I manuallly set my ip address, subnet mask, gateway, broadcast and name servers on my card with no problem and knoppix reports that it is done (setttings are then shown when I execute ifconfig), but still no internet connection.

So I don't think a router will solve the problem unfortunately. I might go out and buy one just to check and return in later on.

Any other possibilities? I've looked at cheat codes and nothing there seems that it would help, and I've checked IRQ's and the NIC has its own.

I found this in another post that was to a user who was experiencing some frustrations as well and said that all they were getting after 4 hours of tinkering was a burnt dinner and a headache (slightly different problem, but still might try it as it sounds fun!)

Turn oven down to a lesser temp so it cooks slower and drink a good French wine. ok ok......

Matt