thanks for the explanation really

that makes a lot more sense to me now. printed that out for future use backup.
OK so where I'm at now is:
If I go into X ...then I have to do "ps ax" and find and kill all wireless stuff.
then i have to (at prompt)
[HTML]iwconfig wlan0 essid 'MINE'
wpa_supplicant -Dndiswrapper -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -Bw[/HTML]
then I wait until the (2) lights of (2) on my card are flashing together in-sync which tells me I'm hooked up to the router.
then i type:
[HTML]dhcpcd wlan0[/HTML]
and I'm golden.
Now my problem is still booting up, 2 days in to this and I'm at the same place, having to do the following:
I believe the [HTML]/etc/rc.d/rc.m[/HTML] is killing me over here at boot-up just after the pcmcia/cardmgr kicks in.
The "rc.m"want's to hook up to the net; but I believe that it's starting to try and connect before the 'modprobe ndiswrapper' starts as a result of me putting 'modprobe ndiswrapper' in my /etc/rc.d/rc.local file.
Then the ndiswrapper finally kicks in, and then I get into X. If i just type iwconfig the ESSID is not set! I don't get it. I have it set in all the right places. Or sometimes, the ESSID is in HEX form.
I almost think i need to disable 'rc.m' and just let the computer boot up, load ndiswrapper and let that start the wpa for me then I just type dhcpc wlan0.
At first the 'rc.m' was allways doing "essid is any essid" at boot. So i went in there and changed it to "MINE" That did nothing for me tho.
This is my rc.inet1.conf:
[HTML]IFNAME[4]="wlan0"
#IPADDR[4]=""
#NETMASK[4]=""
USE_DHCP[4]="yes"
DHCP_HOSTNAME[4]="pooter"
#DHCP_KEEPRESOLV[4]="yes"
#DHCP_KEEPNTP[4]="yes"
#DHCP_KEEPGW[4]="yes"
#DHCP_IPADDR[4]=""
WLAN_ESSID[4]="MINE"
#WLAN_MODE[4]=Managed
#WLAN_RATE[4]=54M
#WLAN_CHANNEL[4]="6"
WLAN_KEY[4]="64-numbers-with-quotes"
##WLAN_IWPRIV[4]="AuthMode=WPAPSK EncrypType=TKIP
WLAN_WPA[4]="wpa_supplicant"
WLAN_WPADRIVER[4]="ndiswrapper"[/HTML]
and here is my /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
[HTML]network={
scan_ssid=1
ssid="MINE"
proto=WPA
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
pairwise=TKIP
group=TKIP
psk=64-Numbers-Without-Quotes[/HTML]
Here is my .config in the wpa_supplicant folder i did the "make install" from:
[HTML]CONFIG_DRIVER_NDISWRAPPER=y
CONFIG_CTRL_IFACE=Y
fast_reauth=1[/HTML]
my router does not broadcast the SSID.
Or should I just install the gui for the wpa_supplicant again. Although I tried it once; it said it installed I could open it..but it always said "cannot connect to wpa_supplicant.conf" even tho it was copied to the right folder that they indicate.
I'm using all default file names and folder locations that they recommend.
I've seen scripts for start-up for others for debian with ndiswrapper. I've found startup scripts for mad-wifi but I cant seem to find a good tutorial/etc for ndiswrapper+wifi+slack.
Thanks again.