[vox-tech] Wireless card configuration

[Alan H. Lake]

Preliminary:
This is my first posting to this site.  I set up Evolution, hopefully,
so that this posting is not HTML.  If it does arrive as HTML, please
don't flame me, just inform me.

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Summary: I need to configure my Orinoco Silver wireless PCMCIA card so
that it will talk with my Linksys router. 

Details:
I connect to the Internet via cable broadband.  My cable modem is
connected to a Linksys "Etherfast Wireless Access Point + Cable/DSL
Router with 4-Port Switch".  This router uses DHCP assigned addresses. 
The router has attached to it (via cable) a Win98 computer and my
laptop, which runs Red Hat 7.2. 

I have two PCMCIA cards for my laptop.  The first card is a Linksys
Etherfast 10/100 + 56K modem.  I use the Ethernet cable to connect to
the router.   Works fine.  The other card is an Orinoco Silver wireless
network card. 

I have downloaded files and compiled a module to make the Orinoco card
work.  The PCMCIA appears to function OK.  What I don't have working is
the wireless configuration whereby the wireless card talks to the
router. 

I've been struggling with this problem since April.  While doing so, I
have managed to screw up my PCMCIA so that I had to reinstall my OS
(because I didn't understand exactly what I was doing.)  Because all of
my network connections are PCMCIA, I am afraid of doing something that
will make neither card work, which means that I can't connect to the
Internet, ask for help or anything.  (I've already done that once.) 

Will someone please correspond with me to confirm that both PCMCIA cards
are indeed working correctly, then help me to examine my router settings
and settings in /etc/pcmcia files so that I might get my wireless to
work.  Of course, I allow that there may be a setting somewhere else
that I also need to set. 

Another thing I'd like to be able to do, if it's not a big deal, is to
set up communications from my laptop to the Win98 machine.  I have
VMWare and have run several Windoze machines under it, including Win98. 
This means that I have messed with Samba, although I can't claim to be a
Samba expert. 

Thanks, all. 
Alan