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Update

I have now upgarded to a 2..6.2 linux kernal. This seems to run much better with the standard 256mB of memory. With the 2.4 based kernels the machine would become sluggish and seems to swap to disk a lot more often than it does with the 2.6 kernel.. ACPI is able to correctly read the battery status and charging information with this kernel.

IBM Thinkpad R40e Linux install

Model : 2684-N3M
Memory : 256 Mb
HDD : 20 Gig
Wireless : 3com OfficeConnect 11g Wireless LAN PC Card 3CRWE154G72

Please note: I'm updating this page as I get things going so it might be a bit messey for a few days but once things are confirmed to be working well I will tidy it up.

I choose to install Redhat 9 in a dual boot configuration with the supplied Windows XP Home.

I followed the examples here To install Redhat with one exception mentioned in problems below. Initially the redhat install woulden't go past the check media screen.

I had made the mistake of booting the machine and having it convert the windows partion to NTFS. This wasen't a major issue but the windoze defrag utility couldenlt move a few files stuck just before the 8gig mark. I decided this was OK since I had quite a few big windows apps to install. I left the preboot area on the disk. The BIOS successfully kept this hidden during the linux setup. I used Knoppix 3.2 to do the initial partioning of the disk including the ntfs resizing.

I choose the 3Com wireless PC Card over the optional internal miniPCI card based on both the significant price difference and the fact that this card was knowen to work with linux. It does mean the single cardbus slot is tied up with the wireless card but every thing else I might want to add can be connected through USB so no greate loss.
Drivers for PrismGT 802.11g wireless cards

I built the wireless driver as a PCI module and let linux hotplug use that for the cardbus card. This is working correctly with the standard redhat kernal 2.4.20-8. I will update this once i have upgraded the kernel. There was no need to patch the kernel, It just works!

The biggest problem was making sure that the scripts were correct to start and stop the interface. Initially the Link LED on the card would flash a few times then go off for several seconds then repeat that cycle. Once I got it configures with the reight settings the link LED goes solid. Once you achive this is it a metter of getting the ip routs setup correctly. Initially i was using the machine with its internal ethernet and that had claimed the default route. once this was changes everything worked.

This is the driver I used along with this firmware file copied to /etc/hotplug/isl3890.arm The firmware file is actually included in the archive. You need to extrace this archive and edit the Makefile so HOTPLUG=y them run make. on redhat I had to make a symlink in /usr/src called linux that points to /usr/src/linux-2.4 and run make as root. Once this was done the driver built correctly.

copy the misc directory from the 2.4.20-8 directory of the of the shouce tree you just built into /lib/modules/2.4.20-8. you should then have a file called "/lib/modules/2.4.20-8/misc/islpci.o". Once this is done the module will be loaded on reboot automatically procided the networking scripts are set correctly.

I initially used the RedHat netowrk tools to create a network script but I think you just need to include an ifup-eth1 or whatever you want to call it.
Here is an Example ifcfg-eth1 based on my one generated by the tools after i hacked it to make it work.

If it all worked you can type
iwconfig at a shell prompt and you will see all your information. If rate=0 somthing is wrong. You should also be able to do an ifconfig and see your eth1 port. You can use ifup eth1 and ifdown eth1 to start and stop the interface. If you reach this point your biggest problem is now making sure your routes are correct and that the default is out eth1.
You do not need any entried in /etc/modules.conf since the linux hotplug code takes care of things.

WARNING: If you don't have this file in etc/hotplug you will freeze your linux box solid requiring a power off.

Precompiled kernel modules

If you're lazy or don't have the kernel source installed here are some precompiled kernel modules I made. These have been tested on RedHat 9. untar and put the islpci.o in "/lib/modules/kernalver/misc/" where kernalver is like "2.4.20-8".

• for 2.4.20-8 RedHat Kernal compiled for i386
• for 2.4.20-20.9 RedHat Kernal compiled for i386

Software Modem

After installing the slmdm-2.6.10 rpms i had to modprobe both slmdm and slamrmo to get the device up and running. after this i was able to use kppp to connect to my ISP at 46Kbps although this isn't my prefered means to connect to the net, I'm way to attached to broadband for that! :-).

Problems

Initially I coulden't get the Redhat 9 install cd to work, it appared to freeze at the check media screen. It was unresponsive to the internal keyboard and mouse at this point. After a bit if trial and error I found the solution was to go into the BIOS and turn off USB support for disks provided by BIOS. After this change the install proceded and worrked correctly.