Hi, I installed ubuntu server on a mac mini late 2012, and I have now (as expected) a problem with the firmware for the Broadcom network adapter / wifi card.

I could install those firmware quite easily with the package firmware-b43-installer but I obviously cannot use apt to download and install this package.

Then I thought to manually download the package from another computer and install it manually in Ubuntu. I saved the .deb into a USB stick and tried to install it, but this package depends on other packages that are not installed on the machine.

Then I thought “ok, I’ll do the same for the dependencies and I will install the manually before install the firmware-b43-installer”.

The problem is, of course, that also those packages depends on something else.

I don’t think is a good idea to go down into the dependency hole and look manually for all the depndendencies of the dependencies… there is a more efficient way to do this? There is a way to download a package with its recursive dependencies?

Or somebody installed already Ubuntu (or a debian based distro) on a mac mini with Broadcom chip that can put me on the right direction?

Thanks a lot.

  • TCB13@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Or somebody installed already Ubuntu (or a debian based distro) on a mac mini with Broadcom chip that can put me on the right direction?

    Sure, current Debian 12 should include drivers for that chip. Pick some large install media and it should be there. Since the packages are sorted by popularity and that firmware is popular the first DVD or BL should include it.

    For Debian 12 onwards, all the packaged non-free firmware binaries that Debian can distribute have been moved to a new component in the Debian archive, called non-free-firmware. (…) Debian’s installation and live images now include all of those firmware packages. The system should automatically detect, load and install the firmware available for your devices, where possible.

    • gnuhaut@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      This is incorrect, that firmware is not included in the installer (for legal reasons, probably). firmware-b43-installer is just a script. It downloads some driver from a website and extracts the firmware blobs from that driver using another utility called b43-fwcutter. The package description for that reads:

      Description: utility for extracting Broadcom 43xx firmware

      This package provides a tool for extracting BCM43xx wireless chip firmware from Broadcom’s proprietary driver files.

      It is used by the firmware-b43(legacy)-installer packages as part of the automated process of downloading and installing firmware.