Wireless Network Adapters
This document covers IBM integrated (MiniPCI), Cardbus and PC Card (PCMCIA) Wi-Fi devices.
Contents
- 1 Finding out which adapter you have
- 2 MiniPCI adapters
- 2.1 IBM a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Adapter
- 2.2 IBM a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Adapter II
- 2.3 IBM Dual-Band 802.11a/b Wi-Fi Wireless Mini PCI adapter
- 2.4 IBM 11b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Adapter
- 2.5 IBM High Rate Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Adapter
- 2.6 Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG Mini-PCI Adapter
- 2.7 Intel PRO/Wireless LAN 2100 3B Mini PCI adapter
- 2.8 Cisco Aironet Wireless 802.11b Mini PCI
- 2.9 Unsupported MiniPCI adapter
- 3 Cardbus adapters
- 4 PC Card (PCMCIA) adapters
- 5 CompactFlash adapters
Finding out which adapter you have
For MiniPCI or Cardbus adapters run the command:
lspci -n
And compare the PCI IDS with the once below.
MiniPCI adapters
IBM a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Adapter
PCI ID: 168c:1014
Chipset: Atheros
Driver: madwifi
Supported wireless modes: 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g
Specifications: MIGR-52623
Users Guide: MIGR-52650
Service Parts: MIGR-52626
IBM a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Adapter II
Supported wireless modes: 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g
Specifications: MIGR-57210
Users Guide: MIGR-57217
Service Parts: MIGR-57214
IBM Dual-Band 802.11a/b Wi-Fi Wireless Mini PCI adapter
Chipset: Atheros
Driver: madwifi
Supported wireless modes: 802.11a, 802.11b
IBM 11b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Adapter
Chipset: Atheros
Driver: madwifi
Supported wireless modes: 802.11b, 802.11g
IBM High Rate Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Adapter
PCI ID: 1260:3873
Chipset: Prism 2.5
Drivers: orinoco_pci or hostap
Supported wireless modes: 802.11b
Specifications: MIGR-44033
Users Guide: MIGR-44134
Service Parts: MIGR-44051
Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG Mini-PCI Adapter
PCI ID: 8086:4220
Chipset: Intel
Driver: ipw2200
Supported wireless modes: 802.11b, 802.11g
Specifications: MIGR-54903
Users Guide: MIGR-54910
Service Parts: MIGR-54904
Intel PRO/Wireless LAN 2100 3B Mini PCI adapter
PCI ID: 8086:1043
Chipset: Intel
Driver: ipw2100
Supported wireless modes: 802.11b
Specifications: MIGR-50022
Users Guide: MIGR-50108
Service Parts: MIGR-50032
Cisco Aironet Wireless 802.11b Mini PCI
PCI ID: 14b9:a504
Chipset: Cisco
Driver: airo
Supported wireless modes: 802.11b
Specifications: MIGR-44122
Users Guide: MIGR-44107
Service Parts: MIGR-44128
Unsupported MiniPCI adapter
Although the MiniPCI slot is an industry standard and can accept any MiniPCI adapter, the IBM BIOS is set to only allow you to boot with a 'supported' adapter installed. Attempts to install an unsupported card will result in the following message:
1802: Unauthorized network card is plugged in - Power off and remove the miniPCI network card.
The reason for this is that the combination of MiniPCI card and the integrated antenna in the ThinkPad needs to be certified by the US FCC (Federal Communications Committee).
Additional Information about Unsupported MiniPCI adapters can be found at: http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/thinkpad/
Cardbus adapters
Cardbus is a 32bits bus that runs at 33MHz, and is in many ways simular to the PCI bus. In fact under Linux Cardbus adapters are handled by the PCI subsystem.
You can differentiate a PC Card adapter from a Cardbus adapter as the later has a gold coloured grounding strip
IBM 11 a/b/g Wireless Cardbus Adapter
Chipset: Atheros
Driver: madwifi
Supported wireless modes: 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g
Specifications: MIGR-51855
Users Guide: MIGE-51855
Service Parts: MIGR-51874
IBM 802.11a Wireless LAN Cardbus Adapter
Supported wireless modes: 802.11a
Specifications: MIGR-42209
Users Guide: MIGR-42233
Service Parts: MIGR-42231
PC Card (PCMCIA) adapters
PC Card or PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) as it used to be called, is an 8 or 16bits bus limited to 8MHz, in many ways simular to the old ISA bus and not suitable for highspeed devices.
Cisco Aironet 350 802.11b wireless PC card with 128bit
Chipset: Cisco
Driver: airo_cs
Supported wireless modes: 802.11b
IBM High Rate Wireless LAN PC Card
Chipset: Prism 2.5
Drivers: orinoco_pci or hostap
Supported wireless modes: 802.11b
CompactFlash adapters
Netgear MA701
PCI ID: ...
Chipset: Prism
Driver: orinoco
Supported wireless modes: 802.11b
Product Overview: Netgear MA701 product page
Compatibility List: Netgear MA701 compatibility list