Some laptop manufacturers prevent you from changing the MiniPCI wireless card with an arbitrary BIOS check. If you put in a 3rd party card, the laptop won't boot. We will be collecting more information about this problem, and what laptops it affects, but for now you can read relevant info about Thinkpads here.

Ralink/RT

Cards that use the Ralink RT2500/RT2400 and Realtek RTL8180 chipsets work with fully free GNU/Linux systems. But if you use the RTL8180 chipset, you'll need to compile a driver yourself from source, because the standard Linux driver relies on proprietary firmware and is not included in fully free distributions like gNewSense.

Drivers for RT2500/RT2400 chipsets can be found at http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com, or as packaged in your GNU/Linux distribution.

Note that some other RT chipsets, including the RT2501, RT61 and RT2571W/RT2671, require firmware that is not released under a free software license. This makes these devices incompatible with a fully free system. Much of the Ralink information below is drawn from this list, which is also often more up-to-date than our version -- but be careful, because that list includes the chipsets that require firmware.

The Free Software Foundation has purchased and successfully tested these Ralink devices with free systems:

• Asus WL-107G PCMCIA card
• Linksys WUSB54G USB 2.0 802.11g/b 54Mbps (11 Mbps with b)

• A-Link WL54H, WL54PC
• Amigo AWI-926W, AWI-914W, AWI-922W
• AMIT WL531P, WL531C, WL532U
• AOpen AOI-831
• Atlantis Land A02-PCI-W54, AO2-PCM-W54
• Belkin F5D7000 v3, F5D7010 v2
• Billionton MIWLGRL
• Buffalo WLI-U2-KG54-AI
• Canyon CN-WF511, CN-WF513
• CNet CWC-854, CWD-854
• Compex WLP54G, WL54G, WLU54G
• Conceptronic C54Ri, C54RC, C54RU
• D-Link DWL-G122 b1 *
• Digitus DN-7006G-RA, DN-7001G-RA
• E-Tech WGPI02, WGPI03?, WGPC02, WGPC03?, WGUS02
• Eminent EM3037, EM3036, EM3032
• Encore ENLWI-G-RLAM, ENPWI-G-RLAM, ENHWI-ARG-RLAM ?
• Fiberline WL-400P, WL-400X
• Gigabyte GN-WPKG, GN-WMKG, GN-WBKG, GN-WIKG
• Hawking HWP54GR *, HWC54GR *
• iNexQ CR054g-009 (R03) *
• JAHT WN-4054PCI *, WN-4054P
• LevelOne WNC-0301 v2 *, WPC-0301 v2 *, WBR-3406TX
• Linksys, WMP54G v4 (but not v4.1)*, WUSB54GP v4 *
• Micronet SP906GK, SP908GK V3 *
• Minitar MN54GPC-R MN54GCB-R
• MSI PC54G2, MS-6834, CB54G2, MS-6835, MS-6861, MS-6865, MS-6869, MP54G2, MS-6833\
• OvisLink EVO-W54PCI
• PheeNet HWL-PCIG/RA
• Pro-Nets PC80211G, CB80211G
• Repotec RP-WP0854, RP-WB7108, RP-WU0402
• Roline RWA-54 ?, RWPC-54 ?
• SATech SN-54P, SN-54C
• Sitecom WL-115, WL-112
• SparkLAN WL-685R
• Surecom EP-9321-g, EP-9321-g1, EP-9428-g, EP-9001-g
• Sweex LC700030, LC500050
• TekComm NE-9321-g, NE-9428-g
• Unex CR054g-R02, MR054g-R02
• Zinwell ZWX-G361, ZWX-G160, ZWX-G261 ?, ZWX-G360
• Zonet ZEW1600, ZEW1500

Atheros

There is a new free driver (ath5k) for some of the Atheros chipsets. We've gotten a report that D-Link's DWL-G520 PCI works with the ath5k driver on a fully free system. According to the lspci, the chipset is AR5212/AR5213. Please let us know if you've found any other devices with this chipset that work on your free system and we'll add them here.

The madwifi OpenHAL driver is free software. The three devices below are all Mini PCI Wireless adapters that can be put into the Mini PCI slot.

IBM Dual-Band 11a/b WiFi Wireless Mini PCI Adapter
Chipset: Atheros AR5001X
Sometimes sold as 802.11a/b Philips Wireless Card
According to madwifi.org this chipset, “Also works with madwifi-old-openhal”

IBM 11a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Adapter
Chipset: Atheros AR5001X+
Also known as “802.11a/b/g wireless card” or “11A/B/G Wireless LAN Mini PCI Adapter“
According to madwifi.org the chipset, “ Also works with madwifi-old-openhal”

IBM 11a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Adapter II
Chipset: Atheros AR5004X
Also known as the “802.11a/b/g Ambit Wireless Card” or “802.11a/b/g Bartlett Wireless Card”
According to madwifi.org this chipset also, “Also works with madwifi-old-openhal”

We've recently started keeping track of cards that DO NOT work with free software. Please send along any that you know of, so we can add to this list. Thanks!

prism54

A project to develop free software firmware for prism54 devices is well underway. Please see prism54.org for more information about how to help the project by testing, and for the list of currently supported devices with their degree of support.