pe2900: pci-e card not detected

[Matt Domsch]

On Fri, Nov 14, 2008 at 12:26:12PM -0500, Noah Dain wrote:
> If there is such a thing as a bios whitelist or blacklist in place on
> the 2900s, it would be nice to know ahead of time.  It reminds of the
> thinkpad 1802 errors with thirdparty mini-pci wireless cards wherein
> the card was fine but the bios 'elected' not to use the card.  But at
> least there, one would get an error message.

This is done for regulatory reasons.  Wireless devices are subject to
quite a few regulatory restrictions in various countries and
geographies around the world, each a little different.  To ensure a
third party wireless card doesn't cause the system to be out of
regulatory compliance (which could then result in fines or stop-ship
demands on the system vendor or the card vendor), BIOS will carry a
list of validated cards known to be in compliance.

-- 
Matt Domsch
Linux Technology Strategist, Dell Office of the CTO
linux.dell.com & www.dell.com/linux