HOWTO: Install and tweak Tiny Core for Dell mini-9

[Juanito]

I don't think broadcom supports linux at all with drivers.  So it looks like an ndiswrapper thing??

I think the b43 module + firmware, the wl extension and the ndiswrapper extension all stand a chance of working - I have a laptop with similar hardware to this and all three options work

[linuxnovo]

Have been doing some googling on the driver.  The following seemed most promising:

http://jomcode.com/fadhil/jomcode/broadcom-official-linux-driver-bcm4312/

[linuxnovo]

Seems to me that the simplist solution would be the best.  The wl extention is pretty easy to impliment! The ndiswrapper is the least acceptible as was indicated.

[linuxnovo]

The wifi is now functional:

the extension wl.tcz is assumed to be installed!

/boot/grub/menu.lst has added "blacklist=ssb" and "blacklist=b43"

/opt/bootlocal.sh has:

"sudo wicd-start"
"sudo iwconfig eth0 essid any"

last line changed to:

"sudo iwconfig eth1 essid any"

Now, all is well, thank God!

[gerald_clark]

You do not need to use sudo in bootlocal.sh.
It is already running as root.

[tinypoodle]

And you were even able to avoid to resort to ndiswrapper 

[nick65go]

I confirm that my Dell mini 910 works with any of the solutions:  b43 module + firmware, OR wl.
And I use only wpa supplicant, less dependency than wicd. It is so easy to take a demo text wpa.config and customise.

As kernel number will rise up from 2.6.33, maybe WL close source will not be kept updated.
My advice is to use open source where/when ever you can, even (at the beginning) it is a little work to make a small extension (as to put some files in /lib/firmware and mksquash them, then auto load with onboot.lst)
Because firmware is fixed for longer time, not use boot parameters to blacklist module, and kernel module are build into TC base, etc.

Laziness and luxury is paid by bloat and RAM resources eat.
Amazing how small things could be complicated, just to "help" novice (aka: not wish to RTfM/read the docs)
I do not wish to be rude, but IMHO Linux is about KISS (Keep It Simple S...er). If one wants all turnkey out of the box, why mess with TC? World is full of Ubuntu or XP / Vvista, which JUST works.