swapping wireless NICs

[Dan Langille]

On 21 Sep 2005 at 9:56, Kevin Oberman wrote:

> > From: "Dan Langille" <dan at langille.org>
> > Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2005 09:35:40 -0400
> > Sender: owner-freebsd-mobile at freebsd.org
> > 
> > On 21 Sep 2005 at 15:15, Marcin Jessa wrote:
> > 
> > > On Wed, 21 Sep 2005 08:58:11 +0200
> > > "anon anon" <anonymous_messiah at hotmail.com> wrote:
> > > 
> > > > Im currently looking to purchase a wireless card, preferably mini-pci for my 
> > > > thinkpad R40.  Are there any well supported mpi/pcmcia cards for fbsd.  
> > > > Please don_t mention the cisco mpi350 as this card has not worked for me 
> > > > since 4.10.   This card only works for about 5 minutes or until it is placed 
> > > > under reasonable load.  It then timeouts and cannot be brought up unless the 
> > > > system is power cycled.  And yes, I have downgraded the firmware to 5.00.1 
> > > > or whatever it is numerous times.  I need a card that is known to work 
> > > > without problems under 5.x.
> > > 
> > > Use an Atheros based card.
> > 
> > This brings up something I have been thinking about.  Someone 
> > mentioned that the ipw problems I've been having on my T41 could be 
> > resolved by changing ton an Atheros based NIC.
> > 
> > Question: have you replaced your wireless NIC?  On my T41 it is 
> > internal. I'm told it's a matter of replacing it.  I understand, but 
> > haven't looked into buying an Atheros NIC and putting it in my 
> > Thinkpad, but seeing as I'm going to be in the US next week, I might 
> > just pick one up while I'm there.
> > 
> > Comments please.
> 
> The physical swap is pretty easy. Just open the access door in the bottom
> of the unit, unplug the antenna wires and pop out the mini-PCI
> card. Then reverse to add the new card.
> 
> In the past, ThinkPads have BIOS set to refuse to allow the system to
> boot if any mini-PCI card not of a type sold by IBM was seen. I don't
> know if the T43 still does this, but you can deal with this in a couple
> of ways:
> 1. Get the Cisco card that Lenovo sells
> 2. Hack BIOS to not get upset about it. I've seen articles on this and I
>    suspect that you can Google for it. (I don't take any responsibility
>    for dead systems if you muck with the BIOS, though. Take care!)

This looks like it's an IBM branded card at US$50:

http://www.netgate.com/product_info.php?products_id=219

And this one definintely is IBM at $90 including shipping:

http://www-
131.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=-
840&storeId=10000001&langId=-
1&dualCurrId=1000073&categoryId=2581910&productId=8657707

OR http://tinyurl.com/dq42l

I may just buy IBM.
-- 
Dan Langille : http://www.langille.org/
BSDCan - The Technical BSD Conference - http://www.bsdcan.org/