[Thinkpad] [T23] Results with WiFi and FireWire cards, USB floppy

Hello,

Here are the results of using some IBM and third-party hardware in
my ThinkPad T23 (2648-LU7) with BIOS 1.16 and Embedded Controller 1.05
running Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 1 installed:

PROXIM ORINOCO 11A/B/G COMBOCARD:

I received the Proxim ORiNOCO 11a/b/g ComboCard yesterday from Micro
Warehouse and installed it without difficulty in my T23 using the latest
drivers available from Proxim's web site (I did not look at the
installation disc). The device drivers installed with any problems.

By default, the card appears to search for 802.11a, b, and g networks
but did not see the 802.11b network until I disabled searching for the
other networks in the card's profile. Once I did that I was able to
connect to a Lucent (now Proxim) AP-1000 using 128-bit WEP.

The range appears to be equal to an ORiNOCO Gold PC Card.

The antenna protrudes from the T23, is non-removable, and has no external
antenna connector.

My only real complaint is that the card does not come with a case like
the older ORiNOCO PC Cards. Since the card is 2-3mm longer than the older
ORiNOCO PC Cards it will not fit in one of their plastic cases.

Manufacturer's web page:
<http://www.proxim.com/products/all/orinoco/client/abgcard/index.html>

IBM IEEE-1394 CARDBUS CARD

The IBM IEEE-1394 FireWire CardBus Card arrived this morning from Surplus
Computers (formerly Software and Stuff) and installed successfully without
prompting for any third-party drivers. This is good, since it did not come
with a driver disc or manual, just two six-foot-long cables, one ending in
a six-pin FireWire connector, the other in a four-pin one. The cables do
not block the other PC Card slot in the T23.

The card shows up as a "Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host
Controller" in the Device Manager.

I tried plugging an external FireWire enclosure with a 2.5" hard disk drive
into the cable but it did not power up, so the six-pin FireWire cable does
not provide device power (as expected). Once I've purchased a transformer
I'll post some data transfer results.

The card felt rather warm after ejecting it.

Manufacturer's web page:
<http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-4NFQ25>

MITSUMI D353FUE USB Floppy Disk Drive

The floppy diskette drive included with my T23 is rather expensive
and looks very delicate so it's not something I would prefer to take
with me when travelling.

After looking around, I settled on a Mitsumi USB floppy diskette
drive because it was (1) small, (2) light, (3) inexpensive, and
perhaps most importantly, (4) did not look like an iMac.

So, I ordered a USB floppy diskette drive from Surplus Computers,
which came with a driver disc for older OSes.

The Mitsumi D353FUE USB Floppy Disk Drive was recognized and installed
successfully as the A: drive without prompting for any third-party
drivers.

I was able to read a diskette formatted in my desktop using the floppy
drive, format a diskette in the drive and read it on my desktop, and
boot my T23 from the USB diskette drive by holding the F12 key at POST
to select the boot device.

I also tried creating the DVD Firmware Update Utility diskette in the
USB drive, available from IBM's support web site at:
<http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1MIGR-41018>. This
generated an error message from the operating system about a device
attached to the computer attempting to directly access the hardware.

This firmware update disk, along with IBM's Hard Disk Drive Firmware
Update diskette were created using Sydex's TeleDisk program, which, as I
understand it, uses port writes to the floppy disk drive controller in
order to bypass the BIOS. This is a great technique for transferring
diskettes with non-standard formats or certain types of viruses, but
probably overkill for transferring bootable IBM PC-DOS-formatted
diskettes. Incidentally, I couldn't create the diskettes in a PC with
an IDE-bus Imation LS-120 SuperFloppy diskette drive, either.

Once I had created the diskettes on a desktop with a regular floppy
diskette drive I was able to boot from them in the USB floppy diskette
drive on the T23.

Manufacturer's web page:
http://www.mitsumi.com/products/fuefloppyspec.html

That's all the additional hardware I've used with my ThinkPad T23. If
I get anything that's new, novel or doesn't work, I'll let the list know.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

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Received on Fri May 9 23:45:45 2003