SUSE 9.1 Pro. PCMCIA wireless adapter card and IBM A31p Thinkpad

leessusan · 09-18-2004, 09:50 PM

Greeting all;

I am going to install SUSE 9.1 professional on my IBM Thinkpad A31p 2653 H4U, can any one tell me from experience what PCMCIA wireless card can connect me to the internet via an 802.11b access point?

Zhenya · 09-19-2004, 04:35 PM

Hey, why not using mini-PCI wireless card. I have Thinkpad X40 and Suse 9.1 pro. Intel 2100 mini-PCI card worked out of the box with the driver I got from Suse (via YOU - YAST Online Update) and after I updated the driver, the card now supports encryption and works like a champ. But be aware that your Thinkpad might have a white list for mini-PCI cards - that means that you have to install a card that is suggested by IBM (and nothing else!). I bought mine from IBM and had no problem. Here is the link for the INTEL 2100 driver
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ipw2100/
Also, take a look at this nice network monitor for KDE
http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=12956
Good luck!

leessusan · 09-20-2004, 07:28 PM

Many thanks Zhenya

leessusan · 09-20-2004, 08:04 PM

Hi Zhenya;

I visited IBM site at
http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/accessories/comms.html

and they have only 2200 NOT 2100 and I am woundering how are you going to install that PCI card? Open up the thinkpad?

I may try the Cisco AIR PCM-350.

base on SUSE link

http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/ftp/SUPPORTED.CARDS

Cisco pcm-350 should support linux.

Zhenya · 09-20-2004, 08:40 PM

1. Yes, you will have to unscrew a panel somewhere on the bottom of your laptop to install a mini-PCI card but it is not hard or dangerous;

2. There is Intel 2200 Source Forge project as well ( http://sourceforge.net/projects/ipw2200/ ) but the 2100 project is much more mature and stable.

3. You can ask IBM about 2100 (when they can have it), or maybe just about the white list issue (what 2100 card will work in your laptop of you buy it from a different reseller).

4. Yes, you can always buy a PCMCIA card but if you know that there is a particular card that will certainly work with your PC and your distribution, I think it is better to look for 2100 (or 2200). You may try 2200 - as I can see, the project is very active, so if there are some bugs, they will surely be fixed very soon.