Replacement minipci cards?

[Daniel Johnson]

I'm wanting to replace the b only wireless than came in the used
Thinkpad T30 I bought last weekend, but I'm a bit loss about where to
get a replacement part. The wiki page about it seems to be pretty
old.

http://wiki.personaltelco.net/index.cgi/MiniPciCards?highlight=%28minipci%29

I'd prefer to get something that works out of the box with ubuntu, or
better yet without restricted drivers.

Can someone point me to where I can get a minipci card? I'll
volunteer to update the wiki.

Thanks!
--
teknotus
Take Notice

[Tom Fitzgerald]

You can use most any mini-pci device, however, there are a few things you
should consider.
Rick over at http://www.invictusnetworks.com/ will probably have the card
you need.

the T30 came stock with a modem/wifi card combo, so you will lose the modem
port(ok, not that big of a deal) but you may run into the problem of the
bios not allowing different cards. IBM has done this for awhile. It will
say "unsupported mini-pci device" and not allow you to boot.
I happen to have the unlock application for the bios for all ibm laptops. I
don't remember for sure if the T30 had this problem, I know for sure that
the T40 and above have that limitation. If you do need it, you will need a
dos boot floppy (dr-dos or such) and the application. email me directly for
that app if you need it.

Tom
----- Original Message -----
From: "Daniel Johnson" <teknotus-***@public.gmane.org>
To: "PTP-General" <general-9Og1/ECgh1HxcOW5sQhHe+***@public.gmane.org>
Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2007 10:22 AM
Subject: [ptp-general] Replacement minipci cards?

Post by Daniel Johnson
I'm wanting to replace the b only wireless than came in the used
Thinkpad T30 I bought last weekend, but I'm a bit loss about where to
get a replacement part. The wiki page about it seems to be pretty
old.
http://wiki.personaltelco.net/index.cgi/MiniPciCards?highlight=%28minipci%29
I'd prefer to get something that works out of the box with ubuntu, or
better yet without restricted drivers.
Can someone point me to where I can get a minipci card? I'll
volunteer to update the wiki.
Thanks!
--
teknotus
Take Notice
--
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[Daniel Johnson]

Post by Tom Fitzgerald
You can use most any mini-pci device, however, there are a few things you
should consider.
Rick over at http://www.invictusnetworks.com/ will probably have the card
you need.

I only found this guy. It doesn't say that it works with Linux. If
it works with the madwifi drivers I guess that is good enough. Anyone
know for sure?

https://shop.invictusnetworks.com/detail.php?id=16080

Post by Tom Fitzgerald
the T30 came stock with a modem/wifi card combo, so you will lose the modem
port(ok, not that big of a deal)

I have an old hardware 56k pcmcia modem, so if I really need one no problemo.

Post by Tom Fitzgerald
but you may run into the problem of the
bios not allowing different cards. IBM has done this for awhile. It will
say "unsupported mini-pci device" and not allow you to boot.
I happen to have the unlock application for the bios for all ibm laptops. I
don't remember for sure if the T30 had this problem, I know for sure that
the T40 and above have that limitation. If you do need it, you will need a
dos boot floppy (dr-dos or such) and the application. email me directly for
that app if you need it.

Thanks!
--
teknotus
Take Notice

[Caleb Phillips]

Post by Daniel Johnson
I only found this guy. It doesn't say that it works with Linux. If
it works with the madwifi drivers I guess that is good enough. Anyone
know for sure?
https://shop.invictusnetworks.com/detail.php?id=16080

The AR5413 chipset, which that uses, works fine with the madwifi driver:

http://madwifi.org/wiki/Compatibility/Compex

So, I'm sure you'll be good. Geez, 400mW, huh? That's pretty awesome.

If you want some more options, the Winstron CM9 is another Atheros a/b/g
minipci card that we've used extensively and happen to like. You can get
it here:

http://www.netgate.com/product_info.php?cPath=26_34&products_id=126

It's only 100mW, though.

Post by Daniel Johnson

Post by Tom Fitzgerald
the T30 came stock with a modem/wifi card combo

It should be noted that new and future laptops are likely to have the
PCI Express mini-card socket instead of the mini-pci socket. This was a
bit of a shock for me on ordering some laptops recently. The two sockets
are certainly not compatible and with Intel pushing hard on PCI-Express
it's likely mini-card is the future. There /are/ atheros-based
mini-cards [1], but madwifi support is still very bleeding-edge [2]...

[1] http://sparklan.com/category.php?cat_id=55
[2] http://madwifi.org/ticket/784

--
Caleb Phillips