iwconfig reports wlan0 as being there. and dmesg shows the bcm43xx driver being loaded.

yet when i go to network management i only see wired.

this is driving me crazy. ive been at it for 6 hours now.

I have been hitting my head against a wall trying to get the wireless working with this card. Unfortunately i use a HP laptop which locks to this card, so simply putting another one in is not a very feasible option.

I installed the b43-fwcutter, extracted the firmware, rebooted the machine. I am still unable to connect to anything, and nothing shows up in nm-applet for wireless networks. I am beyond confused.

I am still very much new to this so any help is appreciated.

Linux for me has always been a mild curiosity. I have always enjoyed the freedom and the amount of things you can do to your software installation. It appeals to my tinkerer nature and keeps me learning new and interesting things. I still have a long way to go before i am considered "good" with Linux, but the journey so far has been amazing, if not sometimes frustrating.

I have dabbled with Linux to varying degrees, but i am still very much a baby. I hope to change this within the next year. I have mostly used Debian for my boxes, but have tried Slackware and Fedora. I still have lots to learn.