Wii Hardware/BCM4318: Difference between revisions

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The [[Wii]] features a Wi-Fi chipset from Broadcom, specifically the Broadcom 4318. This Wi-Fi adapter is unfortunately heavily constrained due to how it's connected, however. You may have noticed that the Wii's Wi-Fi speeds are quite lacking for a device released in 2006, and you would be correct. The Wi-Fi module is connected over Sonics Silicon Backplace (SSB), connected over SDIO, on the [[Hollywood]] chipset. Unfortunately, this was not designed with speed in mind.  The overhead of TCP/IP, over 802.11 Wi-Fi, over Broadcom's Wi-Fi interface, over SSB, over the 1-bit SDIO protocol, is simply too much for the Wii's mediocre CPU to handle.
{{seealso|[https://web.archive.org/web/20180817063137/http://www.gc-linux.org/wiki/Wii:WLAN GC-Linux wiki page about the Wii's Wi-Fi card, goes into great detail about the hardware and explains why it's so slow]}}


The [[Wii]] features a Wi-Fi chipset from Broadcom, specifically the Broadcom 4318.
This Wi-Fi adapter is unfortunately heavily constrained due to it's connection, it's connected over Sonics Silicon Backplace (SSB), connected over SDIO on SDHCI1, on the [[Wii Hardware/Hollywood|Hollywood]] SoC. The overhead of interfacing with this Wi-Fi card along with various standard network protocols are very taxing for the [[Wii Hardware/Broadway|Wii's CPU]].
== Compatibility ==
[[Wii-Linux]] has included support for the Wi-Fi chipset since at least MIKEp5{{check}}.  [[Upstream Linux]] also has drivers for all components of the Wi-Fi stack available, although they don't seem to function on the Wii.  It's unsure if this is known about by the upstream maintainers, but it seems to have been broken since at least Linux 5.0.
[[Wii-Linux]] has included support for the Wi-Fi chipset since at least MIKEp5{{check}}.  [[Upstream Linux]] also has drivers for all components of the Wi-Fi stack available, although they don't seem to function on the Wii.  It's unsure if this is known about by the upstream maintainers, but it seems to have been broken since at least Linux 5.0.
[[NetBSD]] also includes support for this card.
[[Category:Wii Hardware]]

Latest revision as of 22:53, 29 July 2026

See also: GC-Linux wiki page about the Wii's Wi-Fi card, goes into great detail about the hardware and explains why it's so slow

The Wii features a Wi-Fi chipset from Broadcom, specifically the Broadcom 4318.

This Wi-Fi adapter is unfortunately heavily constrained due to it's connection, it's connected over Sonics Silicon Backplace (SSB), connected over SDIO on SDHCI1, on the Hollywood SoC. The overhead of interfacing with this Wi-Fi card along with various standard network protocols are very taxing for the Wii's CPU.

Compatibility

[edit | edit source]

Wii-Linux has included support for the Wi-Fi chipset since at least MIKEp5[check]. Upstream Linux also has drivers for all components of the Wi-Fi stack available, although they don't seem to function on the Wii. It's unsure if this is known about by the upstream maintainers, but it seems to have been broken since at least Linux 5.0.

NetBSD also includes support for this card.