Configuring a wireless PCMCIA card

[Brad De Vries]

On 5/25/05, Net Llama! <netllama at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 05/25/2005 05:11 PM, Alma J Wetzker wrote:
> > Brad De Vries wrote:
> >> Hey all, I just received my first (don't laugh) wireless card and
> >> router.  I'm using an old IBM ThinkPad running Knoppix off CD as a
> >> test case and I'm wondering how to setup the card.
> >>
> >> My router has a SSID set and is using WPA-PSK (authorizing with a
> >> pre-shared key.)  I can see the iwconfig command can set the ESSID
> >> (which I hope is the same as SSID) but I can't find the WPA-PSK stuff.
> >>
> >> Any thoughts from anyone on where that's set?
> >
> > First, I am no longer considered a guru.
> >
> > I picked up a Thinkpad T23 at the start of fall semester.  I struggled
> > for about three weeks trying to get a Belkin wireless card working.  I
> > tried knoppix and installed Suse 9.2 pro (which worked flawlessly and
> > recognized all the special keys and functions.)  I  never got the Belkin
> > card running.  I broke down and ordered an Orinoco Gold card from New
> > Egg and SuSE detected it and started it up just fine.
> >
> > I have yet to fix this, but I need to do a strange dance with the
> > network when using wireless.  The internal network adapter 100Base-T
> > (eth0) tries to find a network before the wireless card (eth1).  I end
> > up stopping both cards (ifdown) and then starting just the wireless card
> > (ifup) and all is happy.  (I actually get an IP address but the DNS
> > resolution is borked.)
> >
> > Someone smarter than me (easy to find) might be able to get things
> > working.  I spent time with the University ACM chapter and linux
> > bitheads.  We started with ndiswrapper and then got esoteric.  Get the
> > Orinoco Gold card.
> 
> I can't speak for suse, but for RH/FC its the same as setting up a
> normal NIC.  Just create a ifcfg-ethX in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts
> and you're good to go.

Thanks all for your replies.  The problem has been "resolved."

Sadly, it was resolved because the hard drive on the free laptop died
and it wouldn't even spin up anymore.  I'm not willing to put any
money into it so I guess I get to send it back to the person who gave
it to me in the first place.  I knew there was a reason they gave it
away.

Thanks again.
Brad.