Adding internal wireless card to IBM T42

Hello everybody, I bought an IBM T42 laptop 3 months ago for the purposes of running Linux. Since then I have upgraded the RAM from 512MB to 2GB, applied Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound to the heat assembly, and upgraded the HD from 40GB to 120GB. It runs Ubuntu perfectly.

However, it didn't come with a built-in wireless card; it was sold with a D-Link PCMCIA Type 2 wireless card, but seeing as it is a mobile machine, I would like to have it fully upgraded without any parts sticking out from the main unit.

The trouble is that I am not sure what interface it uses. I have attached a picture of the empty slot; if someone could point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it. I'd also like to know if I can use an Atheros card with this IBM (specifications in signature), and maybe a good place for a Canadian to look. Thanks!

 

That's a miniPCI slot. Any minipci wireless card will work just fine

 

NEW internal WIFI ADAPTER

EBAY US same card $25

i'm not sure if that is a proprietary WIFI card... but the EBAY price is not too bad....
$25 Genuine IBM Thinkpad Intel Pro Mini PCI Wireless WiFi Card 802.11b/g 54mbps IBM FRU #93P3483

 

Thanks for the information, guys; would it be possible to use any miniPCI wireless card, such as Atheros, or today's Intel wireless cards?

 

if sunairport is correct and that is a standard mini-PCI card then YES you can as long as IBM doesn't prevent it thru the BIOS ...(HP tends to allow only WIFI cards from the manufacturers of thier choosing by having the PC's BIOS block the use of non-HP branded hardware)....

i don't think that is an issue for you... but to be sure i would ask the Question in the IBM/Lenovo forum

 

that is a standard mini pci port. I have a bunch of dell truemobile wireless cards lying around for this socket, but I am not sure if their will be any software issues on your ibm, than again you are running ubuntu, so their is probably a hack to allow it to work. I will sell you one for cheap if you are interested. I think mine are atheros, but I would have to check.

K-TRON

 

I wouldn't be interested in Dell wireless cards; Atheros, on the other hand... in my experiences with them, Atheros cards tend to have longer range and better performance. I would definitely be interested in such a card, K-TRON.

 

Bog, I am not sure if you are still interested, but here are some pics of mine, you can reseach it if you want, but it is not an atheros, I simply confused atheros and agere. It is hard to remember everything, especially since I have not touched the card in some time.
It looks like a dell rebranded agere card





K-TRON

 

It seems that Agere cards do not have very good support under Linux!

 

Does intel cards work (for you)? Because the Intel 2200BG will fit.

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2520

Should be miniPCI type IIIB

http://download.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/pro2200bg/sb/2200bgprodbrief.pdf

 

The Intel miniPCI cards will work on your Thinkpad. I know because I tried it before on T41, T42 and T43s. Atheros cards will work as well.

I'm not positive that the Dell ones will although I'd say that they probably would. The vast majority of Dell Truemobiles are just Broadcom cards, and some (though fewer) are Agere as shown above. I've had shaky experiences with a lot of the Broadcom ones though, they required consistent new drivers and even firmware to be able to communicate well with different routers.

 

From experience, Broadcom cards also have poor compatibility with Linux; I should have stated that as one of my criteria for a wireless card. Its another reason to go with Intel or Atheros. Thanks.

 

i saw older G atheros ABG WIFI cards on ebay today... BUY IT NOW for $9.99.. probably $10 shipping

i think it was an Ar5005

on the ebay.com US SITE

Bog is correct BROADCOM sux for use with unix....

Atheros is a good card... better signals than any others I HAVE TESTED... and an ATHEROS AR5008 (5Ghz model) when used with a DLINK router like the 650 or 655 which is based on the ATHEROS radio and chipset will give better transfer speeds than any other setup (atleast from my research).

the only time i recommend BROADCOM over ATHEROS is when upgrading a MAC's WIFI since OSX doesn't play well w/ ATHEROS... in that case INTEL is the way to go

 

For IBM machines you need to make sure the Mini PCI module is whitelisted in BIOS, or else it will show up as "Unauthorized wireless device" They do this because of FCC regulations due to the internal antenna.

read this: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Problem_with_unauthorized_MiniPCI_network_card

Basically you have 2 choices: buy a card that was a pull from IBM machine, or hack the BIOS.

 

I'll steal my friend's minPCI wireless card. Thanks for the heads-up.