After an exhaustive search on Google .. 
I finally able to install and configure my Broadcom wireless card on PCLinux0S 2007(can be used for all other distros also). My laptop model is HP NX6120.
So how I did this. Actually its very simple.
We will start by getting information on your wireless card. Issue the following command on your terminal,
lspci | grep 802
And if the output is similar to the following, proceed to the next step.
02:04.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)
Download the driver files,
http://rapidshare.com/files/40644803/tecpages.com-bcm4318.zip
PASSWORD : http://tecpages.com
Then install "ndiswrapper" on your system. For PCLinuxOS its installed by default. For PCLOS users open "Configure Your Computer" in "KDE Menu > System > Configuration". In PCLOS control center, open "Network and Internet > Set up a new network interface (LAN, ISDN, ADSL, …)". Select wireless. In the next step point your driver files.
Some times you may need to reconfigure your ethernet lan interface also using the same menu. For that select "ethernet"
Now for non PCLOS users, install everything from the command prompt or using ndiswrapper front end.
ndiswrapper -mi "path to the inf file"
Verify the installation using,
ndiswrapper -l
If you need any further assistance on this, please let me know as a post comment. Also I expect your feedback on this.
Thanks
PS:- If this post helps you or throws a light to solve the bcm4318 issue, you can show your appreciation by visiting one of my sponser websites. I will consider this as a free donation from you . .
July 2nd, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Its for reasons like this that no version of linux will ever become mainstream.
July 6th, 2007 at 12:00 am
You are right MSguy … It is us who know something about linux will help it to become a mainstream operating system. Look how fast linux has evolved. I am very sure in 5 yrs linux will have at least 25 to 30 percentage share on desktop OS.
Hope the tutorial worked for you …
July 23rd, 2007 at 12:09 am
Excellent stuff … The driver worked perfectly on my laptop … You did a great job … Now installation of bcm4318 driver on linux using ndiswrapper is easy … This work on my Ubuntu, Fedora and Arch linux laptops … Now trying on SuSE … Thanks Again ..
August 1st, 2007 at 8:33 am
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August 1st, 2007 at 8:36 am
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August 9th, 2007 at 4:37 am
err,,,,i have some difficulties in downloading the file.takes time too much.. =(
August 13th, 2007 at 1:02 am
dude i cannot install the .inf files named bcmwl5.inf & bcmwl5a.inf which are the ones that came with the windows driver, i downloaded the .zip file, extracted it to a folder on the desktop, and then wrote the commands
#ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf
installing bcmwl5 …
couldn’t open bcmwl5.inf: No such file or directory at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 167
#ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5a.inf
installing bcmwl5a …
couldn’t open bcmwl5a.inf: No such file or directory at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 167
then typed
#ndiswrapper -l
installed drivers:
bcmwl5 invalid driver!
bcmwl5a invalid driver!
i have not been able to use my wireless card since i installed linux but i don’t want to go back to windows again in my life, ever….. heeeeeeeeelp!!!!!!
August 16th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Hello Ergotronix
Can you please paste the output of “lspci | grep 802″. Also let me know the linux distro you are using.
Thanks
August 16th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Hello Bayu,
Since my bandwidth is very limited (the average downloads per day is above 100), I am using rapidhare to host the driver file. Its only 350KB. Just take few minutes to download.
Thanks
August 27th, 2007 at 2:29 am
Hi Ergotronix,
The name of the inf files you’re trying to install are case sensitive. I had the same problem with a file named LSBCMNDS.inf and I was typing it as lsbcmnds.inf. Hope this helps.
