iwconfig
 

I installed the prism wireless card via rpm for my wpc11 card. I can run the command ifconfig and it will connect to networks sometimes but how can i know the name of the network I am connecting to? isnt the command iwconfig? if so that command does not exist on my system so how can i get iwconfig enabled?

Well, if your using a wireless card and connect, you have to have iwconfig installed or your connection wouldn't be working. Most likely its not in your path. I do believe by default its going to be in /sbin

/sbin/iwconfig

I checked /sbin and there was no iwconfig to be found. when i hit ifconfig wlan0 comes up as a connection so that must mean that it is reading a network. also cardctl ident reveals the correct model number for my wireless card. how do i get iwconfig

Ahh.. yours is being recognized thru wlan.. if you want iwconfig, you need to download and install the wireless tools package. Check freshmeat.net and or sourceforge.net as I do know they are available for download from those sites.