From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Sep 13 04:27:31 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B401516A40F for ; Wed, 13 Sep 2006 04:27:31 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from sam@errno.com) Received: from ebb.errno.com (ebb.errno.com [69.12.149.25]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5738043D4C for ; Wed, 13 Sep 2006 04:27:31 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from sam@errno.com) Received: from [10.0.0.248] (trouble.errno.com [10.0.0.248]) (authenticated bits=0) by ebb.errno.com (8.13.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id k8D4RS9P064305 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO); Tue, 12 Sep 2006 21:27:28 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from sam@errno.com) Message-ID: <450788B0.1030100@errno.com> Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2006 21:27:28 -0700 From: Sam Leffler User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5.0.4 (X11/20060724) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org, Reid Linnemann , cms01@tampabay.rr.com References: <200609121102.12577.cms01@tampabay.rr.com> <200609121141.09204.cms01@tampabay.rr.com> <4506F6DF.5010900@cs.okstate.edu> <4506FE59.6000600@errno.com> <20060912194349.GA36471@dragon.NUXI.org> In-Reply-To: <20060912194349.GA36471@dragon.NUXI.org> X-Enigmail-Version: 0.94.0.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: Subject: Re: FreeBSD inquire X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2006 04:27:31 -0000 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