't buy the one with it; because it's the same model, only a different revision.

Possible Solution:

      Only Broadcom can update those brcmsmac drivers as well as add support for new devices to it, because it isn't possible without knowing the chip internals, which is known only by broadcom at it is the chip manufacturer.

      Please support this move if you feel that they should update, add new devices to the driver and also keep doing so in the future.