Don’t know if this is the right forum for this, but I have been flummoxed lately getting a wireless PCMCIA card working on a laptop using redhat/fedora/mandrake/gentoo. Occasionally in the past i have gotten it working, but I guess I need help understanding the linkage between the different configuration options. All of the stuff I know how to configure is listed below:

/etc/pcmcia/config.opts – to get the card socket bus operating properly
/etc/pcmcia/wirelss.opts – to get all the wireless stuff identified, (SSID, key, etc)
/etc/pcmcia sysconfig/network-scipts/eth1
/etc/rc.d/init.d/pcmcia - starts pcmcia slot /cardmgr
/etc/rc.d/init.d/eth1 - starts eth1
ifconfig eth1
iwconfig ???—not sure where these config options are changes
lsmod??

The problem is that I have no clear idea how they all interact. For instance, when I put my wireless card in and start PCMCIA, it identifies the card correctly. However, when I start eth1, it says there is no network adapter, or card slot is empty. I don’t know how /etc/rc.d/init.d/eth1 is supposed to know that it is supposed to go to use the PCMCIA card or check the wirelss.opts for link-layer parameters. Flummoxed, I say.

Is there an explanation or something that shows how all of these services and config files interact? What other diagnostics can I perform to see what is working and what is not?

System specs:
Compaq Presario 2110US, yenta card socket driver, Netgear MA401 802.11b (hermes/orinoco chipset), currently running Fedora Core 1 with 2.4.2n and 2.6-test 9 kernels available (both same problem).

THANKS!
(I would be happy to contirbute to an expert's "tip box" if i can get this going.)

When you insert your card the pcmcia daemon knows that there was a device that was entered ... But which device? What driver should it load ????

Well to answer that questions it (the pcmciad) looks in /etc/pcmcia/config .....

There something like

card "Linksys EtherFast PCMPC100 V3 Fast Ethernet"
version "Linksys", "EtherFast 10/100 PC Card (PCMPC100 V3)"
manfid 0x0149, 0xc1ab
bind "axnet_cs"

Card -> String name of the device (mostly used for debugging)
version -> Diffrent versions can use diffrent drivers drivers.
manfindid -> The manufaturer Id (or something like that)
bind -> "module name" or driver name.

Let say you have a new card and you nkow it uses orinoco_cs driver module
You get the name/version and manfindid from the cardmgr command.
and all you have to do is add bind-> "orinoco_cs" to the end... Follow the same format as you see there..


wireless.opts:
------------------
Will contain the options to bring your card up?
Answers questions like:
What is the SSID?
What is the Frequency ?
What is the WEP Key? Do I use wep ?
and other connection related information ...

/etc/sysconfig/network-scipts/eth1
----------------------------------------------------
Answers questions like:
Do I bring the card up at boot time?
Are regulare users alowed to bring the card up ?
It gives more information for when you type:
ifup eth0
and ifdown eth0

thanks, makes sense so far. But once orinoco_cs gets loaded, where does the linkage between that and "rc.d/init.d.eth1 start"? I have tried to use the redhatnetwork config guit (NEAT?) and try to add eth1 but when I select a wirless card, it does not list the one I have, just some standardized list. Where do I manally associate eth1 with the orinoco_cs module (and wireless.opts)? Is that what /etc/sysconfig/network-scipts/eth1 does? What calls ifup-wireless?

I am not really shure where that linkage is done ...
I usualy close my eyes and hope for the best ....

You might need to add:
alias eth0 orinoco_cs
in your /etc/modules.conf
but I am not shure ...

you can bring up the card by your self:
/sbin/ifconfig eth0 up 192.168.1.2
route add default gw 192.168.1.1

Me, too but it has not been working, hence this quest for understanding. Thanks for all the ideas so far. Should keep me busy for a while.

Feel free to ask .. I would be more than happy ...
And can you post how you did it so that I can piggyback on your quest?