I promised to report back on how things went with getting a CM9 wifi card, putting it in my Ferrari 3400 and getting it on-line. I'm very happy to report that everything went well and here, for the archive, is my full report. [Warning, I'm a C++ guy, not an admin guy so this may be a bit rough..]
You need hardware! Obtain a Wistron CM9 wifi card. I found mine on ebay for $40, delivered to my door. If you do ebay, you can check out item number: 250091460092. I see that as of today, 09-Mar-2007, he has 87 cards still available for $34.95 + $5.00 shipping. He shipped quickly; no problems with this vendor. These cards are readily available elsewhere on the web for similar prices. Once received, you'll remove the existing wifi card from your Ferrari. This is about as easy as it could be -- Acer did a nice job of making this component replaceable. Flip your Ferrari over and find the removeable panel with a label that states something about there being a transmitter inside. On my 3400 the label reads: "Contains Transmitter Module WNC RM8" along with some regulatory gibberish. There are two screws that hold down the cover. Use a philips screwdriver to remove the two screws and gently pry the panel up from the end where the screws were. The other end has tabs that fit into slots in the case. This operation may take some gentle persuasion because the cover *may* have some sticky tape attaching it to the existing wifi card. Persevere, the cover will come off. Once the cover is off and the sticky tape all removed you'll see the two coax cables that run to the antennas. Remove these cables from the wifi card. Needle nose pliers are handy -- be gentle! A slight rotating of the coax connectors while lifting will pop them loose. You will also see two retaining levers that lock the existing wifi card into place. Simultaneously pull the two levers away from the wifi card until they click and the wifi card pops up a bit. You can now lift the wifi card out of it's slot. Installing the CM9 is simply the reverse procedure without the sticky tape business. [OK, the hard part is finished. Have a cold, refreshing beverage and contemplate the wonders of the wireless world..] You need software! Download the 'ath' wifi driver for the Atheros CM9 from the OpenSolaris Laptop Community: http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/laptop/wireless/ath I put the archive file (ath-0.1-pkg.tar.gz) in a directory of it's own: ~/ath and issues the following commands to unzip and install the package: $ su # cd ath # gzip -dc ath-0.1-pkg.tar.gz | tar xvf - # ls LICENSE SUNWatheros ath-0.1-pkg.tar.gz # pkgadd -d . SUNWatheros // stuff happens... "Installation of <SUNWatheros.2> was successful." Next, download the wificonfig tool from the OpenSolaris Laptop Community: http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/laptop/wireless/wificonfig Again, I put the archive file in it's own directory ~/wifi and executed the following commands to unzip and install the package: # cd wifi # gzip -dc wificonfig-0.1-pkg.tar.gz | tar xvf - # pkgadd -d . SUNWwlanu // stuff happens... "Installing wifi config tool as <SUNWwlanu.2>" // more stuff happens... "Installation of <SUNWwlanu.2> was successful." [Time for another cold, refreshing beverage. The end is near!] The packages installed, I then executed the following commands to configure the CM9 and get on the net: # ifconfig ath0 plumb # wificonfig -i ath0 createprofile MyWifi essid=Ponderosa encryption=WEP wepkey1=************************** # wificonfig -i ath0 connect MyWifi # wificonfig -i ath0 showstatus linkstatus: connected active profile: [MyWifi] essid: Ponderosa encryption: WEP signal strength: strong(13) # ifconfig ath0 auto-dhcp [Now, I have an IP address and I'm on the big wire and sending this post! The obvious next step, scripting the above, is left as an exercise for the reader.] -Doug This message posted from opensolaris.org
