after numerous trials and tribulations, a wireless network is beginning to work in my apartment. i believe i've got the access point (hostap_pci module) working and the remote computer with the right driver (orinoco_pci module). my confusion is now comes down to "how do i make them talk?"

the hardware is 2 netgear MA311's and i am currently trying to do this via DHCP, as i have dhcpd running on the access point. maybe this is not the right idea b/c i don't have a router, but it's my best guess.

as i have no experience setting up these sorts of connections, are there any insertions/modifications i need to make to various files on slackware to make this work? what kind of subnet declarations do i need to make?

thx ahead of time,
yocompia

to the end of being pedantic, i've documented everything i did to get this to work:

DISCLAIMER: this documentation is by no means an attempt to bolster my ego, but rather an attempt to thoroughly document a procedure i could not find easily in the online "literature"

1) read what

http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/DHCP/index.html (it's short!)

has to say about setting up DHCP servers and clients.

2) run dhcpd -d -f $W_IFACE on your access point, w/ $W_IFACE=your AP wireless interface; then run dhcpcd -d -B $R_IFACE on your remote computer, w/ $R_IFACE=your remote wireless interface

3) ping to check the connection once a successful DHCPOFFER is received. this looks like:

DHCPDISCOVER from 00:09:5b:78:59:8a via wlan0
DHCPOFFER on 192.168.1.200 to 00:09:5b:78:59:8a via wlan0
DHCPREQUEST for 192.168.1.200 (192.168.1.1) from 00:09:5b:78:59:8a via wlan0
DHCPACK on 192.168.1.200 to 00:09:5b:78:59:8a via wlan0

!! (this MAC has been changed to protect the innocent) !!

NOTE: if you get any messages like "send_packet: Operation not permitted," you should probably disable or modify your firewall while configuring the wireless network. this will allow the packets through.

this is where i'm currently at, and i'll post more about fixing iptables to work with the wireless, encryption, etc. as it comes up.

i do have just one question (i'll probably just answer it myself): how do i route from the AP wireless interface to get internet access through my other ethernet card? does this involve "bridging"?