Ipw
Intel PRO/Wireless
The Intel PRO/Wireless (IPW) cards are Intel's WiFi hardware for the Centrino platforms. They come in various formats (mini-PCI, mini-PCIe), and capabilities (802.1b, 802.1b/g, 802.11a/b/g, 802.11a/g/n...).
The cards have built-in RISC CPUs (used as MAC processors) and a firmware that does all of the stuff that the USA FCC regulations won't allow a vendor to distribute in a way the user could easily modify and run). This makes them Linux-friendly since it allows the vendor to publish GPL drivers without risking any issues with the FCC.
Please refer to these pages for more information:
- ipw2100 for the IPW2100 mini-PCI cards
- ipw2200 for the IPW2200 and IPW2915 mini-PCI cards
- ipw3945 for the IPW3945 mini-PCIe card
- ipw4965 for the IPW4965 mini-PCIe card
