[PLUG] Linux-compatible laptops

Russell Senior russell at personaltelco.net
Wed Jul 15 05:37:16 UTC 2009


>>>>> "John" == John Jason Jordan <johnxj at comcast.net> writes:

Keith> Lastly, for security purposes I want the wifi to be OFF when I
Keith> unplug the USB or PCMCIA card; without a direct power switch I
Keith> am relying on corruptable software and firmware to take
Keith> internal Wifi offline.  Sometimes you just want to raise the
Keith> drawbridge, rather than trust the guards.

John> When I was shopping for my current Thinkpad T61 I was given to
John> understand that the switch on the front of the case physically
John> turned the power to the bluetooth and wireless devices on or
John> off.

John> I have never inspected the wiring diagrams for the T61 to see if
John> this is really true. But if a business traveler turns off the
John> switch and then powers on the laptop during a flight, and as a
John> result of the radios not really being turned off the plane
John> crashes, the bill that Lenovo will receive will not be trivial.

I am given to understand that the primary reason turning off personal
electronics in during takeoff/landing is so that passenger attention
is directed towards crew instructions rather than distracted by
gizmos, not because they actually significantly interfere with
navigational systems.

Also, from reading the linux-wireless mailing list, I am further given
to understand that some rfkill switches physically turn the radios off
and on, and some rfkill switches simple tell the operating system to
toggle state.  In the later case, it is possible for confusion to
arise, becoming confused about whether you just turned something off
or turned something on.


-- 
Russell Senior, Secretary
russell at personaltelco.net



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