Linux newbie - just installed RH 8.0 on a Toshiba Tecra 8200 and want to get on to my WLAN home network using an Orinoco Gold Card. The card beeps when inserted. The information looks correct when I check /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1. The card is recognized by the computer but will not activate. I am using DHCP to get then IP. I have the wireless settings set to: 'managed' and 'auto' but have tried various settings to no avail.

The exact error message I receive when trying to activate the card= 'Cannot Activate Network Device Eth1'

My WLAN is an apple airport using 128-bit WEP encryption - how do I enter the 'key' into the 'wireless settings' for the Orinoco card? Could this be my problem?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

I would bet it is a significant part of the problem. First off, abandon the GUI approach to this and lets have a look at doing this through the console. That way we can actually get error messages.

The main command you would use is iwconfig which allows you to set all sorts of parameters for your card. Have a look through man iwconfig for all it can do, but to set the WEP key the commmand is:

iwconfig eth1 key XXXXXXXXXX

Where XXXXXX is the hex key you use. You may also have to set the SSID after you set the WEP key

iwconfig eth1 essid "MySSIDName"

By the way, I would suggest looking at a newer distribution than RH8. Red Hat no longer supports any of "Red Hat" distributions and using a non-supported distro may make life more difficult than it needs to be, not to mention the lack of security patches.

Thanks very much for the information provided.
I have considered your comments regarding RH 8.0 and I plan on installing a different version of Linux.
I will however, boot up and run the iwconfig command just for the sake of learning and the satisfaction of getting it working.

Again, I appreciate your thoughts and time.

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