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Comment by fullstop

15 hours ago

It seems like the best way to get WiFi working in FreeBSD is to run Linux in bhyve and tunnel your connections through there.

16 comments

fullstop

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yabones  12 hours ago

That kind of seems crazy to me, considering OpenBSD has worked perfectly fine with every wifi capable device I've tested it on. Granted, most of them were older machines.

Is this just an artifact of FreeBSD primarily focusing on server hardware rather than consumer/end-user stuff?

  • wpm  12 hours ago

    Basically no one supports Broadcom SoftMAC WiFi cards very well, but OpenBSD just doesn't. I have a 2015 MacBook Air with a BCM4350 where the recommended fix is to go buy a FullMAC card from a similar vintage MacBook Pro and just cope with the fact that the card barely fits in the case and can't be secured properly.

wolvoleo  14 hours ago

FreeBSD 15 has done a lot for WiFi apparently.

I'm not sure how good it is as I don't use wifi but it's supposed to be much better.

whalesalad  14 hours ago

the fact that this is a widely accepted/encouraged practice is genuinely unhinged

  • mtlmtlmtlmtl  14 hours ago

    Why? Nothing wrong with running your network interface in a VM. There are reasons for doing so even if drivers aren't an issue. Qubes OS does this, for instance, for security reasons.

    • wolvoleo  14 hours ago

      Windows also does. Almost everything is a VM in windows these days.

      It's just how things work these days. If you'd say "I run my VPN client in a docker container" it would raise a lot less eyebrows. Yet it's not very different, really.

      Though conceptually I'd frown at having to run Linux. I'd prefer upgrading the hardware to a supported chip.

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