326 lines
7.9 KiB
HTML
326 lines
7.9 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
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<HTML
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><HEAD
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><TITLE
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>Centrino(tm), Centrino-Duo(tm)</TITLE
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><META
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NAME="GENERATOR"
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CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7"><LINK
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REL="HOME"
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TITLE="Linux on the Road"
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HREF="index.html"><LINK
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REL="UP"
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TITLE="Hardware in Detail: CPU, Display, Keyboard, Sound and More"
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HREF="mobile-guide-p2c1-hardware-in-detail.html"><LINK
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REL="PREVIOUS"
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TITLE="CPU"
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HREF="mobile-guide-p2c1s1-cpu.html"><LINK
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REL="NEXT"
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TITLE="PCMCIA Controller"
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HREF="mobile-guide-p2c1s2-pcmcia-controller.html"></HEAD
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><BODY
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CLASS="sect1"
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BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"
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TEXT="#000000"
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LINK="#0000FF"
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VLINK="#840084"
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ALINK="#0000FF"
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><DIV
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CLASS="NAVHEADER"
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><TABLE
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SUMMARY="Header navigation table"
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WIDTH="100%"
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BORDER="0"
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CELLPADDING="0"
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CELLSPACING="0"
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><TR
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><TH
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COLSPAN="3"
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ALIGN="center"
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>Linux on the Road: </TH
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></TR
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="10%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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><A
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HREF="mobile-guide-p2c1s1-cpu.html"
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ACCESSKEY="P"
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>Prev</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="80%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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>Chapter 12. Hardware in Detail: CPU, Display, Keyboard, Sound and More</TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="10%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="bottom"
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><A
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HREF="mobile-guide-p2c1s2-pcmcia-controller.html"
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ACCESSKEY="N"
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>Next</A
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></TD
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></TR
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></TABLE
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><HR
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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WIDTH="100%"></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect1"
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><H1
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CLASS="sect1"
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><A
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NAME="mobile-guide-p2c1s1-centrino"
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></A
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>12.4. Centrino(tm), Centrino-Duo(tm)</H1
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><P
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> Intels Centrino(TM) technology consists of three parts: a Pentium M processor,
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a chipset, and a wireless module. Let's see
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how these parts are supported under Linux so far.
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</P
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><P
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> Here you may find current information about
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<A
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HREF="http://tuxmobil.org/centrino.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>Linux on Centrino laptops and notebooks</A
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>.
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</P
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect2"
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><H2
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CLASS="sect2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN1819"
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></A
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>12.4.1. CPU: Pentium-M</H2
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><P
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> Robert Freund has written a concise
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<A
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HREF="http://rffr.de/acpi"
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TARGET="_top"
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>HOWTO</A
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>
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about controlling ACPI Centrino(TM) features via
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software in Linux. He describes how to control CPU frequency and other
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energy saving modes, as well as how to get information about the battery state.
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</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect2"
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><H2
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CLASS="sect2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN1823"
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></A
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>12.4.2. Chipset: 855/915</H2
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><P
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> The Intel 855/915 chipset families are designed to deliver better
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performance at lower power. The chipsets are available as discrete memory
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controller hub (e.g. Intel 855PM). Or as an integrated graphics and
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memory controller hub (e.g. Intel 855GM). Intel provides the Extreme
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Graphics driver for Linux, which includes AGP GART and DRM kernel modules
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as a binary files. I have no experience with this drivers, because
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the chipsets work with XFree86/X.org drivers, too.
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The Pentium-M CPU may come accompanied with other
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graphics chipsets too, e.g. from ATI, nVIDIA or Trident.
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</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect2"
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><H2
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CLASS="sect2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN1826"
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></A
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>12.4.3. Wireless LAN: PRO/wireless 2100/2200 LAN Mini-PCI Adapter</H2
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><P
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> There are different solutions to get these cards running with Linux:
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drivers from Intel, NDIS wrapper and Linuxant driverloader (commercial).
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</P
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><P
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> <A
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HREF="http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>ipw2100</A
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>,
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Intel's Open Source driver with included firmware, for the first
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Centrino generation (incl. WEP and WPA together with HostAP).
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For the second generation of Intel's miniPCI modules: PRO/Wireless
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2200BG (802.11g/802.11i), the
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<A
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HREF="http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>ipw2200</A
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>
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project provides a driver.
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Third generation PRO/Wireless 2915ABG (IEEE 802.11b, 802.11g und
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802.11a) miniPCI cards will be supported by the
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<A
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HREF="http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>ipw2200</A
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>
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project, too.