September 11th, 2007 at 5:59 am
I’m running the steps listed on Ubuntu 7.04 and the problem is that (i copy things right from the terminal)
vasilis@vasilis-laptop:~$ ndiswrapper -mi /home/vasilis/Desktop/tecpages.com-bcm4318.zip/bcmwl5.inf
install/manage Windows drivers for ndiswrapper
usage: ndiswrapper OPTION
-i inffile install driver described by ‘inffile’
-a devid driver use installed ‘driver’ for ‘devid’
-r driver remove ‘driver’
-l list installed drivers
-m write configuration for modprobe
-ma write module alias configuration for all devices
-mi write module install configuration for all devices
-v report version information
where ‘devid’ is either PCIID or USBID of the form XXXX:XXXX,
as reported by ‘lspci -n’ or ‘lsusb’ for the card
vasilis@vasilis-laptop:~$ ndiswrapper -l
bcmwl5 : invalid driver!
vasilis@vasilis-laptop:~$
What am i supposed to do now?
September 11th, 2007 at 6:06 am
I think the “invalid driver” message was caused by the fact that i tried that one:
ndiswrapper -i /home/vasilis/Desktop/tecpages.com-bcm4318.zip/bcmwl5.inf
After removing bcmwl5 from /etc/ndiswrapper, the problem that occurs (and occured right from the beginning) is that after the:
ndiswrapper -mi /home/vasilis/Desktop/tecpages.com-bcm4318.zip/bcmwl5.inf
“ndiswrapper -l” gave no answer. Something like:
vasilis@vasilis-laptop:~$ ndiswrapper -l
vasilis@vasilis-laptop:~$
September 13th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
I do have the required files and was able to load it in pclos 2007,but still it says device not found?When lspci | grep 802 is done,yes the hardware is present.
any help pls.thanks a lot
November 13th, 2007 at 7:19 pm
I would rather not defend M$, but so far, I must agree with MSguy. Today I decided to jump into Linux/Ubuntu 7.10. But I can’t get very far, because I can’t get that Broadcom driver installed. I cannot access it online, as I have no other internet access at this time, except the wireless option. I downloaded the file to another computer, but I have no idea how to install it (I can use a USB flash drive). Can you believe that I can’t even find information online that explains the Linux/Ubuntu directory structure and commands in a succinct way? Everything is jargon-ish, fragmented, and leaves out important steps, assuming you already know what you’re doing. There don’t seem to be any truly “beginner” instructions available. And I have to jump all over the place/internet to find anything. The Ubuntu Wiki is rather content-free.
January 5th, 2008 at 4:31 am
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January 31st, 2008 at 9:59 am
This was a great explanation. After bumbling about for about 2 hours, I stumbled across your post, tried it out and it worked!
And in response to Chuck, I’ve been through all of that. I’m completely new to Linux and had to get used to the jargon, the commands, the directory structure…etc. It’s funny cause you spend so long trying to find something out and if someone had just told you that ‘typing this one thing makes this happen’, you’ll have got it in 5 minutes. But once it’s set up, it’s a joy to use! It’s worth it. Persevere!
March 4th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf
ndiswrapper -m
ndiswrapper -ma
modprobe ndiswrapper
bcmwl5.inf and bcmwl5.sys need to be in the same folder and you have to switch to the root account to do it.
make sure you remove the bcm43xx included in linux using
modprobe -r bcm43xx
or
rmmod bcm43xx
March 15th, 2008 at 8:27 am
I did everything you said, and the drivers installed fine. How do I connect to a wireless network? My wi-fi list is empty, even though I know there are networks around because I can pick them up find off my desktop. Any help is greatly appreciated.
April 28th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
I’m with MSguy, when it takes this much work just to get a basic piece of hardware to work it just proves that Linux is light-years behind Mac and Windows in terms of useability. why would I bother fighting with this ridiculous amount of code when any decent operating system is automatically configured for wireless?
Linux is retarded, no matter what all you geeks say. I don’t have the time to compile and build and all that crap. I want my computer to be a TOOL, not a job.
May 13th, 2008 at 10:30 am
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May 14th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
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May 28th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Hello, I tried your to install my wireless card as you said, but it does not work. I have the card installed, but I cannot activate it. It says “SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory”. Any ideas, please? I have Fedora 8.
Thanks.
July 12th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
What about the 64 bit version of this?
Linux is not for the newbie thats for sure, been trying to get a wireless connection for a couple of days now.
This sucks.
Brian