[ale] Throwing in the towel

[Barlow, Jim D]

> Brian Pitts wrote:

>> I've heard about laptops with BIOS checks that refuse to boot if a 
>> different wireless card is installed. Does anyone know if there's any

>> truth to this?

Geoffrey wrote:

> This is true for the minipci slot on this hp pavilion ze4900.

This is true because the notebook vendors sell the notebook with minipci
slot.   They need to get the notebook/radio/antennae combination
certified in each country / geography in which they want to sell the
product.   They cannot allow customers to swap out elements per those
certifications, and the "closed" software modules are there as well as
vendors cannot allow an end user to change the radio parameters around
frequency and power envelope per those certifications.  Taking a look at
the spectrum for 802.11 abgn is a real eye opener as to why this is.

Open swappable radios are the domain of the Amateur Radio bands. 

- ke9zd