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</P
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><P
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> Intel didn't provide drivers, when the begun to sell their Centrino
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technology. During this time there have been other solutions:
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Some vendors refuse to release technical specifications or even a binary Linux driver
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for their WLAN cards. NDIS wrapper tries to solve this by making a kernel
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module that can load NDIS (Microsoft-Windows Network Driver Interface
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Specification) drivers. Currently there are two implementations available.
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The commercial
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<A
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HREF="http://www.linuxant.com/driverloader/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>Linuxant Driverloader</A
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>
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supports a broad range of chipsets including Intel's PRO/Wireless 2100 LAN
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Mini-PCI Adapter. There is also
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<A
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HREF="http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/"
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TARGET="_top"
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>ndiswrapper</A
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>
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an Open Source solution by Pontus Fuchs.
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</P
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><P
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> As another workaround was the usage of a Linux-supported
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<A
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HREF="http://tuxmobil.org/minipci_linux.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>miniPCI WLAN card</A
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>.
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These cards are difficult to get, but some desktop WLAN PCI cards contain miniPCI cards. Often it is a tedious task to
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build them into a laptop. Kernel maintainer Theodore Tytso has written a
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<A
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HREF="http://www.thunk.org/tytso/linux/t40.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>manual</A
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> about achieving this task. You may also
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use a wireless PCMCIA or CF card
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instead. This solution may provide more flexibility, because you may use a PCMCIA or
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CF card in different devices and choose the Linux driver of your choice. You may also extend the wireless range by
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adding antennas to some cards. For Linux compatibility there is the
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<A
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HREF="http://tuxmobil.org/pcmcia_linux.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>TuxMobil PCMCIA/CF Card Survey</A
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>.
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In the future, manufacturers will probably offer alternative miniPCI solutions. DELL is already doing so for their
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Latitude D series.
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</P
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="sect2"
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><H2
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CLASS="sect2"
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><A
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NAME="AEN1840"
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></A
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>12.4.4. Conclusion</H2
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><P
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> Though Linux support is not yet complete, some features of the Centrino(TM) technology already make it worthwhile to
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take into account when buying your next laptop. Though the new CPUs are named so similarly to existing ones that some
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people mix them up, they are completely different inside. Compared to the Pentium-4 Mobile CPU, the Pentium-M will
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allow a smaller form factor for laptops, making them more portable and lighter. Because of their higher clockspeed,
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the Pentium-4 CPUs have produced too much heat to build them into slimline notebook cases. Therefore, very flat
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notebooks have only been available from Apple or with a Pentium III Mobile CPU. Also, the battery power the Pentium-M
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consumes for a given level of performance will decrease, but I do not have a benchmark about how much the savings
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actually are yet. PENN Computing offers a nice
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<A
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HREF="http://www.upenn.edu/computing/provider/docs/centrinoprovider.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>comparison of Pentium-M and Pentium-4 Mobile</A
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>.
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Note: The character M in Pentium-M suggests "mobile". Therefore some people mix
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this kind of CPU with the mobile versions of the Pentium-III/Pentium-4 CPU.
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</P
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><P
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> Laptops based on the Centrino(TM) features are already
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very popular in the Linux community.
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<A
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HREF="http://tuxmobil.org/centrino.html"
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TARGET="_top"
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>Installation reports</A
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>
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for almost all Centrino based laptops available at TuxMobil.
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</P
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></DIV
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></DIV
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><DIV
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CLASS="NAVFOOTER"
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><HR
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ALIGN="LEFT"
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WIDTH="100%"><TABLE
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SUMMARY="Footer navigation table"
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WIDTH="100%"
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BORDER="0"
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CELLPADDING="0"
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CELLSPACING="0"
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="mobile-guide-p2c1s1-cpu.html"
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ACCESSKEY="P"
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>Prev</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="34%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="index.html"
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ACCESSKEY="H"
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>Home</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="mobile-guide-p2c1s2-pcmcia-controller.html"
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ACCESSKEY="N"
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>Next</A
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></TD
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></TR
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><TR
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="left"
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VALIGN="top"
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>CPU</TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="34%"
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ALIGN="center"
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VALIGN="top"
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><A
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HREF="mobile-guide-p2c1-hardware-in-detail.html"
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ACCESSKEY="U"
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>Up</A
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></TD
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><TD
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WIDTH="33%"
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ALIGN="right"
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VALIGN="top"
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><SPAN
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CLASS="acronym"
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>PCMCIA</SPAN
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> Controller</TD
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></TR
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></TABLE
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></DIV
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></BODY
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></HTML
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> |