i am writing this via my wireless connection!!! it works!!
so it seems that the key is getting the right combination of parameter entries in the files:
etc/sysconfig/networking/devices/ifcfg-ath0
etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ath0
etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/keys-ath0
the first two are exactly the same and the last one i didn't even have and had to create.
now if i ifdown wifi0 and eth0 and ifup ath0 it works!
now my only concern is making it easier for travelling to say a coffe shop or other access points.
do i have to go and manually edit the files each time i have to access a new ap?
if there is no wep key required, will it just skip the keys-ath0 file and connect or do i have to remove the keys-ath0 file for it to work.
should i try and use NetworkManager now as means to make this easier?
is there a way to input multiple essid's into the ifcfg-ath0 files and multiple keys into the keys-ath0 file so that i can put my top three ap's in for when i travel?
i am going to go carefully test some scenarios and post back, but any answers you might have would certainly help.

many sincere thanks to Brian1 on linuxquestions.org and pjfg on fedoraforum.org for their amzing willingness to help and stick in there with my wireless issues! you guys both rock! these guys deserve a vacation now.

For the orinoco_cs it was recognized off the bat. It is a Linksys wpc11 version 2. But now use the wlan-ng driver with it. Much cleaner module.

The prism54 one is a Netgear wg511 version 2 Made In Taiwan Version, NOT China. Read this post to understand. http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=295200

Then use a Linksys wpc55ag for tri mode support (A,B,and G networks) using madwifi

Don't do much hotspot surfing but when at friends I have written scripts to modiy the needed config files to automate the down of the needed nics, modify the config files, and bring back up what is needed.

Yes both are the same
etc/sysconfig/networking/devices/ifcfg-ath0
etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ath0
but I only modify the ones in /etc/sysconfig/networking-scripts. Edit the other can cause havic if certain services are not down. Very long story.

NetworkManager I here is good but I am old school and like scripts. This teaches me how the real linux works beyound the gui. Been in computers for over 20 years back when tandy trs-80 model 3 to IBM 8080's with dos 2.11, through the windows saga, OS2 warp 2.0 through 4.0 for over 5 years. Got into linux about 8 years ago with kernel 2.0 with KDE 1.0 Gnome 1.0 to current 2.6.16.12 kernel, KDE 3.5.2 on AMD64 Centos 4.4+ customized.

As far as a favorite I can't say. They were all fun setting up especially the Netgear when I first had the China Version. Ndiswrapper work fine on it though. Sometimes I borrow some from friends to experimnet with. 95% work well with ndiswrapper if no modules exist.

Hope this answered many of the questions.
Brian1

yeah, i first had one of the Netgear WG511's v.2 that was made in China. i tried ndiswrapper on it as well as linuxant and couldn't get either to take....granted i'm not even sure i installed ndiswrapper correctly. i then turned to the forums and saw the caveat of the China version which motivated me to return the card and get a new one. i may very well have been able to use the same fix for this issue to get the other card working. it seems the general consensus on the issue is to get a card with the atheros chipset and use madwifi so that's what i did and here i am.
here's an interesting article you might be interested in. it was posted by another user on fedoraforums. http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/news/article.php/3602901
judging from the enormous amount of posts on the subject, it seems the linux wireless issue is a big one! hardware drivers in general i suppose. i'm going to give a go at learning to write the scripts for my own connections, i turned to running linux on this laptop as a learning tool to begin with.
any suggestions for a good place to start as far as learning to write the scripts? thanks again and i shouldn't be taking up any more of your time.

g'day folks
i havnt read most of the thread but i wanted to show how i recently got my D-Link card working under FC5 using madwifi drivers.

1st off, there are the new madwifi trivers called madvifi-ng or something, they seem to have some proplems. i was able to use them to connect to unsecure networks but that required at least 6 commands in the terminal ( the system-config-network gui dint detect it ). so i looked around.

the madwifi old drivers were the answer. using the uninstall scripts in the madwifi source's directory i got rid of the new drivers and compiled the older drivers from their website. now the system-config-network in FC5 detects my d-link card as a proper wireless card and using it i was successfull in connecting to my university network which is unsecure. havnt been successfull in connecting to a secure netork yet but at the least i can now use the gu and with the click of a button connect to unsecure networks.

let me know if you need more detals.

WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot,
thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge.
as far as the encrypted connections..... if they are wep encrypted....for me this envolved adding a file named keys-ath0 to my /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts folder with the contents:
Key:YOUR-WEP-KEY-HERE

this adds your wep key to the process. anyway, that worked for me on my distro-fc5. you can follow it all in this thread and another that i added a linked to within this thread. happy surfing......