AMD HomePNA (phoneline) card not working

[Harry Kuhman]

Can Linux can bridge wireless adapters?

The short answer is yes. There is lots of software running under Linux that does this and more. Unfortunately the longer answer is that I don't know how to guide you through doing it. One simple thing that you might want to consider is, rather than using a wireless NIC in Slug, use a normal ordinary NIC in Slug that you can bridge (gee, it amazes me even as I type this that you can bridge that strange AMD HomePNA card but not a much more standard wireless NIC) and connect it by ethernet cable to a wireless bridge. You find that some wireless routers can be put into bridge mode, which lets them connect to a wireless router or access point. And such wireless routers are often less expensive that just buying a wireless bridge, since so fewer dedicated wireless bridges than wireless routers are made and sold. But take some care in shopping here, some routers that can be used as wireless bridges only will function as bridges when connecting to their own brand of wireless router or access point (or even to the same model wireless router). Still, there are many to select from and this should get you an easy to use solution. You may even find that you don't need to route through Slug at all, if multiple inputs on the bridge are available you could just plug other system in there. Or if the bridge only has one input available (when in bridge mode) then a small inexpensive switch would get you several extra ethernet ports, and you wouldn't need to get a second ethernet NIC for Slug.

This way your choice to run windows or Linux on any of the downstairs system is driven by what software you plan to run, not by networking needs.

The wireless card I have that I could put in SLUG is the Netgear MA301/MA401 combo. Would that have driver problems in Linux?

I don't know that card, don't know what the combo is about and don't know what chip set it uses. It might be well supported in Linux. I'll leave it to you to determine the chipset and see how well supported it is in Linux. My expectations for Knoppix however are far more negative. I can't get wireless working at all in 5.x, even with the one wireless card that I have that did work in Knoppix 4.02. So don't make your Linux choices based on Knoppix.

Side question: might some Linux distribution other than Knoppix have a driver for my phoneline card?

Sure, it might. Again, some searching on your part is in order. But understand that because of Knoppix's Live CD nature it will have far fewer drivers than hard disk install Linux distros.