swapping wireless NICs

[Kevin Oberman]

> From: "Dan Langille" <dan at langille.org>
> Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2005 22:20:27 -0400
> 
> 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.

That's probably safe. Note that the a/b/g card is a Cisco (Atheros). I
am not sure about the b/g card, but I believe that it is an Intel
PRO/Wireless 2100 which uses the ipw driver. It has had a lot of
problems with various versions of FreeBSD, although they are being
actively worked on.
-- 
R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer
Energy Sciences Network (ESnet)
Ernest O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)
E-mail: oberman at es.net			Phone: +1 510 486-8634