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Classic Hacker News. Some guy posts likely incorrect random speculation, and the comments are full of even more speculation. The truth is Intel makes two versi

Classic Hacker News. Some guy posts likely incorrect random speculation, and the comments are full of even more speculation. The truth is Intel makes two versions of most of their WiFi cards: the normal version, and a "low cost" version where some of the internal components are missing and those functions instead offloaded to the Intel chipset on the motherboard. Sort of like the "WinModems" of WiFi cards. If you want one that works, buy the correct version.

seabrookmx 3y ago
What's also funny is they've been doing this for many years. I assumed it was common knowledge by now.
- p_l 3y ago
  It's also explicitly discussed in the post and checked for.
p_l 3y ago
Classic Hacker News. Posting includes exactly that information, explicitly ruling out that the card is "low cost" CNViO RF module according to specification provided by intel - yet a post will ignore that :)
- jauntywundrkind 3y ago
  To be fair, many people can no longer read Twitter threads. But yeah.
opello 3y ago
It sure looks to me like "Some guy" got the "random speculation" right in this case. The link shows the BE200 as the "M.2: PCIe*, USB" type in the highlighted Intel Ark screenshot. In contrast to the "WinModem" version you're conflating this with, which should say "M.2: CNVio2" (or similar) like the AX210 and AX211 pair. BE200: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/230078/intel-wifi-7-be200/specifications.html https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/230078/... AX210: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/204836/intel-wifi-6e-ax210-gig/specifications.html https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/204836/... AX211: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/204837/intel-wifi-6e-ax211-gig/specifications.html https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/204837/... The BE200 should be like the AX210. The "WinModem" variant should be BE201 like the AX211. Edit: I guess I should say that I don't know if "may be locked via Firmware" is a reasonable conclusion, just that the correlation is present, and the assumption of interface compatibility (given an M.2 slot with PCIe and USB).
- jeffbee 3y ago
  Why are we "assuming" interface compatibility? I have an Asus mobo that refuses to boot with a Western Digital SSD in the first M.2 slot, when and only when using a 13th-generation Core CPU, unless the Intel ME has been updated past a minimum revision. I think it is quite likely that PC platform firmware has huge tables of device quirks that are necessary to bring up the machine.
rpns 3y ago
I think there is something going on, as the BE200 is E keyed rather than A+E keyed like the AX210. It physically won't fit in the slot in my AMD laptop where I previously installed an AX210.

seabrookmx 3y ago

What's also funny is they've been doing this for many years. I assumed it was common knowledge by now.

p_l 3y ago
It's also explicitly discussed in the post and checked for.

p_l 3y ago

Classic Hacker News. Posting includes exactly that information, explicitly ruling out that the card is "low cost" CNViO RF module according to specification provided by intel - yet a post will ignore that :)

jauntywundrkind 3y ago
To be fair, many people can no longer read Twitter threads. But yeah.

opello 3y ago

It sure looks to me like "Some guy" got the "random speculation" right in this case. The link shows the BE200 as the "M.2: PCIe*, USB" type in the highlighted Intel Ark screenshot. In contrast to the "WinModem" version you're conflating this with, which should say "M.2: CNVio2" (or similar) like the AX210 and AX211 pair. BE200: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/230078/intel-wifi-7-be200/specifications.html https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/230078/... AX210: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/204836/intel-wifi-6e-ax210-gig/specifications.html https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/204836/... AX211: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/204837/intel-wifi-6e-ax211-gig/specifications.html https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/204837/... The BE200 should be like the AX210. The "WinModem" variant should be BE201 like the AX211. Edit: I guess I should say that I don't know if "may be locked via Firmware" is a reasonable conclusion, just that the correlation is present, and the assumption of interface compatibility (given an M.2 slot with PCIe and USB).

jeffbee 3y ago
Why are we "assuming" interface compatibility? I have an Asus mobo that refuses to boot with a Western Digital SSD in the first M.2 slot, when and only when using a 13th-generation Core CPU, unless the Intel ME has been updated past a minimum revision. I think it is quite likely that PC platform firmware has huge tables of device quirks that are necessary to bring up the machine.

rpns 3y ago

I think there is something going on, as the BE200 is E keyed rather than A+E keyed like the AX210. It physically won't fit in the slot in my AMD laptop where I previously installed an AX210.