[TriLUG] Wireless networking?

[Mark Pilgrim]

I have:
- Compaq Presario 5660 desktop
- RoadRunner cable modem attached to a LinkSys wireless cable modem router
( http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?prid=173&grid=19 ) acting as
DHCP server, no WEP encryption
- LinkSys wireless PCMCIA card (
http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?prid=156&grid=19 )
- LinkSys wiress PCMCIA --> PCI adapter (
http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?prid=158&grid=19 )
- RedHat 7.1
- 2.4.8 kernel compiled from source
- pcmcia-cs-3.1.28 compiled from source
- linux-wlan 0.18pre13 compiled from source (
http://www.linux-wlan.com/linux-wlan/ )
- iwconfig 21 (
http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux/Tools.html )

I can't figure out how to set up the wireless networking on the Compaq.
Documentation in this area is sketchy, overlapping, and contradictory.  The
2.4.x kernel supports PCMCIA (even wireless PCMCIA) but apparently not very
well until about 2.4.5 (hence the kernel upgrade).  But the separate PCMCIA
package may work better, hence that.  linux-wlan specifically supports the
LinkSys wireless PCMCIA card, but I don't know if it's needed since I have a
2.4 kernel.  iwconfig sets parameters of the wireless NIC (like the SSID and
channel), but PCMCIA seems to be able to do that at boot time by editing
/etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts.

To make matters worse, the pcmcia-cs package doesn't seem to have installed
properly, because when I /etc/init.d/rc.d/pcmcia restart, I get an error
that /lib/modules/2.4.8/pcmcia-core.o is missing, along with a few others.
I think there's something important about how the kernel is compiled with
PCMCIA support, or whether it's compiled in at all, before adding the
pcmcia-cs package on top.  And I have no idea if any of this supports the
PCMCIA --> PCI adapter.

Am I smoking crack?  Can this setup ever possibly work?  All other computers
on the network (both MacOS 9 and Windows 2000) work flawlessly.  I would
love to have a Linux box on the same network so I can gradually wean my
girlfriend (and myself) off of Windows.

-Mark



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