IBM Type 2722 - DM1, Wireless upgrade?

[erin2006erin]

Hello there, i was after some help with this old laptop i had stowed away in a cupboard.
Its an IBM type 2722-dm1
I Just pulled it out, and first thing i notice is no wifi, at all. So i popped open the back, and i see there is what looks like a wireless card slot, but the slot is bigger than the wireless card slots in all my other laptops. SO heres my question, can this laptop take some kind of wifi card, in that slot on the back?
Or do i have to use a USB adapter?
Or is it so old that it cant be done at all?

Thanks for any and all ideas, i can provide a photo of the slot on the back, but i figured you smart people will know exactly what it is anyways lol

Thanks!

Much love

 

[thecoolnessrune]

You can open up the panel for the mini-PCI slot and see if the antennas are there. If there are, then you can install a wireless mini-PCI card supporting up to 2 antennas. Otherwise, you can use a USB dongle just fine.

EDIT: Forgot to add that the back slot is a Type II PCMCIA card slot. They are long defunct, but you should be able to find a wireless card for it if you want to go that route on eBay. A Used Wireless G standard card shouldn't cost more than $15-20 on eBay.

So if you really want wireless on that, I would first try the internal mini-PCI option (if there's antennas), then PCMCIA if there isn't, and then finally if you don't want that or want wireless N, then do a USB dongle. The PCMCIA version is the only one where you wouldn't be able to do Wireless N. The R40 has 2 antennas that will work with Wireless N (if you have them in your laptop), and a USB dongle will give you the latest wireless standards.

 

[brinstar117]

Just to note, IBM Thinkpads are picky about what mini PCI cards are installed. They are locked so that they can only use IBM approved mini PCI cards. It's a bit more advanced, but you can get around this by using a hacked BIOS.

I'm not sure how current the following link is, but it details how it can be done.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=65155