Baslinux mailing list

[Robert Steinmetz <rob AT steinmetznet.com>]

3aoo-cvfd AT dea.spamcon.org wrote:

>  Robert Steinmetz wrote:
>
> > What about support for notebooks, PCMCIA and Wireless?
>
>
>  To which James Miller replied:
>
> > Steven is talking about adding some PCMCIA bits to BL3,
>
>
>  I will get on to that as soon as the base distribution is bedded
>  down. I'm hoping that 3.02 will be a keeper (but I thought the same
>  about 3.01 when it went out a week ago).
>
> > Wireless would be nice, and I do have a card I can experiment with,
> > but I don't know if Steven considers it any kind of priority.
>
>
>  I work by trial and error. Since I have no wireless gear, there is
>  no way for me to develop anything in that area. However, isn't a
>  wireless card just another PCMCIA card?

The support in linux requires certain option in the kernel. and support 
for wireless networking.
The other issue is that wireless cards have evolved very rapidly, so the 
various chipsets and features need specific support.
I worked on getting BL1 to support wireless and was minimally 
successful. BL2 proved to be to much for the hardware I was targeting.

>  Put it in, cardmgr looks for it in the database and starts the
>  appropriate module. I suppose the real question is: whether it is
>  worth the space to have wireless modules in the basic filesystem. If
>  they are big, then the answer is probably no.

You might want to look at supporting wireless option in the BL3 kennel 
it requires the kernel be compiled with *CONFIG_NET_RADIO*  I don't 
think it requires many resources*.
*It is available in Slackware 7.1 you could add the PCMCIA module.

>  And a practical point: does Slackware 7.1 actually have any useful
>  wireless modules? Remember we are relying on Slack71 to provide
>  modules for the kernel.

The kernel has the options, if they are compiled in. The wireless 
extensions would likely need to be compiled and patched to work.

>  Cheers, Steven
>
>
>
>
>
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--
Robert Steinmetz
Principal
Steinmetz & Associates