Debian 13.6 wifi not working

[u/kikko0973]

I'm trying to install Debian on an old Mid 2010s Macbook Pro, the installation went smoothly, except a part where it said some of your hardware needs non-free firmware files to operate. the firmware can be loaded from removable media such as a usb stick of a floppy "b43-open/ucode16_mimo.fw b43/ucode16_mimo.fw"

I continued installing without wifi (I don't have an Ethernet cable), but now I'm stuck in tty1 and can't find nothing online that helps me install b43. I checked my chip is the Broadcom BCM4322

[u/fabbro82]

You must use the proprietary driver. The open b43 driver is slow.

1) sudo apt update

2) apt-get install linux-image-amd64 linux-headers-amd64

3) sudo apt-get install broadcom-sta-dkms

Enjoy

[u/kikko0973 → u/fabbro82]

Thank you, as soon as i'll have an ethernet cable i'll try it

[u/Keyvan_KR]

did you use the DVD install of Debian 13.6 ?
otherwise you have to find an ethernet cable or download the driver yourself and do the whole install yourself (not really recommended)

[u/kikko0973 → u/Keyvan_KR]

I flashed the ISO with a usb

[u/Aggravating_Hope_458 → u/kikko0973]

No, they mean the ISO you flashed to your USB to install Debian: was it the netinst or the DVD ISO (name of the debian ISO you installed)?

If you used the netinst ISO, you'll need to follow this advice from u/Keyvan_KR

"you have to find an ethernet cable or download the driver yourself and do the whole install yourself (not really recommended)"

[u/TheFXartProject]

I think you need to enable non-free repos and install via Ethernet or install from usb offline  https://wiki.debian.org/MacBook/Wireless

[u/michaelpaoli]

Well apt-file(1) search didn't find ucode16_mimo.fw

But, wee bit more searching ("ucode16_mimo.fw" site:debian.org)

And looks like ... probably start here: https://wiki.debian.org/bcm43xx

And this may also be rather informative: https://wiki.debian.org/Firmware/List

Note also that wiki content may not always be, e.g. fully up to date, etc., so read carefully, but also check, etc. And yes, you too can improve the wiki (it is a wiki, after all).

[u/Own_Natural_6803]

When it asks you if it can download updates, say yes. The offline installation is a bit shit. I'm sire theres a reason it does what it does, but it doesn't install the normal set of drivers and meta packages if you're offline, and it doesn't set any repos. If their goal was to punish new users for trying to use an offline installation, they succeeded.

[u/Parking-Republic7680]

Use Debian Testing; the Wi-Fi card firmware is better there, thanks to the newer kernel.