With regards to the BIOS patching, I should firstly add that it is a
potentially risky process and it might leave your laptop in a non-working
state. This might just be a routine warning, as I don't know how often the
process fails.
Having said that, I did in fact patch my BIOS (IIRC:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/459591-t61-x61-sata-ii-1-5-gb-s-cap-willing-pay-solution-8.html#post6501443)
but it was for the SATA speed and not for the whitelist, although it is the
same patch. I have not tested whether an alternative wireless card works, so
I cannot comment on that. As mentioned, having a USB wireless adapter is
useful in any case.
I had to run the patch, which is specific for the 60/61-series, in Windows.
Luckily (!) I had Windows Vista on the laptop when I got it. The patch was
the only thing I did with it before I installed Trisquel.
