Intel PRO/Wireless 2011B LAN CF Card on J720 HPC2000

I recently got a J720 and I wanted to get a WiFi card for it but I wanted a CF card so I would have the PCMCIA open for other things. I wanted one that would fit into the J720's CF slot so I got the Intel PRO/Wireless 2011B LAN CF Card (WCF2011BEWW). Other than it not fitting correctly into the slot (it's too long, the picture on eBay looked like it might) I can't seem to get the stupid thing to work. After much searching for drivers and fixes I have found out the following:
1. The 2011 and the 2011B are different and that is why the software/drivers do not work for the card (though after install the J720 does not complain about not having drivers for the 2011B but the Intel software does not recognize the card)
2. The Intel drivers for the 2011B are for the PPC and not the H/PC and the aygshell.dll file does not provide any help.
3. I should have found a different WiFi card to use but the money is spent and I hate to think that I am stuck with the card.

It seems to me that there are enough users on this forum that someone may have run into the same/similar problem and there also seems to be some others that may be able to help with the issue by hacking the cab files on the Intel drivers so that I may be able to use them with my J20. I have looked through the files contained within the cab file that I got from Intel and have gotten absolutely nowhere.

One other thing is that the software for the 2011 will install, run, let me configure the WLAN settings but when I try to specify the card type it is greyed out to only accept PC Cards. Also, not sure if this is relevant to the situation but the bottom of the card says "Approved by IDA for use in Singapore. DB02941" The Intel software also mentions an access code for the card to enable 128-bit WEP but that may be for the 2011 card since it loads the firmware for that card. Any help in the matter is GREATLY appreciated.

Did you check the HCL in the Support section?

Yes I did, and when I looked I hadn't noticed that the 2011 was listed and not the 2011B. That is why I have turned to the forum for help.

Try this thread: http://www.hpcfactor.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=4370&posts=14&highlight=intel%202011b&highlightmode=1#M42534

I have read through that thread in great detail and I have tried the Intersil drivers as well. No luck.

well, what about PM'ing bobbarker then

There has been discussion before on this topic. The short of it is that this card will not work.

The long of it is this: the card is basically an empty shell of microprocessors, much like the soft modem you'll find in the Jornadas. Most components have firmware, that is, a chip containing the identification of the device and some string of instructions and what it would prefer to use as I/O channels and interrupt requests and various other technical interaction I don't get.

An example of firmware is the BIOS that performs the power on self test your PC goes through when it boots. You can remove every component from the board, and it will still go through this test with power applied. That's the firmware.

In the same way, when you plug just about anything into a USB port, the device's firmware is what relays the make, model and type of device that is being presented. Industry standardization of this sort of thing is what makes modern OSes plug and play.

The 2011B doesn't have firmware. This is bizarre beyond bizarre, and I can't seem to figure out why it was done. I speculate that creating a cheaper device was motive. Bottom line is that instead of just relying on a driver to tell the system how to interact with the device, it instead drives the device and tells the device what it is and also has the system respond for the device.

In the end, there is no driver for the 2011B to work with CE. It would likely slow the device, so no real loss. I'm sorry you got a bum card. Orinoco Gold is the Grail of cards for CE.

I appreciate the response oflash, but I do understand how firmware works...I know the in's and out's of computer hardware but I am not big on the software aspect. What seems to make no sense is why it would work with PPC3.0 and not HPC2000 when it is just a build off of it, surely the drivers could be (to make up a phrase if it doesn't exist) "retro-ported" or reverse engineered. Also, it is my understanding that all plug-and-play devices know what they are but the drivers tell the OS what the device is and how to interact with it. It also seems illogical to make a device who's predecessors contain firmware without it, what possible purpose could that serve? Lower manufacturing costs would be likely but at the sacrifice of memory for the firmware in drives? Does anyone know if the card might work with some of the ARM builds for Linux, perhaps that would be a viable option in the long run since I don't have much use for the portability of the J720 being as it's so bulky.
If not, I may still have use for the card, in a few days I should be receiving a J548 running CE3.0. The Intel drivers are built for CE/PPC3.0 so I might not have to scrap the card in the long run. When it arrives I will post again and submit to the HCL.

cmdrkeen, oh i didnt see it had ppc2000 drivers. i'll say 90% chance that it will work on hpc2000 too. give me the driver cabs, contactchan (at) freemail.hu.

That's fine, cmdrkeen, but thread responses are for everyone who's looking for the same answer, not just the thread originator. I hope you get it working, it would be a boon to the community! Good luck.

Just sent the cab files to you cmonex. Hope you can do something with them. I understand oflash as it is a community and not my own personal help desk. Though perhaps this will help those that had the similar problem.

I dont know if this will help any, nor have i looked at it yet, but on this page: http://www.wince-devel.org/wince/dirlist.html , there is a file called intel-2011b-wince211-drivers.tar.gz. Could these be the HPC drivers we were looking for?

Only if there's an ARM binary included.

There is an ARM binary, but according to the readme, the drivers require aygshell.dll and
mfcce300.dll
but it says it will work on the J720..

ok, i see TFGBD hasn't posted.
he told me some symbol wifi drivers are compatible. they are still downloadable from symbol.
i'll check my emails now the solution will be public of course...