I've messed around a bit with various flavors of Linux, but I'm trying to get wireless on an old Satellite 330CDS Laptop (PII, 32MB), and slackware seems to be the only thing I can get it to install / boot

So far its great, but I have 2 problems:

1)
When I insert a PCMCIA card (which I need for wireless), the system freezes. It is a hard freeze, I have to turn the power off.
I tried the standard pcmcia lib, as well as the pcmcia-cs lib (installed currently).
I've seen some people say that excluding irqs or address ranges helps, but I have no idea what irq / range to exclude.

2)
Also, vi is not staying in insert mode.
When I've used vi/vim in the past, "INSERT" appears in the command area when insert mode is entered. It isn't showing up, and even after I press 'i' it keeps reverting to command mode unless I keep pressing 'i'. What the heck?

Thanks

For the freezing when you put a PCMCIA card in the slot, I recommend you put the card in before you boot the computer, that way it is recognized and correctly dealt with during boot-up. Have you tried that yet ? Depending on the wireless card you have, you may or may not need other drivers ... what wireless card do you have ?

Its an Atheros Chipset...I know I'll have to use MadWifi...But I just don't want it to freeze, or would installing madwifi fix the problem?

I fixed the Vim problem....
set nocp



Thanks

Yeah, you should probably install madwifi first, and then see if doesn't freeze anymore.

MadWifi is installed, and it still freezes. Its not a driver problem anyways, it immediately freezes as soon as I insert OR remove the card while the pcmcia detection is on.

Does it not freeze if you have the card in before booting and then take it out after shutting down ?