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Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2007 21:12:20 -0800
From: Sam Leffler <sam@errno.com>
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To: Kevin Oberman <oberman@es.net>
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Cc: Nik Clayton <nik@freebsd.org>, hartzell@alerce.com,
	Dan Langille <dan@langille.org>, mobile@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: Laptop recommendations for 6.x
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Kevin Oberman wrote:
>> Dan Langille writes:
>>  > On 20 Feb 2007 at 11:11, Kevin Oberman wrote:
>>  > 
>>  > > > Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2007 10:15:12 +0000
>>  > > > From: Nik Clayton <nik@freebsd.org>
>>  > 
>>  > > >    * No WiFi
>>  > > 
>>  > > Get a cheap Atheros mini-PCI card. It is supported on the T42 BIOS and
>>  > > works well on FreeBSD. Much cheaper then a new laptop.
>>  > 
>>  > Nik: I bought one of those, direct from IBM.  It hss worked 
>>  > flawlessly on my T41.
>>  > 
>>
>> Does the T42 bios support *any* Atheros card, or just the ones that
>> IBM sells?
> 
> Probably just those they sold, but they did not modify them in any way, so any of the same models that they used will work. Mine is:
> "AR5212 Atheros AR5212 802.11abg wireless"

IBM programs their own pci device id in the cards they sell.  It's
well-known how to do this yourself for any Atheros card. Then you just
pass the true device id into the hal and everything will work fine.
Someone was talking about adding support to hints to enable this sort of
"aliasing" outside the driver.

	Sam