I am using the ipw2100 driver from sourceforge.net
i have put the firmware in /etc/hotplug/firmware
still when i run dmesg it says this

ipw2100: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2100 Network Driver, 1.0.2
ipw2100: Copyright(c) 2003-2004 Intel Corporation
ACPI: PCI interrupt 0000:02:03.0[A] -> GSI 7 (level, low) -> IRQ 7
ipw2100: Detected Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 Network Connection
divert: allocating divert_blk for eth1
ipw2100: eth1: Firmware 'ipw2100-1.3.fw' not available or load failed.
ipw2100: eth1: ipw2100_get_firmware failed: -2
ipw2100: eth1: Failed to power on the adapter.
ipw2100: eth1: Failed to start the firmware.
divert: freeing divert_blk for eth1

help would be greatly
remember i am a newb
thanks

Hey dude,

I think you have the wrong directory here. Try adding the firmware to /lib/firmware and see how you go.
Regards
Chris