After trying to get my wireless card setup on my laptop under linux for about the last 12 hours, I was about the give up. Then I decided to check out Knoppix-STD, the live distro, and see if my card would work under there. Sure enough, it did (Enterasys RoamAbout which uses Orinoco drivers). It worked perfectly fine right out of the box, so to speak. I have decided that I am going to use knoppix-std's harddrive installation option, which is currently in progress. However, I have a question - once I finish installing knoppix, will I be able to upgrade its kernel without ruining the old configuration? If I were to download the 2.6.8.1 kernel, and then use "make oldconfig", would it preserve all of my modules and let me continue to use my wireless card even after I start booting from the new kernel? I dont want to mess anything up once I finally get the card working, so I think its safer to ask first rather than try it without knowing what might happen.

since the kernel is a different version than what you are using, the old kernel and modules will be preserved. if you add the new kernel to the boot loader beside the old entry, you will be able to boot either kernel. that way if your new one doesn't work right, then you can just use your old one.