I switched from the bcm43xx module to the ndiswrapper module for the wireless card in Ubuntu Linux. For some reason the bcm43xx was topping out at about 22kbyte/sec. Ndiswrapper is a module that hosts windows x86 drivers in linux - so all you need to do is download the latest windows drivers and hand it the inf and sys. It’s now running at… One moment… Up to 350kbyte/src.

At the bottom of this post are the steps you would take to do this. Which is why this post involves the word manky. The conclusion I drew from this is that in my humble opinion Linux/Unix sucks for the same reason I feel golf and gambling sucks: they’re difficult, painful, and frustrating, but the joy you have the moment when something finally goes just right makes it all seem worthwhile. I think it’s a human brain chemistry bug or something.

I mean this is not like the first time I’ve worked with *nix - and I like Mac which is on the Darwin fork, I’ve installed *bsd before, etc. But if I was on a Windows Dell or a Mac and this happened I would have just updated the driver then called a support line.

cd ~/src (i already had a src folder in my home dir)
svn co https://svn.sourceforge.net/.../ndiswrapper
cd ndiswrapper
make
sudo make install

--extract and install windows drivers
cd ~/downloads (i already downloaded the following)
unzip R140747.EXE
cd DRIVERS
sudo ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf

-- add the line "blacklist bcm43xx" to the following file
sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

--drop both wireless drivers and load the wrapper one
sudo rmmod bcm43xx
sudo rmmod ndiswrapper
sudo modprobe ndiswrapper

--reset the wireless nic
sudo ifdown eth0
sudo ifup eth0

Although to be totally fair I have had similar difficulties in the past with Windows and Mac and have stubborned my way through them without calling tech support. And there’s also an active support network for the Ubuntu community that I could have posted a question to. Maybe it’s a subjective thing. I have to say I’ve been spoiled by how polished and refined the OS X and Windows Vista user experience has become. Like shutting a door on an expensive car - the solid, firm, and gentle “thunt” becomes part of the perception of quality - so if you have to edit system configuration files from a command prompt to make one of the doors close properly it just doesn’t feel like it’s all there.