Configuring IBM ThinkPad X31 on-board 802.11b wireless network (2004/11/20)

[Japanese]

This page describes installation procedure of ipw2100 driver (http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/) on Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 (woody) running Linux 2.4.26.

On my IBM ThinkPad X31, lspci shows the following PCI devices:

  00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 3340 (rev 03)
  00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 3341 (rev 03)
  00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 24c2 (rev 01)
  00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 24c4 (rev 01)
  00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 24c7 (rev 01)
  00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 24cd (rev 01)
  00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82820 820 (Camino 2) Chipset PCI (-M) (rev 81)
  00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 24cc (rev 01)
  00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 24ca (rev 01)
  00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 24c3 (rev 01)
  00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 24c5 (rev 01)
  00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 24c6 (rev 01)
  01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M6 LY
  02:00.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev aa)
  02:00.1 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev aa)
  02:00.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd: Unknown device 0552 (rev 02)
  02:01.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 101e (rev 03)
  02:02.0 Network controller: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 1043 (rev 04)

The last line indicates a Centrio-based 802.11b wireless network interfaces (compatible with Intel PRO/Wireless 2100?).

1. Fetch the ipw2100 driver version 0.54 from http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/ipw2100/ipw2100-0.54.tgz?download. Note that later versions won't work with Linux 2.4.x.
2. Fetch the ipw2100 firmware from http://ipw2100.sourceforge.net/firmware.php, and extract in /usr/local/etc/firmware.
3. Enable the following options in /usr/src/linux/.config.

     #
     # Cryptographic options
     #
     CONFIG_CRYPTO=y
     CONFIG_CRYPTO_ARC4=m
     
     #
     # Library routines
     #
     CONFIG_CRC32=m

4. Compile and install kernel modules.

     # cd /usr/src/linux
     # make oldconfig
     # make dep clean bzlilo modules modules_install
     
   =item 5. Compile and install ipw2100 driver.

     # tar xzvf ipw2100-0.54.tar.gz
     # cd ipw2100-0.54
     # make -DCONFIG_IPW2100_LEGACY_FW_LOAD=y install

5. Save the following script as /usr/local/sbin/config-ipw2100.

     #!/bin/sh
     # 
     # Start/stop script for ipw2100 wireless network driver.
     # Copyright (c) 2003, Hiroyuki Ohsaki.
     # All rights reserved.
     # 
     # $Id: index.pod,v 1.1 2005/10/24 13:08:51 oosaki Exp $
     # 
     
     start_iface()
     {
       echo "Starting network interface $iface..."
       modprobe -s $module $module_opts
       if [ -n "$key" ]; then
         iwconfig $iface key "$key"
       fi
       iwconfig $iface essid "$ESSID"
       if pump -i $iface; then
         pump -i $iface --status
       else
         stop_iface
       fi
     }
     
     stop_iface()
     {
       echo "Stopping network interface eth0..."
       ifconfig $iface down
       rmmod -s $module
     }
     
     PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin
     
     # import ESSID/WEP setting from pcmcia-cs package
     ADDRESS='0,0,0,0'
     . /etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts
     
     module=ipw2100
     module_opts='firmware=/usr/local/etc/firmware/ipw2100-1.3.fw'
     iface=eth0
     
     # convert WEP key in XX:XX:XX:XX:XX format
     case "$KEY" in
       s:*)
         key=`echo -n "$KEY" | od -t x1 | head -1 | cut -d ' ' -f 4- | tr ' ' ':'`
         break
         ;;
       [0-9a-fA-F]*)
         key=`echo "$KEY" | sed -e 's/\(..\)/\1:/g' -e 's/:$//'`
         break
         ;;
     esac
     
     # force to kill DHCP client
     killall -9 pump
     
     if ! ifconfig | grep "^$iface" >/dev/null; then
       start_iface
     else
       stop_iface
     fi
       </pre>
     
   =item 7. Run F</usr/local/sbin/config-ipw2100> for activating/deactivating wireless network.