12.4.3. Wireless LAN: PRO/wireless 2100/2200 LAN Mini-PCI Adapter

There are different solutions to get these cards running with Linux: drivers from Intel, NDIS wrapper and Linuxant driverloader (commercial).

ipw2100 , Intel's Open Source driver with included firmware, for the first Centrino generation (incl. WEP and WPA together with HostAP). For the second generation of Intel's miniPCI modules: PRO/Wireless 2200BG (802.11g/802.11i), the ipw2200 project provides a driver.

Third generation PRO/Wireless 2915ABG (IEEE 802.11b, 802.11g und 802.11a) miniPCI cards will be supported by the ipw2200 project, too.

Intel didn't provide drivers, when the begun to sell their Centrino technology. During this time there have been other solutions: Some vendors refuse to release technical specifications or even a binary Linux driver for their WLAN cards. NDIS wrapper tries to solve this by making a kernel module that can load NDIS (Microsoft-Windows Network Driver Interface Specification) drivers. Currently there are two implementations available. The commercial Linuxant Driverloader supports a broad range of chipsets including Intel's PRO/Wireless 2100 LAN Mini-PCI Adapter. There is also ndiswrapper an Open Source solution by Pontus Fuchs.

As another workaround was the usage of a Linux-supported miniPCI WLAN card . These cards are difficult to get, but some desktop WLAN PCI cards contain miniPCI cards. Often it is a tedious task to build them into a laptop. Kernel maintainer Theodore Tytso has written a manual about achieving this task.

You may also use a wireless PCMCIA or CF card instead. This solution may provide more flexibility, because you may use a PCMCIA or CF card in different devices and choose the Linux driver of your choice. You may also extend the wireless range by adding antennas to some cards. For Linux compatibility there is the TuxMobil PCMCIA/CF Card Survey . In the future, manufacturers will probably offer alternative miniPCI solutions. DELL is already doing so for their Latitude D series.

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