Hi!
I've tried to install my wlan card (dlink dwl-g650) on Slackware for quite some time now.
I finally got it to work. I am in fact writing this from my notebook.
I installed the madwifi drivers.
But every time i reboot the machine i have to setup my card again.
I edited modules.conf: alias ath0 ath_pci
and it works. The modules get loaded at boot time.
Then I tried to configure the card by adding some lines to /etc/rc.d/rc.local :

ifconfig ath0 up
ifconfig ath0 192.168.0.3
iwconfig ath0 mode Managed
iwconfig ath0 key 3E412A2FE1E1A21DA2341A11AF
iwconfig ath0 essid wlan@home
route add -net 0.0.0.0/0 gw 192.168.0.1

When I boot, it might work some times, but often my access point won't get found by the card...or something, I don't know why it won't work, because when I call this script directly after I log in as root, it will work!

Then I went through /etc/rc.d/ and found the scripts rc.inet1.conf and wireless. And I read about /etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts. I tried myself to edit those files to setup essid, key, etc on boot, so far I couldn't make it work....
which scripts are relevant for pcmcia wlan cards at boot time?

any one any solutions/hints?
I googled before, searched the forums, please help me!

I'll post some more info:
Slackware 10.1

# ifconfig ath0
ath0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0F:3D:AC:A6:AD
inet addr:192.168.0.3 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:5426 errors:7874 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:7874
TX packets:4581 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:199
RX bytes:2311374 (2.2 Mb) TX bytes:712001 (695.3 Kb)
Interrupt:10 Memory:d036b000-d037b000
# iwconfig ath0
ath0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"wlan@home"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.467GHz Access Point: 00:11:95:37:99:39
Bit Rate=54Mb/s Tx-Power:50 dBm Sensitivity=0/3
Retryff RTS thrff Fragment thrff
Encryption key:3E41-2A2F-E1E1-A21D-A234-1A11-AF Security mode:restricted
Power Managementff
Link Quality:56/94 Signal level:-39 dBm Noise level:-95 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:611 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:1

I actually do not care if any one reads that security related stuff

My /etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts at the mom (only relevant part):

# dlink
*,*,*,00:0F:3D:*)
INFO="Fill with your own settings..."
# ESSID (extended network name) : My Network, any
ESSID="wlan@home"
# NWID/Domain (cell identifier) : 89AB, 100, off
NWID=""
# Operation mode : Ad-Hoc, Managed, Master, Repeater, Secondary, auto
MODE="Managed"
# Frequency or channel : 1, 2, 3 (channel) ; 2.422G, 2.46G (frequency)
FREQ=""
CHANNEL=""
# Sensitivity (cell size + roaming speed) : 1, 2, 3 ; -70 (dBm)
SENS=""
# Bit rate : auto, 1M, 11M
RATE="54M"
# Encryption key : 4567-89AB-CD, sassword
KEY="3E41-2A2F-E1E1-A21D-A234-1A11-AF"
# RTS threshold : off, 500
RTS=""
# Fragmentation threshold : off, 1000
FRAG=""
# Other iwconfig parameters : power off, ap 01:23:45:67:89:AB
IWCONFIG=""
# iwspy parameters : + 01:23:45:67:89:AB
IWSPY=""
# iwpriv parameters : set_port 2, set_histo 50 60
IWPRIV=""

come on guys...please help me...

c31c,
Please have a look at the following link for instructions on how to set up your wireless card:

http://www.edafe.org/slackware/index.html#wireless

The drivers for your D-Link NIC may be causing you similar problems to those I experienced trying to get the Host AP driver working under Slackware.
Maybe it would be enough for you to adapt the scripts for the Host AP driver by replacing all occurrences of wlan? with ath?.

Also follow up the reference to google.groups.com.

Hope this is of any help.

Regards,
Edafe

By now suspect you found:
/etc/pcmcia/network.opts needs to be edited for your ifconfig data
/etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts needs to be edited for wireless data
/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf is blank
chmod -x /etc/rc.d/rc.wireless

Not sure how much it matters but my d-link card comes up as eth0
So try changing alias from ath0 to eth0 as it could just be a naming issue (a test can't hurt)

Last pcmcia 16 cards do not play nice with 2.6.x kernel/udev/hotplug scripts. Unedited scripts that work with 2.4 will set up the card if it is inserted at boot; but ignore the card being pulled. Think problem is the net.agent in /etc/hotplug but haven't tinkered yet. So stick with 2.4 till everything works.

good luck