Wifi choices for T23

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0rion · #1 Post by **0rion** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 1:22 pm

Hi y'all

I have been using a USB 802.11b wifi device to connect to my home b/g network (DI-524) so far. Ya it works fine, but it feels ironic that in order to get 'wireless', I need to plug in a 6ft usb wire to the back of my T23!

I'd like to get something that would be unobtrusive - most of the PCMCIA wireless cards have the antennae that extends out of the PC Card slot...I'd like to safely keep mine in the laptop, ready to link up anytime.

To that end, I've been considering a card like the 3com OfficeConnect with the XJack connector - I like that I can push the antennae back in and out of the way when I don't need it...People seem to have good things to say about it here. Can anyone suggest another? (Preferably 802.11g)

The other option is an internal card - miniPCI. I don't really know much about these things, but from what I read, people seem to like them. Does anyone know of a link where I can see a how-to demo in running the antenna wires? Also, how do you turn the wifi off when not needed? Am I correct in assuming that I'll be losing the modem functionality (no biggy)?

As my signature states, I plan to be running Linux, and I hope that the card I get will work smooth with it!

Finally, the million dollar question - which of the three (USB, PCMCIA or mini-PCI) do you think would go easiest on the battery life?

Thanks,
Chris

skygodtj · #2 Post by **skygodtj** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:24 pm

Hello Chris,

I have heard that the 3Com card, with the "X-Jack" antenna is good, JHEM uses it and seems pretty happy with it's performance. I myself went from a DLInk AirPlus G630 pcmcia card to an AirLink generic 54mbs GPlus card to a Atheros 108GPlus internal card with real IBM antenna leads in a non-wifi T23.

The antenna was a little pricey, but I went with the real IBM antenna as I wasnt able to find a generic antenna that I knew would fit, and work. I have the antenna leads run into the LCD lid right now, and in a DoubleTree hotel in DC, I'm getting a "very good to excellent" signal. I am happy with it.

Running the antenna in a non-wifi lid was actually very easy, and I didnt get the wifi hinges, I just ran the leads along the hinge cover, and taped the antenna stubs to the lid. I did have to move them in towards the center once, as they seemed a little too close to the metal frame and it was blocking the signal. Moving them in helped a lot. I ran the leads the same route the factory did them. One thing I discovered, is that there is a small oblong hole just to the right of the CPU fan that the leads are run thru to bring them up from the bottom of the case to above the keyboard. One note, is that a lot of people seem to get good performance running the leads just under the keyboard, but it would seem to me the KB metal bottom would block the signal..

I did lose the dial-up modem, but I have a Xircom ethernet/modem combo pcmcia card in the side for either a modem, or hard-wired ethernet. I did have to run the 1802-patch, but it's working fine so far.

As for turning the card off to save power, you can do that on the wifi card properties page, on the Network Properties, or in Device Mgr. For best battery life... the newest technology, I think either mini-pci atheros, or pcmcia 3Com would be the best, and I think the mini-pci card would be IBM's first choice for power mgmt savings..

Good luck,

TJ

#3 Post by **rkawakami** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:46 pm

skygodtj wrote:I did have to run the 1802-patch, but it's working fine so far.

I thought that the T2x systems did not need this patch

. I was planning to install generic Broadcom Mini PCI cards in the collection of T23s I've been assembling in the past couple of weeks. Which I guess brings up another thing I'd like re-confirmed: can I even use a Broadcom BCM94306 chipset card or will it be rejected by the BIOS?

edit: ACK! Hit the "submit" button before I was done with the post and now I'm having connection problems here at work (pages aren't loading completely or are timing out)... Anyway, what I was trying to ask is that will the latest BIOS (62WW) not recognize my Broadcom card unless I have the 1802 patch installed? Would earlier versions not have this problem? I guess I could always experiment with it but I'd like to know about any potential problems before doing that.

skygodtj · #4 Post by **skygodtj** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 8:36 pm

Unless the card you are using is an original (and old) IBM , you will have to use the 1802 patch, I did with this Atheros card and non-wifi 2647-8RU T23. If the Broadcom is an OEM card, you're ok, if not, patch it..

The server must be having problems because I just spent the last half hour timing out trying to connect also..

TJ

danage · #5 Post by **danage** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 2:49 am

skygodtj wrote:Unless the card you are using is an original (and old) IBM , you will have to use the 1802 patch, I did with this Atheros card and non-wifi 2647-8RU T23. If the Broadcom is an OEM card, you're ok, if not, patch it.

At one point, I hex-edited the bios whitelist. There were only one or two WLAN chipsets supported. I forget which ones, but you run a 95% chance it won't work with todays adapters. Use the 1802, before you put the cards in, it won't harm.

0rion · #6 Post by **0rion** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 11:05 am

Has anyone has success with the Atheros mini-PCI AR5005G card? I was reading this thread (http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... light=5005) and wonder if I should go for one (Great $$$!)

(I have no problem running hacks as long as they've been successful with others!)

skygodtj · #7 Post by **skygodtj** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 1:16 pm

From what I've read in the other posts, the 5005's wont take a eeprom write.

Wifi choices for T23

Wifi choices for T23

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