[colug-432] Intel Centrino

[Rick Troth]

On 12/10/2013 01:10 AM, tom wrote:
> Whats with Intel Centrino? Linux does not seem to like it. I decided to 
> load XP PRO on my Latitude D600, so I could see if the Intel BG2200 
> wireless card would function.

Since I/we have a Centrino laptop (and pain), I thought I'd respond. In
my experience, Linux tolerates Centrino better than Windoze, but may not
be the WiFi chips per se. Did not know (until today) that Centrino
refers to the WiFi chips and has little to do with the CPU involved. So
my review is probably off target.

> A little back story. I installed retroprecise 5.4.3 on it as nothing 
> else Linux would install with the Centrino except DSL. The Linux driver 
> did not work well with the wireless. Poorly. I decided to use the 
> Ndiswrapper. I tried lots of appropriate windows drivers to no avail. I 
> then thought install XP and see which driver is running the wireless, 
> then use that driver on the drive that has retroprecise.

We got my daughter a Sony VAIO with Centrino Duo branding. It came with
Windows Vista. Vista sucks (in our experience; "sucks" being a technical
term related to personal pain). I installed Fedora and my daughter ran
that until she upgrade to a shiny new Dell. The machine was usable on
Fedora.

Now you mention your trouble, I remember she did report wireless
dropping out. But it always restarted. (Also, we had WiFi trouble with
other machines in the house, so was never apparent that hers was the
only one affected.) Was a pain to have to kick it manually. I don't
remember if Vista did better with the wireless chip set because it
performed so badly all around. (I mistook "Centrino" to mean the
processor, which I have always thought was _way underpowered for Vista_,
"Intel Core 2 Duo T5250 / 1.5 GHz". Or maybe it just needs more RAM.)

The Fedora release was 14, and maybe 13. (I switched other maint to
OpenSUSE about the time F15 came out and stopped updating that machine.
Long story.) I have also run a recent Debian hack on that same VAIO,
which shows no WiFi problems that I recall. I run the same Debian hack
on a different (older) VAIO which regularly wants a restart of _wired_
ethernet. (Starts fine at boot, then disconnects, but remains
"connected" after first manual intervention.) Dunno if wired falls under
the Centrino brand. Not sure if this other (older) VAIO is Centrino
branded. Will check when I get home.

> I decided to install SolidWorks on the drive I put XP on while I was at 
> it. That Windows software did not like the centrino either!!

Wikipedia sez INTeL stopped marketing Centrino in early 2010. Links of
possible interest ...

  * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrino
  * https://us.en.kb.sony.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/34310
  * https://us.en.kb.sony.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/41882


-- R; <><



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