Good news, more good news, and bad news.
First, the good news.
I’ve been told by a few people that the stock 2.6.2527 kernel will support the RTL8187B natively. (Much more likely than not, this has nothing at all to do with my temporary patch.) I haven’t tried it out yet, especially since the fan on my Satellite failed miserably and the damned thing overheats every 10 minutes (those little laptop fan-pads really do work wonders, btw, I’ll have to pick another one up), but I’m crossing my fingers.
The good news is that the further bad news doesn’t really have anything to do with anything any of you need to worry about. :-) It has mostly to do with my spare time, or lack thereof.
In any case, here’s what’s going on in my drafts: Linux on the Wii, how to disassemble my particular model of Toshiba Satellite and unfuck its cooling system once the fan burns out (once I disassemble my particular model of Toshiba Satellite and unfuck its cooling system), a bit of Marine stuff, and some more miscellaneous Perl.
[EDIT: Updated the FAQ.]
2.6.25 ? AFAIK no support for rtl8187b there… Maybe you were thinking about 2.6.27 ?
My mistake, corrected in the post.
I guys :-)
I have compiled the 2.6.27-rc3 kernel version and I’m writing this message using the Wifi connection, with wep encryption.
The patch is on kernel.org
Thanks a lot for your help (web-)master.
Vince
Outstanding! Glad to see the experts came up with something better than my stopgap.
Hi Vince … What about WPA ? Anyway it’s good news indeed, native out of the box support for rtl8187b :)
Actually, it was my brother’s laptop, and as I have not yet configured any WPA at home, I do not take care a lot about it…
Here’s another solution if you’re sick of the Toshiba A215 wireless troubles: replace the card. It
involves obtaining a mini PCI-express wireless card for $30 to $50 USD, removing some screws
on the laptop, lifting the keyboard, and putting in the new card. Want 802.11N? Maybe dual band
A and G/N modes? No problem - just pull that damn OEM equipment and replace it.
My choice was the Gigabyte GN-WS30N-RH, and it works like a champion, with no hassles at all
in my Sidux AMD64 system. When I installed the new card, it showed up in the list of PCI devices, and ran immediately after compiling / installing the driver (make && make install).
Good riddance to the 0bda:8197 nightmare.
Here are some links for working inside the Toshiba A215 Laptop:
Removing the internal wireless card:
http://www.irisvista.com/tech/laptops/toshiba-satellite-a215/remove-wireless-card.htm
General Disassembly
http://www.irisvista.com/tech/laptops/toshiba-satellite-a215/disassemble-display-panel-1.htm
I used the irisvista guides to open up the case, swap the wireless card for a newer one, and remove a lot of dust from the cooling system. Good luck, and don’t lose any screws!!
Outstanding. I hadn’t even considered replacing the card itself. Thanks!
I’m happy to give back some help to the cuervo blog!
Last year I had big headaches with this laptop…Vista was a very poor performer, so I went to Kubuntu. After studying the postings here, I was able to get the audio and wireless running like a champ. So there’s nothing better than a shot of cuervo..’cept maybe the Indy 500…
I’ve been running Bluewhite64 and Sidux for a while, and sought the greener wireless pastures where there’s lots of development on the drivers. Looks like kernel 2.6.27 will be better for the rtl8187b variants, but I am enjoying my faster connections on this new 802.11N chip (even though I didn’t install the third antenna - two work fine).