How To Install broadcom-sta-source on Ubuntu 18.04

In this tutorial we learn how to install broadcom-sta-source on Ubuntu 18.04. broadcom-sta-source is Source for the Broadcom STA Wireless driver

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install broadcom-sta-source on Ubuntu 18.04.

What is broadcom-sta-source

broadcom-sta-source is:

Broadcom STA is a binary-only device driver to support the following IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n wireless network cards: BCM4311-, BCM4312-, BCM4313-, BCM4321-, BCM4322-, BCM43142-, BCM43224-, BCM43225-, BCM43227-, BCM43228-, BCM4331-, BCM4360-, and BCM4352-based hardware.

This package provides the source code for the wl kernel modules. It makes use of kernel-package or module-assistant build systems. The alternative broadcom-sta-dkms package can be installed instead and might be easier to use with simple system configurations.

The wireless-tools package is also required in order to make use of these modules. Kernel source or headers are required to compile these modules.

There are three methods to install broadcom-sta-source on Ubuntu 18.04. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.

Install broadcom-sta-source Using apt-get

Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.

sudo apt-get update

After updating apt database, We can install broadcom-sta-source using apt-get by running the following command:

sudo apt-get -y install broadcom-sta-source

Install broadcom-sta-source Using apt

Update apt database with apt using the following command.

sudo apt update

After updating apt database, We can install broadcom-sta-source using apt by running the following command:

sudo apt -y install broadcom-sta-source

Install broadcom-sta-source Using aptitude

If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Ubuntu. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.

sudo aptitude update

After updating apt database, We can install broadcom-sta-source using aptitude by running the following command:

sudo aptitude -y install broadcom-sta-source

How To Uninstall broadcom-sta-source on Ubuntu 18.04

To uninstall only the broadcom-sta-source package we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get remove broadcom-sta-source

Uninstall broadcom-sta-source And Its Dependencies

To uninstall broadcom-sta-source and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Ubuntu 18.04, we can use the command below:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove broadcom-sta-source

Remove broadcom-sta-source Configurations and Data

To remove broadcom-sta-source configuration and data from Ubuntu 18.04 we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y purge broadcom-sta-source

Remove broadcom-sta-source configuration, data, and all of its dependencies

We can use the following command to remove broadcom-sta-source configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:

sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge broadcom-sta-source

References

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install broadcom-sta-source package on Ubuntu 18.04 using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.