Hi. I think I may need to download and install firmware for my NIC - its a Linksys 802.11g I have Windows on another partition and have no problem connecting with either the wireless or ethernet. OpenSuse on the other hand will only connect with ethernet cable plugged in. Here is some output from the terminal with just the NIC plugged in - no ethernet cable:
jay@linux-itaa:~> ping 127.0.0.1
PING 127.0.0.1 (127.0.0.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.121 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.112 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.111 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=0.112 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=0.110 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=0.113 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=0.111 ms
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=0.112 ms

[1]+ Stopped ping 127.0.0.1
jay@linux-itaa:~> su root
Password:
linux-itaa:/home/jay # ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 000:59:83:6C:FF
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:92 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:92 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:6592 (6.4 Kb) TX bytes:6592 (6.4 Kb)

linux-itaa:/home/jay # exit

jay@linux-itaa:~> dmesg | grep firmware
IBM TrackPoint firmware: 0x0e, buttons: 3/3

Looks like the only firmware I have is for the mouse?

Make sure you have the "wireless-tools" package installed if it isn't already.

Run "sudo lspci -v" and post the information about your wireless device. Like you said, for some cards, the Linux kernel driver needs fireware cut out and installed. For a broadcom device, you probably need the bc43 kernel module installed & loaded (it might be already) and use the b43-fwcutter package to download and install the firmware simply by running a script that the fwcutter package supplies. It is the device controller and not the model of the device that is important. Some identical models have used 3 different controller chips over their history.

The wireless tools package supplies programs such as iwlist which will help determine whether your device is working and you need to procede to configuring the network interface in YaST2.