Linux Mint Forums

As the title reads, I am running Linux Mint 14 (Nadia) 64-bit on a early 2011 MacBook Pro (has Mountain Lion, I am dual booting).

Dual booting was accomplished by using rEFIt (I considered rEFInd, but this just works so I didn't bother trying anything else).

Got Mint on there by creating a USB key with following file structure: boot.iso is the Linux Mint 14 .iso but renamed for this particular technique.

Problem is that I can not access the wireless settings and can't find any way to get them to come up!

I have tried many methods that I found online including downloading different b43-fwcutter type stuff and tried to extract the drivers and yes, I have rebooted the machine.

The laptop is running great on dual boot with rEFIt but it is not connecting wirelessly with my Mint install! Will anyone help please!

I had the same issue with Broadcom 4311, and I finally found a solution. Don't know if it will work for you as well, but here's what I did:

- First, I connected my laptop to the internet via my Android smartphone using USB tethering (cable connection should do too);
- Second, I found in the Software Manager and installed b43-fwcutter;
- Third, I found and installed firmware-b43-installer.

I tried offline installation of both tools as well (as suggested elsewhere on the Internet), but it didn't work.

Good luck!

you wrote "b43-swcutter" in this post and in another post. you mean "b43-fwcutter", right? i already tried this via ethernet cable. still no wireless settings anywhere!

gfunkera wrote:you wrote "b43-swcutter" in this post and in another post. you mean "b43-fwcutter", right? i already tried this via ethernet cable. still no wireless settings anywhere!

Oh, of course, thanks for pointing out!

I didn't even have to go to wireless settings - once I installed the second package, the laptop immediately enabled wireless and showed all the connections available.

Strange, I just did a fresh install again on the macbook. Here's the process I used (you may wish to skip to "after installation" section:

1. make EFI-bootable USB stick using special file (bootX64.iso) and Linux Mint 14 (Nadia) 64-bit version .iso file (renamed to boot.iso for purposes of this method). Place both files on USB key in folder /efi/boot/
this gives a total of 1 USB key with 2 folders (one inside the other) first folder is named "efi" and then inside of that folder is "boot" folder. Inside the boot folder are the two .iso files.

2. Install rEFIt and reboot Macbook at least twice to ensure that it works. It should come up every time the Macbook boots even without holding the "option" key.

3. Choose the option that says something like "launch the 'bootX64.iso' from USBKEY". Wait for the Ubuntu EFI USB Launcher (i think thats what its called) to load Linux and the RAMdisk. Linux Mint Live should pop up no problem.

4. Install Linux Mint 14 from the live session onto a pre-partitioned drive (I partitioned my 500GB drive in Mac OS X Mountain Lion before hand, I gave Mint 90GB).
- It is important note here that I did an advanced install when Mint Installation asked me. I manually selected an ext4 and defined the root folder and then chose a swap and boot partition.


AFTER INSTALLATION
5. After installation, I removed the USB key and restarted the computer and was greeted by rEFIt and I chose the Linux partition. It booted fine and I plugged it into an ethernet cable. (Im using that internet now to write this). I ran the mintupdate, it did its thing.

6. After mint update I went to terminal and typed "sudo apt-get update" and "sudo apt-get upgrade" and then when it finished I did "sudo apt-get dist-upgrade" then to be sure I did them all again in the same order.

7. Then I opened Synaptic and searched "b43". After that I downloaded the two packages you mentioned earlier. I closed synaptic and restarted the computer.

The computer still does not know that it is capable of wireless

I solved the problem by finding a tutorial online after searching: "Ubuntu 12.10" + "wifi" + "broadcom"

I am trying to find the exact link that I used. I will post it here when I find it.
It was pretty straight forward and required some changes to some system files. As soon as I finished the instructions, the wireless popped up and it work quite well!

Thanks for your help!

Hooray! Glad you found a solution!:)

Here are the instructions that I promised to deliver. These instructions have worked twice for me with Linux Mint 14 and it was only about a 10 minute process each time. Here is the link: http://askubuntu.com/questions/63648/ho ... b43-driver

hi. Will this method provided at the link also work with non-MAC machines? I am asking because I am curious to know if some of the commands in terminal are specific to MAC machines.
For example, the first link that gfunkera gives points to a link in which a secondary link is provided.

Im pretty sure it will work for non-mac machines. Also, Im a bit confused but Im pretty sure that I have only provided one link in this thread... which is this one: http://askubuntu.com/questions/63648/ho ... b43-driver