Broadcom BCM43224 wifi working a lagg failover for the Macbook Air 2011

NapoleonWils0n · Nov 24, 2024

Enable the Broadcom BCM43224 wifi for the Macbook Air 2011

and optionally create a lagg failover device
to automatically switch between ethernet and wifi

Freebsd Handbook

Chapter 34. Advanced Networking

Advanced networking in FreeBSD: basics of gateways and routes, CARP, how to configure multiple VLANs on FreeBSD, etc

docs.freebsd.org

notes on github

cerberus/freebsd/broadcom-wifi.org at master · NapoleonWils0n/cerberus

cerberus code library. Contribute to NapoleonWils0n/cerberus development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

1 - install the net/bwn-firmware-kmod port

you can use poudriere to install the port if you use packages
instructions in the links above

2 - loader.conf

edit your loader.conf

Code:

sudo vi /boot/loader.conf

add the following options

Code:

# broadcom wifi
hw.bwn_pci.preferred="1"
bwn_v4_ucode_load="YES"
bwn_v4_n_ucode_load="YES"
bwn_v4_lp_ucode_load="YES"
wlan_wep_load="YES"
wlan_ccmp_load="YES"
wlan_tkip_load="YES"

3 - rc.conf

3a - standard wifi connection

you can use either DHCP or SYNDHCP with ifconfig_wlan0

dhcp

Code:

wlans_bwn0="wlan0"
ifconfig_wlan0="WPA DHCP"

syndhcp

Code:

wlans_bwn0="wlan0"
ifconfig_wlan0="WPA SYNDHCP"

3b - lagg failover

create a lagg failover device between ethenet and wifi

change ifconfig_ue0 to the name of your ethernet device

and change "ether 04:0c:ce:d5:b0:ae"
to the wlan0 mac address of the wifi card which you can find with ifconfig

Code:

ifconfig

it will be listed under wlan0 and look like this

Code:

wlan0: flags=1008843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST,LOWER_UP> metric 0 mtu 1500
        options=0
        ether 04:0c:ce:d5:b0:ae

and add the following options to your rc.conf

Code:

# laggo failover device - bwn
# ethernet mac address set to wifi mac address
ifconfig_ue0="ether 04:0c:ce:d5:b0:ae"
cloned_interfaces="lagg0"
wlans_bwn0="wlan0"
ifconfig_wlan0="WPA"
create_args_wlan0="country US regdomain FCC"
ifconfig_lagg0="up laggproto failover laggport ue0 laggport wlan0 DHCP"

4 - build the custom kernel

we need to build a custom kernel to enable the wifi driver

switch to root

Code:

su

Do not make edits to GENERIC.
Instead, copy the file to a different name and make edits to the copy.

change into the /usr/src/sys/amd64/conf directory

Code:

cd /usr/src/sys/amd64/conf

copy the GENERIC file to WIFI

Code:

cp GENERIC WIFI

edit the WIFI file

/usr/src/sys/amd64/conf/WIFI

Code:

vi WIFI

add the code below to the WIFI file,
this will include the GENERIC kernel using the include option,
and use the ident option to change the identity name to the name of your custom kernel which is the same as the name of the file.

Code:

cpu         HAMMER
include     GENERIC
ident       WIFI

search for bwn and uncomment the device bwn line
it should be line 297

Code:

device    bwn            # Broadcom BCM43xx wireless NICs.

at the end of the file add the following options

Code:

options    BWN_GPL_PHY

An include directive is available for use in configuration files. This allows another configuration file to be included in the current one, making it easy to maintain small changes relative to an existing file. If only a small number of additional options or drivers are required, this allows a delta to be maintained with respect to GENERIC, as seen in this example:

Using this method, the local configuration file expresses local differences from a GENERIC kernel. As upgrades are performed, new features added to GENERIC will also be added to the local kernel unless they are specifically prevented using nooptions or nodevice.

5 - Compile the new kernel

Change to the /usr/src directory

Code:

cd /usr/src

compile the WIFI kernel

Code:

make buildkernel KERNCONF=WIFI

Install the new kernel associated with the specified kernel configuration file.
This command will copy the new kernel to /boot/kernel/kernel and save the old kernel to /boot/kernel.old/kernel:

Code:

make installkernel KERNCONF=WIFI

6 - pf.conf

edit your pf.conf to set the in_if

Code:

sudo vi /etc/pf.conf

if you want to use a standard wifi connection
set int_if to wlan0

Code:

int_if="wlan0"

if you want to use the lagg failover device
set int_if to lagg0

Code:

int_if="lagg0"

7 - reboot

Shutdown the system and reboot into the new kernel.

8 - scan for networks

Code:

ifconfig wlan0 list scan

9 - wpa_supplicant.conf

edit your wpa_supplicant.conf and add the wifi details

Code:

sudo vi /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

Code:

network={
ssid="Homezonexxxx-xxxxx"
psk="Komplexxxxx---xxxxx"
}

10 - connect to wifi

run wpa_supplicant with the network interface and path to the config

Code:

sudo wpa_supplicant -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

Once you're sure it's working, you can run it in the background, by adding the -B option.

Code:

sudo wpa_supplicant -B -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

note
if you are using SYNDHCP you will need to run dhclient

Code:

sudo dhclient wlan0

Macbook Air 2011

root config files

GitHub - NapoleonWils0n/freebsd-root: freebsd root dot files for mac air

freebsd root dot files for mac air. Contribute to NapoleonWils0n/freebsd-root development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

dotfiles

GitHub - NapoleonWils0n/freebsd-dotfiles: freebsd dotfiles for macbook air

freebsd dotfiles for macbook air. Contribute to NapoleonWils0n/freebsd-dotfiles development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

bin

GitHub - NapoleonWils0n/freebsd-bin: freebsd home bin directory

freebsd home bin directory. Contribute to NapoleonWils0n/freebsd-bin development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com