Centrino under Linux, part II
Turns out that Linux on the R40 isn't entirely without problems: I finally got bitten by some pretty bad interactions between USB, suspend/resume, and my PCMCIA WLAN card (from SMC, with an Atmel chipset; there's an open-source Linux driver for this card). It helps greatly to use the built-in Wi-Fi instead. And, yes, that's indeed possible if you are willing to use a Windows XP driver under Linux. Just install ndiswrapper, and the driver you got with Windows XP. And it just works.
(Additionally it's a good idea to disable USB before suspending the machine. /etc/sysconfig/apm-scripts/apmcontinue-pre here. That way, one can upload Photos without rebooting...)
Later: Turns out that ndiswrapper is sticky the ugly way -- removing the module leads to various kinds of crashes. And the Intel driver isn't mature enough, either... Bad luck with wireless for the moment.