Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2006 21:27:28 -0700 From: Sam Leffler <sam@errno.com> To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org, Reid Linnemann <lreid@a.cs.okstate.edu>, cms01@tampabay.rr.com Subject: Re: FreeBSD inquire Message-ID: <450788B0.1030100@errno.com> In-Reply-To: <20060912194349.GA36471@dragon.NUXI.org> References: <200609121102.12577.cms01@tampabay.rr.com> <d8a4930a0609120816ge8de09ci2fa764c477df7d26@mail.gmail.com> <200609121141.09204.cms01@tampabay.rr.com> <4506F6DF.5010900@cs.okstate.edu> <4506FE59.6000600@errno.com> <20060912194349.GA36471@dragon.NUXI.org>
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David O'Brien wrote: > On Tue, Sep 12, 2006 at 11:37:13AM -0700, Sam Leffler wrote: >> I'd like to see support >> for these parts 'cuz they appear frequently in laptops; often with bios >> locking which makes swapping cards problematic. > > Scary. I've always assumed I could buy a laptop with any wireless NIC > and change it. Do you know which laptop vendors do this? Can you say > anything more on the "bios locking"? > Regulatory compliance certification is done with unit testing (wireless card + pigtails + antennae). Allowing arbitrary combinations can theoretically leave the laptop vendor open to heavy fines; hence some vendors have taken to disabling a laptop booted with a wireless card that's not been certified (the bios checks the pci device id and will not allow the machine to boot if the card isn't on it's approved list). In practice this bios locking is simple to workaround for cards that get their pci device id from eeprom--if you're so inclined. A bit of searching will find articles by people that have done it. I've seen bios locking done by ibm and hp. Wouldn't be surprised if many others do it. Sam
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