No user-facing way to install b43 broadcom firmware

[David Nielsen]

It would be nice if Jockey had an option to install the required b43 firmware to get wireless working on my Mac Mini 2011 (Radeon). The lack of this firmware leads to an unfortunate chicken and egg problem in that you need to get online to get the firmware and to get online.. you need the firmware.

Furthermore Elementary will tell the user that firmware is missing when the wireless indicator is clicked, but it will not inform the user on how to get it, install it nor assist the user in any way. To get that information the user has to go to a terminal and examine the output of dmesg where he will be directed to the following URL.

http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware

I realize that there might be legal problems distributing the firmware but hopefully a situation that is a little bit more helpful than this could be devised.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: elementary 0.2
Package: elementary-desktop 1.280-0~351~precise1 [origin: LP-PPA-elementary-os-daily]
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-24.39-generic 3.2.16
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-24-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu13+elementary3~precise1
Architecture: amd64
CrashDB: elementary_meta
Date: Wed Oct 3 09:49:54 2012
InstallationMedia: elementary OS 0.2 "Luna" - Build amd64 LIVE Binary 20120612-17:45
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=da_DK.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: elementary-meta
SuspiciousXErrors:

ThirdParty: True
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Sergey "Shnatsel" Davidoff (shnatsel)]

I'm aware of the problem; it's not specific to elementary OS, Ubuntu has it too. Marking upstream affected.
The firmware can be installed in a similar manner to Flash Player (from the technical point of view). I recall fixing up the package to work from behind proxy servers.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx

I hear Ubuntu have done significant work on this in Quantal cycle, so it might be fixed.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[dino99 (9d9)]

Jockey has been superseded by software-properties, which now handles
third-party driver configuration.