Ipw2100

Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 Driver for WiFi

Linux driver for the 802.11b NIC - miniPCI cards - found in Centrino laptops.

The following adapter sold by IBM uses this chipset:

• Intel PRO/Wireless LAN 2100 3B Mini PCI Adapter

Project Homepage / Availability

http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/

Packages

• Fedora Packages(1): Fedora Core includes the ipw2100-drivers in FC3 (with updates) and FC4. You still need to grab the firmware from http://rpm.livna.org/
• Fedora Packages(2): http://www.atrpms.net/name/ipw2100/
• Mandriva: The ipw2100 driver modules are included in the stock kernel package; the firmware is included in the commercial distribution or available from http://plf.zarb.org/
• Template:Debian Sarge includes the source code for the modules in package ipw2100-source (http://packages.debian.org/ipw2100-source). You additionally need to download firmware manually.
• Template:Debian Etch includes a version of the modules in its kernel or for a later version install package ipw2100-modules-2.6-486, ipw2100-modules-2.6-686, ipw2100-modules-2.6-686-bigmem, ipw2100-modules-2.6-k7 and ipw2100-modules-2.6-amd64 or the source code for them in ipw2100-source (http://packages.debian.org/ipw2100-source). You additionally need to download firmware manually.

Status

• In development but usable. Version 1.0.5 works quite well with kernel 2.6.10.
• Works very well with kernel 2.6.16-9. Only firmware needs to be copied to the appropriate directory and everything works out-of-box.

Installation

Installation on Debian Sarge

# apt-get install ipw2100-source

# module-assistant -t build ipw2100-source

[is this how module-assistant works in Sarge?]

Installation on Debian Etch

The kernel includes a version but if you want a more recent version install the module ipw2100-modules-2.6-486 or ipw2100-modules-2.6-686 or ipw2100-modules-2.6-686-bigmem or ipw2100-modules-2.6-k7 or ipw2100-modules-2.6-amd64 depending on your architecture.

The firmware is not distributed with Debian due to licensing reasons, download the matching version 1.3 firmware and install it:

# tar -xvf ipw2100-fw-1.3.tgz -C /lib/firmware

# mv /lib/firmware/ipw2100-fw-1.3/* /lib/firmware

Installation on Debian Unstable

Install ieee80211-source:

# apt-get install ieee80211-source

# module-assistant -t build ieee80211-source

The kernel includes a version but if you want a more recent version install the module ipw2100-modules-2.6-486 or ipw2100-modules-2.6-686 or ipw2100-modules-2.6-686-bigmem or ipw2100-modules-2.6-k7 or ipw2100-modules-2.6-amd64 depending on your architecture.

The firmware is not distributed with Debian due to licensing reasons, download the matching version ?.? firmware and install it:

# tar -xvf ipw2100-fw-?.?.tgz -C /lib/firmware

# mv /lib/firmware/ipw2100-fw-?.?/* /lib/firmware

Additional Comments

Make sure to try the newest version. You will need to install the loadable binary firmware provided on http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/firmware.php as required by the driver.

To install the firmware, decompress the .tgz in /lib/firmware

To turn off the radio on boot-up load ipw2100 with option disable=1, i.e. # modprobe ipw2100 disable=1.

Related links

• ipw2100 FAQ