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Comment by sampo | Hacker News Reader

The default Realtek wifi card in t440/t440s (maybe also some other models) does not yet have a stable Linux driver, wifi keeps dropping. (The most recent driver from github is a bit better, it only drops a couple of times per hour, the default driver in Ubuntu 14.10 drops in like 5-10 minutes.)

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1239578

An Intel card is only about $20 off ebay, but you need to open the laptop in order to replace it.

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If you're replacing WiFi cards in ThinkPads, check into which cards are supported by the unit - there's a whitelist that varies by each model. I learned the hard way trying to get someone with one of the cheaper models onto 802.11a with a replacement card - the new card was used in other models, but the laptops he had only shipped with one type of card and a correspondingly short whitelist.

You can find hacked firmwares to remove the whitelist functionality, but that depends on your willingness to run hacked firmware.

Yes, you need to buy a card that has a FRU code that is whilelisted by Lenovo.

> whitelist

Jesus that should be made illegal on laptops. MSI did that with the wireless card. (Won't buy a product from them again) There is no reason that I shouldn't be able to switch out what's in the mini-pci slot.

Debatable but understandable. They whitelist cards that they tested and certified the laptops with, which may actually be significant / required for some devices. The problem device for me was a ThinkPad Edge something, I believe the lists for the better systems are significantly larger.

Still annoying though.

If they don't support the 3rd party card you put in there: Who cares? I'm not going to expect them to support the wireless functionality if I subsitute out the wireless card. What do they need to whitelist cards for?

Compliance, particularly the section and additional info for Electromagnetic Compatibility Compliance http://www.lenovo.com/lenovo/us/en/compliance.html

ThinkPads traditionally wound up in specifications for sophisticated systems.

http://web.archive.org/web/20110720220124/http://www-03.ibm....

I have a X230 that had one of those Realtek cards. It would drop a lot and be rather funky since I run linux 99% of the time. Then it finally died in February so I spent $13[1] for a replacement non-realtek. It has worked absolutely great, even with a minimalist Arch setup.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008V7AAJU/ref=oh_aui_detai...

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