[x86-64] LE 12.2 is missing the Broadcom-wl WiFi driver completely

  • There is nothing to stop you or anyone else building an own LE image with extra features or support for things we dropped patched or hacked back in. That's the value of open-source software and distros that provide sources. Go nuts. Have fun.

  • I would try that, but I lack the knowledge and most importantly the hardware.

    I tried something similar 5+ years ago, to recreate a setup similar to libreelec's with alpine. All went fine, except that I could not configure the network from within kodi, which is important when kodi IS the desktop enviroment. All "network configuration" related addons were either abandoned or with very limited functionality.

  • The update to kernel 7.0 reached my distro's repo yesterday and I am happy to say that wl still builds and works with latest kernels. In fact, it has not needed any new patch since 6.16 or 6.17.

    Code
    02:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM43228 802.11a/b/g/n
        Subsystem: Dell Device 0014
        Kernel driver in use: wl
        Kernel modules: bcma, wl
    $ uname -r
    7.0.3+deb14-amd64

    Last but not least, in mid February, I when tried to run le in an old laptop, I came accross this broadcom wifi card that has the exact same issue as mine

    Code
    04:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4313 802.11bgn Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:4727] (rev 01)
           DeviceName: Broadcom 802.11n+BT combo module
           Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company BCM4313 802.11bgn Wireless Network Adapter [103c:1483]
           Kernel driver in use: bcma-pci-bridge
           Kernel modules: bcma
           
    # modinfo bcma | grep 4727
    alias:          pci:v000014E4d00004727sv*sd*bc*sc*i*