ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini Express Adapter

This is a WiFi Adapter that is installed in a Mini-PCI Express slot

Features

Chipset: Atheros AR5006EX (As printed on card AR5BXB6) or AR5212
Integrated Mac Processor and Radio Chip: Atheros 5423
IEEE Standards: 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g
PCI ID: 168c:1014

Atheros mini-PCIe WiFi Adapter

IBM/Lenovo Partnumbers

IBM/Lenovo Option PN (US): 40Y7026

Linux WiFi driver

The latest linux distributions have a driver for this (ath5k) which should automatically be used. However this driver might not be completely stable unless you upgrade to at least 2.6.29.

Alternatively you can use the Madwifi driver. This driver has support for Atheros rev 0x0024 support since svn revision 2360.

OR (not recommended)

get the driver from http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-52527 and use ndiswrapper

Hardware switch

Some ThinkPads have a hardware switch that (at least in theory) must be in the on position for the radio to work, regardless of driver state:

NOTE!

This may not always be the case. On at least two different T60 models, one with Atheros AR5212, using Ubuntu Edgy, Feisty, and Debian Testing, with the MadWifi driver and the other with Fedora 11 Alpha using ath5k, the wireless switch has no effect. Wireless operates with the switch in either position. But there's support for the switch in thinkpad-acpi which could be used to kill wireless from userland.

T60 WiFi LED

NOTE!

Does anyone know how to enable this on a modern distribution with ath5k? The below solution does not work as the file does not exist

Problem: The WiFi LED on the T60 isn't enabled by default on bootup.

Solution: As root edit /etc/rc.local by adding the following command at the bottom:

echo -n 1 > /proc/sys/dev/wifi0/ledpin;

Save your changes, afterwards on every boot up the WiFi LED will be enabled.

Note:This has been verified on a T60 1953-D7U running Fedora 7 Linux, however this should work on most Laptop-OS configurations.

X61 WiFi LED blink on transfer

Howto make the wifi led blink when there is network traffic. I've only tested this on an X61 with AR5212 802.11abg - AR5BXB6 on Debian/Ubuntu

sysctl -w dev.wifi0.ledpin=1
sysctl -w dev.wifi0.softled=1 //change the 1 to anything 1-9 for a more responsive blink

If you would like for this to occur on boot, add

dev.wifi0.ledpin=1
dev.wifi0.softled=1

to

/etc/sysctl.conf

WiFi LED on ath5k

There is a problem with the ath5k led currently on some ThinkPads (X60s, T60). It can be trivially fixed by modifying the ledpin in the kernel (drivers/net/wireless/ath5k/base.c). Future versions of the kernel will make this a modparam or detect the wiring of the led properly.

ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini Express Adapter