[CentOS] Obtaining a newer Broadcomm (bcm43xx) driver for CentOS 5

[Barry Brimer]

> I'm using CentOS 5 (w/all latest updates as of 2008-01-06) on an HP
> laptop -- in fact, the exact laptop described here:
>   http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/Laptops/HP/Pavilion-ze5300_Series
>
> Ever since I switched from SHARED to OPEN authentication (and hence
> from using ndiswrapper to the bcm43xx module, as explained on that
> wiki page), I've been having packet loss and/or collision on the
> wireless device, to the point that recently I've needed to plug in to
> a wired network in order to get yum updates.  I'd like to try
> installing a newer version of the driver, but I'm having a fail on
> searching for the sources; I don't want to build an entire new kernel.
>
> Does anyone have a pointer to those driver sources or better yet to a
> DKMS or similar package for them?

The bcm43xx is no longer maintained, and it is my understanding that it 
will not be replaced in the RHEL 5 kernel.

<http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43>

Barry