[ltp] T30: Turn off the WiFi Radio?

Atul Chitnis linux-thinkpad@linux-thinkpad.org
Thu, 6 May 2004 09:47:55 +0530 (IST)


I just realise that despite my not telling my machine (T30, FC1) to bring
up the WiFi interface (IBM High Rate Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Adapter) at
bootup, it does!

While that is no big deal from the security perspective (since no IP
address is assigned to it), it is probably a killer in terms of battery
life.

I googled around, and came up with this

http://www.beezmo.com/Linux.htm

which seems to suggest that unloading the module "quietens" the radio.

My question(s):

- Does removing the WiFi modules actually turn off the radio? If not, is 
  there a way of doing this? Note - mini-PCI, so I can't "eject" the card.

- Is there any reliable way of testing/querying the hardware to check 
  (under Linux) if the radio is actually off?

- Has anyone been able to quantify the effect on battery life of leaving 
  the radio on v/s turning it off?

TIA

Atul

-- 
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Atul Chitnis       | achitnis@exocore.com
Exocore Consulting | http://www.exocore.com
Bangalore, India   | +91 (80) 2344-0397
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