re-marked from

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Lenovo_ThinkPad_T400

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HardwareSupportComponentsWirelessNetworkCardsRealTek#PCI

1. Indentification

My laptop is Thinkpad SL410k, on Windows 7 it displays

ThinkPad 11b/g/n Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Express Adapter

You can indentify the device by using the following commands:

# lspci -vv

       03:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 8172 (rev 10)

# lshw -C network

It is Realtek chipset

• Rtl8192SE

 11b/g/n Wireless Lan Mini-PCI Express Adapter II


 03:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 8172 (rev 10)

See http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkPad_11b/g/n_Wireless_LAN_Mini-PCI_Express_Adapter_II
for more details.

2. Install driver

We have two options to make the chip work on Unbuntu

2.1

Realtek r8192se_pci Driver

Finally came the expected driver (alpha? beta?), I think it's premature but it works perfectly.

Here the driver (r8192se_pci):

 32 bits: http://launchpadlibrarian.net/33927923/rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0010.1012.2009.tar.gz




 64 bits: http://launchpadlibrarian.net/34090326/rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0010.1012.2009_64bit.tar.gz

untar; make; make install; reboot and enjoy it

Here if you got an error "No rule to make target `kernel/bounds.c', needed by `kernel/bounds.s'"

please try with

# apt-get install linux-source

to get the souce.

you can test it with:

• netcfg
• standar commands:

 ifconfig wlan0 up


 iwlist wlan0 scan


 iwconfig wlan0 essid MySsid


 wpa_supplicant -B -Dwext -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf


 dhcpcd wlan0


2.2

Below is another option which is to use the Windows driver under Unbuntu system throught the linux tool Ndiswrapper 

Ndiswrapper option:
If you have a 32-bit version of arch, it should be possible to get it working with ndiswrapper:

• Download this .exe file: http://www.station-drivers.com/telechargement/realtek/wifi/rtl-8191se_1080.7.0520%28www.station-drivers.com%29.exe
• Install the extra/p7zip
  package and use the included utility 7z
  to extract the contents of the .exe:

 7z x rtl-8191se_1080.7.0520(www.station-drivers.com).exe

• Copy the files net8192se.inf
  and rtl8192se.sys
  from the 91_92_SE_Driver/Win2K
  directory to a location of your choosing.
• Proceed with the normal ndiswrapper installation procedure
  .

Unfortunately, if you are running a 64-bit version of arch then it seems you are out of luck
currently; the WinX64 drivers included in the above package do not work.

For more information, see http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1182457
and http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/message?board.id=Special_Interest_Linux&message.id=1196
.