Have you ever managed to get any distro of linux to work with wireless equipment? I can't and it is really frustrating me. I've tried Mandrake 9.1 and 10, Redhat 9.1, knoppix 3.0, 3.4, and 3.7 installed to the hard drive, all with no success. If I could get my wireless gear going I would switch. Microsoft is becoming to invasive for my tastes, but Windows XP Pro SP2 works where as Linux so far, for me and my wireless network does not. I love the knoppix 3.4 version, installed, it is beautiful, but useless without the internet connection.
Wireless works great with linux. Mandrake 9.0 on my laptop works at home, at the office, or when wireless is offered in a hotel, etc.
For fun, my son has tried many versions of linux on his 6-year old thinkpad. As far as I know, he's never had trouble getting wireless to work.
You do need to be fussy about your wireless card. Make sure it is suppored.
With linux computing is fun again.
Try going to the manufacturer's website and updating the firmware. Had the same problem until I updated the firmware--no problems since--all plug & play
Imp the only issue I have ever had with wireless is the start up order of services. the Networking service starts up before the service that loads the pcmcia module. TO fix it change the order (I think most distros have nice easy graphical tools)..
here...mash this for wireless Linux!!http://www.linspire.com/
Try SUSE 9.2 Pro. I haven't yet tried it on my Thinkpad/WiFi setup, but they do document wireless support for many of the more popular chipsets. I just installed it on my desktop system (an upgrade from Mandrake 10.1) and found its install to be very good, very polished.
I know you've received a few replies but I thought I would chip in my $0.02 worth.
I've been running Slackware since 1997 and have been working with wireless equipment for 4 years. I've yet to insert a wireless pcmcia adapter, maybe 10 or 12 in all, that Linux didn't pick up immediately.
In fact, it's usually the other way around for me. Someone has a Windows machine that's having all sorts of issues with a pcmcia adapter that works perfectly on my Slackware laptop without having to install a single driver. Since I don't know your equipment, other than it's a Prism 2.5, I can only offer a couple of suggestions.
First, if it's a pcmcia adapter see if Linux detects it and loads the appropriate driver. I have personally used Prism 2.5 based adapters with great success. If it detects it and loads the correct modules then you have a configuration problem.
Second, if it doesn't detect the adapter and load the modules then check here for the latest linux-wlan drivers and here to learn about ndiswrapper which permits the use of Windows drivers for a variety of wireless adapters in Linux.
If it's a PCI or mini-PCI adapter drop me a line and I'll see if I can help you.