[Assist] wireless drivers

Isaac David Reyes González isacdaavid at gmail.com
Mon Dec 29 07:33:01 GMT 2014


The much beloved Thinkpads X60 and T60 from 200{6,7} that are able to run
Libreboot are one example of laptops that refuse to work with different PCI
WiFi chips, by default. The blacklisting occurs at the BIOS, so replacing
it with Libreboot is what allows in the first place to use another card
that will work with free software.

It really depends on the laptop but I don't think this practice is
ubiquitous. As ingegnue, I can only recommend doing your own research, or
buying one of the USB (instead of PCI) dongles that work with free software
to avoid further hassle. The USB ones are guaranteed to work with any
laptop, the ones that work with free software (as found on aforementioned
links) are guaranteed to work under any kernel Linux, libre or not. Take
the intersection and those are the cards that will work on 100% free
GNU/Linux distros like Parabola, regardless of laptop models.

On Sun, Dec 28, 2014 at 5:25 PM, ingegnue <ingegnue at riseup.net> wrote:

> It depends. Mine, from 2009, gave me no trouble. Newer ones might though.
> Perhaps research will do, or perhaps just try it and return it if the card
> is rejected. Or buy a USB one.
>
> On December 28, 2014 12:52:35 PM EST, Binh-Khoi Nguyen <
> khoi at member.fsf.org> wrote:
> >I've seen it mentioned by lots of people on the triquel forums.
> >
> >For, example:
> >https://trisquel.info/en/forum/where-can-i-buy-liberated-wifi-card
> >
> >If you can confirm that it's actually not true, then I'll try to get my
> >
> >wifi card replaced :)
> >
> >On Sun, Dec 28, 2014 at 11:45:40AM -0600, Jorge Araya Navarro wrote:
> >>I don't think such thing is even true...
> >>
> >>Binh-Khoi Nguyen writes:
> >>
> >>> I heard that sometimes the manufacturer blacklists wifi cards,
> >allowing
> >>> you to only replace a wifi card with another one from the same
> >>> manufacturer. Is that true? How do you check whether it's the case
> >for
> >>> your laptop?
> >>> On Sat, Dec 27, 2014 at 01:46:31PM -0600, Jorge Araya Navarro wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>Rill writes:
> >>>>
> >>>>> This seems odd to me. Doesn't freedom suggest I get to choose
> >exceptions
> >>>>> or to use my laptop away from  a wired internet connection?
> >>>>
> >>>>Well, no, freedom is the right to do what we ought. That kind of
> >freedom you talk about is a misconception of
> >>>>what freedom actually is.
> >>>>
> >>>>You could get a new wifi card that works with free drivers, take a
> >look here[1] and be sure that is a piece of
> >>>>hardware compatible with you laptop's socket (for laptops it is
> >usual that the card is a mini-PCI, but should
> >>>>check first your actual wifi card)
> >>>>
> >>>>[1]:
> >
> https://h-node.org/wifi/catalogue/en/1/1/undef/undef/yes/mini-PCI-E/undef/undef
> >>>>
> >>>>I did this for my old laptop.
> >>>>
> >>>>--
> >>>>Pax et bonum.
> >>>>Jorge Araya Navarro.
> >>>>ES: Diseñador Publicitario, Programador Python y colaborador en
> >Parabola GNU/Linux-libre
> >>>>EN: Ads Designer, Python programmer and contributor Parabola
> >GNU/Linux-libre
> >>>>EO: Anonco grafikisto, Pitino programalingvo programisto kai
> >kontribuanto en Parabola GNU/Linux-libre
> >>>>https://es.gravatar.com/shackra
> >>>>_______________________________________________
> >>>>Assist mailing list
> >>>>Assist at lists.parabola.nu
> >>>>https://lists.parabola.nu/mailman/listinfo/assist
> >>
> >>--
> >>Pax et bonum.
> >>Jorge Araya Navarro.
> >>ES: Diseñador Publicitario, Programador Python y colaborador en
> >Parabola GNU/Linux-libre
> >>EN: Ads Designer, Python programmer and contributor Parabola
> >GNU/Linux-libre
> >>EO: Anonco grafikisto, Pitino programalingvo programisto kai
> >kontribuanto en Parabola GNU/Linux-libre
> >>https://es.gravatar.com/shackra
> >
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
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> >https://lists.parabola.nu/mailman/listinfo/assist
>
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