[ltp] Re: Wireless on T40

[Theodore Ts'o]

On Tue, May 20, 2003 at 04:43:34PM -0400, Joel Ebel wrote:
> Hello.  Thank you for the notes you put up on Linux on the T40.  I just 
> got one myself and was trying to get it set up.  My area of concern is 
> wireless.  Mine came with the IBM(Philips) card, which seems to have no 
> support, as does the intel option available.  It looks like you got the 
> cisco card to work, but only with their drivers.  You mentioned getting 
> a prism card as an alternative that would be well supported sicne I 
> don't need LEAP.  Do you happen to know where I could find one of those? 
>  I can't seem to find any.

Hmm, yes.  The first generation PRISM II based cards seem to be much
harder to find.  Actiontec made a Mini-pci PRISM II card, which was
shipped with the T23, but I can't seem to find it on the web.  It
**looks** like the Actiontec PCI card (available from the actiontec
on-line web store) consists of a mini-pci card mounted on a PCI card.
It's not completely certain that this will work, but it's only $70, so
you might be willing to risk it.

The other thing you might try to do is to order the part from IBM;
even if it isn't being advertised on the web page, it might be
accessible directly from the web page if you know the part number, or
perhaps via the spare parts order page.  (IBM has two ordering pages;
one for "retail" systems, and one for spare parts.  There are also
separate part number systems for complete systems and for FRU's, so if
you can find such a part number, try both web pages at IBM.)

I have no idea what the IBM part number might be, but perhaps someone
on the linux-thinkpad mailing list <linux-thinkpad@linux-thinkpad.org>
might be able to help you out with an IBM part number, or a source for
an Actiontec PRISM 2.5 Mini-pci card.  

						- Ted

P.S.  The Actiontec mini-pci card is an Ethernet/802.11b combo card,
since the Thinkpads of that era only had one mini-pci slot which could
be used for some combination of Modem, Ethernet, and Wireless.  On the
T40, the 10/100 or Gigabit Ethernet is provided on the system board,
and there is a separate daughter card which contains the modem or
modem/bluetooth support.  So the cards which provided Ethernet and
Wireless support are obsolete as far as being useful for the T40.
That's probably why it doesn't appear on the list of IBM accessories
for the Thinkpad.

As far as I know, the Actiontec card should in theory fit the T40, but
you won't have a way of hooking up the Ethernet, and the extra
(unused) circuitry might consume a bit more power.