Been experimenting with CentOS 5.4 some more. In order to get my wireless card to work (Broadcom BCM4311) I need Broadcom's wl.ko driver (http:// www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php). It compiles fine after the necessary modification in typedef.h, loads and wireless works. However, as soon as I put some load on that interface (scp something from another machine, download something with Firefox, etc.) the machine kernel panics. I've tried the stock 2.6.18 kernel, the latest 2.6.18-164-11, and the latest patched 2.6.18-164-11-bug4139.4192.4196 (necessary to get my ALPS touchpad to work). I've tried two different versions of Broadcom's driver: 5.10.79.10 and 5.60.48.36. It doesn't kernel panic when I unload the wl kernel module, plug in a network cable and copy those files over ethernet.
I downloaded the 2.6.27 kernel source and compiled my own kernel and it seems to work with that. However, for some weird reason, with any given self-compiled kernel (tried 2.6.18-8, 2.6.25 and 2.6.27) klaptop won't allow me to configure any standby/hibernation options because it doesn't recognize any of them. They do work perfectly fine though, I can pm- suspend the laptop from command-line.
Any idea what else I could do? Either getting wl.ko to work with 2.6.18 (does somebody have a version older than 5.10.79.10 that they could email me?) or getting klaptop to realize that the laptop does indeed know how th suspend and hibernate with a non-CentOS-kernel would be fine.
Thanks, Martin