RealTek 8188CE NDIS panic

[Kevin Oberman]

On Tue, Feb 7, 2012 at 8:10 PM, Richard Morse <pukku at mac.com> wrote:
> Hi! I'm trying to install FreeBSD on a Lenovo ThinkPad X120e. The wifi card is a RealTek 8188CE, which is not supported by any of the standard drivers. I have tried to use the `ndisgen` utility with the Windows XP driver files, but whenever I try to `kldload` the generated .ko file, I get a kernel panic.
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions for how I should proceed? I'd really like to use FreeBSD for
> this, rather than going over to a Linux variant, but I do need the WiFi to work...

There are a few approaches you can take.
1. Wait an hope someone figures out how to get NDIS to work or writes
a driver. Probably not a real viable approach for you unless you can
pay someone, do it yourself, or someone else decided to do it now.

2. Replace the card with a supported card. I get a Lenovo labeled
Intel Centrino Advance-N card at an exorbitant price, but it works
with the iwn driver. I have seen the cards from Lenovo repair places
at 100-150 USD while a standard card is about 20 USD.

3. Mod your system to accept a standard WiFi card by:
    a. Installing a patched BIOS (very risky)
    b. Get a supported card and re-write the PCIID with the Lenovo ID
    c. Get a supported card and install it in the other mini-PCIe slot
(If you don't have a wireless modem in that slot) (Note, the wireless
modem is a full height card and the wireless is half-height, so you
will need to adapt it in some way. Adapters are available, but may
raise the card too much to fit under the keyboard.  I thought about
fabbing my own, but I don't have access to the tools I'd need.
-- 
R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer
E-mail: kob6558 at gmail.com