This page describes how to install a prism2 wireless LAN card on linux. In my case I had used a Linksys Instant Wireless Network PC card with a PCI-PCMCIA adaptor. This is working fine on a RH7.2 system. Even otherwise it should work on any distribution with a 2.4.x kernel. Also any prism2 card will run using the following steps.

Any comments, suggestions and detected errata can be send to me.
  1. Have source of wlan-ng driver which can be obtained from http://www.linux-wlan.com/linux-wlan/
  2. Have source directory 'pcmcia-cs'which can be obtained from http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/ftp/
  3. Have Source of Kernel (usually it is in /usr/src/linux-2.4.xyyyyy) In case it is, let it remain there, otherwise you can get it from the installation CD or from http://www.kernel.org/
  4. Goto pcmcia-cs directory and type following commands in sequence
    1. make clean
    2. make config
      • give the correct kernel source directory
      • In case of any doubt for the other options use the default ones.
  5. Goto wlan-ng source directory and type following commands in sequence
    1. make clean
    2. make mrproper
    3. make config
      • If you are using a pure PCI card choose yes for prism2_pci and prism2_cs
      • If you are using a PCMCIA with an adaptor, you are most probably using a PLX adaptor. Choose y for prism2_plx also for that. Normally it doesn't hurt if you choose y for all three, _cs, _pci, _plx
      • give path of directory 'pcmcia-cs'
      • give path of kernel as well
    4. make all
    5. make install
  6. Follow the instructions of readme file in wlan-ng source directory (for PCMCIA and PCI users) to configure the card. For pure PCI users, only the PCI part has to be set up. For the PCMCIA users(with PLX adaptor) both the PCMCIA and PCI parts can be configured. I haven't tried without PCMCIA configuration but doing it doesn't hurt and works fine.
  7. Check the current kernel version you are using. Do this using 'uname -r'. This should match with the source version of the kernel. The source tree version of the kernel can be figured out by reading the Makefile in the kernel source directory. The VERSION, PATCHLEVEL, SUBLEVEL and EXTRAVERSION should all ideally match the kernel build version. In cast it is not, recompile the Kernel.
    Use following commands for this