Wireless PCMCIA setup

[Matthew Carpenter]

Networking is set up manually editing a few files as indicated in section 8.b 
of the Gentoo Handbook:
 http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?full=1

Wireless network is discussed in the early setup:
 http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?full=1#wireless

I don't personally use automatic setup since I hop between several wireless 
nets.  On SuSE I created a wireless config system allowing me to change 
quickly.  This was required largely because SuSE's networking scripts don't 
allow transient changes to the SSID and WEP settings.  On Gentoo, I simply 
type the following (or use the CTRL-R search feature in BASH):

# iwconfig eth1 essid mywifilan enc 293857304958def8ed89034fbc
# dhcpcd eth1
 (if eth1 is already running with dhcpcd I use "dhcpcd -n eth1")

On Friday 07 January 2005 05:10 pm, Net Llama! wrote:
> On Fri, 7 Jan 2005, Edward Jabbour wrote:
> > On Friday 07 January 2005 03:41 pm, Net Llama! wrote:
> > > On Fri, 7 Jan 2005, Edward Jabbour wrote:
> > > > I've compiled CONFIG_PRISM54 into my 2.6.8-r3 kernel. Some info:
> > > >
> > > > cardctl ident
> > > > Socket 0:
> > > > product info:??"Intersil",?"ISL3890",?"_",?"_"
> > > > manfid: 0x000b, 0x3890
> > > > function: 254 (null)
> > > >
> > > > iwconfig
> > > > lo no wireless extensions
> > > > eth1??NOT?READY!?ESSID:off/any
> > > > Mode:Managed??Channel:0??Access?Point:??00:00:00:00:00
> > > > [etc - in other words, no wireless]
> > > >
> > > > I have emerged the latest (unstable) baselayout and its dependencies,
> > > > and pcmcia-cs. I do not have wlan, net.eth0, eth1 or similar
> > > > in /etc/init.d.??The networking guide in the Gentoo Handbook is not
> > > > much help.
> > > >
> > > > If anyone knows of a good, clear, howto designed for the
> > > > simple-minded, I'd appreciate a pointer or, indeed, any advice at
> > > > all.??Thanks.
> > >
> > > I'll admit up front that i've never used gentoo for this sort of thing,
> > > nor are my wifi cards the same as yours.  However, from the info above
> > > it looks like your card is being detected, so this is likely a wifi
> > > configuration issue, rather than a hardware/pcmcia issue.
> >
> > Exactly.
> >
> > > How did you configure the interface?
> >
> > I haven't.  That's what I've been trying to do but have no idea where to
> > start.  I've  set up ethernet , ppp, and much more stuff over time, but
> > this wifi stuff is a real nut for me.  Totally at a loss here.
>
> Ohh, then i guess you're stuck in some kind of gentoo hell.  How/where
> does gentoo configure network interfaces?  On redhat or Suse i could help
> you, but i'm lost on gentoo, sorry.