Upgrading the S2020

I bought my Fujitsu S2020 about half a year ago, when the regulators in M'sia had yet to certify 802.11g products.. So, it was sold without the wireless option.. I've been using a USB 802.11b dongle for my WiFi needs in the interim.. But now that I've begun to get more and more USB products, I'm starting to feel that the S2020 doesn't have enough USB ports.. It only comes with two.. So, if I leave my WiFi in 24 hours a day, I only have one USB port to use for everything, from my mouse to my external HDD (which is USB powered)..

So, I came across this site at tom's networking the other day, about installing a mini-pci WiFi card inside the S2020.. I new that it was possible but was apprehensive in explorative surgery on my S2020.. But now with the instructions and pictures on the website, I'm sure that I can do it.. I don't think warranty is that much of an issue as I'm overseas anyway and my Fujitsu warranty only seems to cover Asia.. In Europe, the company is Fujitsu-Siemens and they do not sell the S2020 here..

So, now I'm going to bid for some mini-pci 802.11a/b/g cards (to future proof my investment) on ebay.. Hope to get it.. I can buy them retail at about GBP 25.. So, that's the threshold value.. If I win the bid, I'll take apart my S2020 next week and install it.. I've already downloaded and compiled the Atheros drivers.. That went without a hitch.. So, all I've got to do now is install the card, get it's PCI-ID added to the Atheros DB (if it's not already there), and everything should be fine..

Why am I doing this?? To improve my WiFi speeds as well as to future proof my investment.. The bad WiFi speeds I'm getting are affecting my downloads, my Skype calls, and also my online gaming.. Also, to free up a USB port so that I can have more devices connected at the same time.. Also, having an internal WiFi just makes the S2020 more portable and sleek.. I've recently upgraded the HDD to a 5400RPM one.. It's noticeably faster.. especially when I display my docs directory, which has loads of documents in it within konqueror..

Then, I'll be able to test out the 802.11a/b/g WiFi functions.. The Atheros cards seems to be the best supported cards in linux.. The drivers can be downloaded from madwifi.sf.net but it's still beta.. Main weaknesses are a buggy ad-hoc implementation, and simple rate control algorithms.. Well, I've compiled it with the AMRR algorithm instead of the default ONOE algo..

Tata..