I've got an interesting problem here with My MacBook running the Knoppix 5.3.1 DVD. The wireless card is definitely recognized, but I can't get an IP address.

First things first... when I do an ifconfig fresh after boot only the loopback adapter is shown. So I select "Network/internet configuration" and click the wlcardconfig option. This brings up the "Wireless Configuration" dialog which shows "network card: ath0 (AR5418 802.11abgn Wireless PCI Express Adapter)".

When I click on ESSID, I see a list of nearby wireless networks, and mine is on there so I select it. Then I enter the WPA2 shared key (note: this end result is the same when I select an open network instead of an encrypted one that doesn't require a password). Then I click "IP: Set/Connect". This produces a popup with "ath0 Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5418 802.11abgn Wireless PCI Express Adapter) Obtain address automatically (DHCP)?" I click yes.

The dialog sits there for a minute, then I get "No answer fro DHCP server." and the Wireless Configuration dialog appears again. Click Quit. The Network-Check dialog works again for a minute, then I get "Automatic reconnect to the Internet using WLAN (wireless) setup? Hit Skip for manual setup." I hit "Yes".

This produces the following with ifconfig... notice my wireless card hardware is listed twice, as both ath0 and wifi0. The wifi0 device is actively receiving and transmitting (though I don't know to where!). Does anyone have any ideas here? Thanks much!

ath0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:17:f5:e2:a2:ac
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:6 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:468 (468.0 B)

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:14 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:14 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:700 (700.0 B) TX bytes:700 (700.0 B)

wifi0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr 00-17-F5-E2-A2-AC-6C-6F-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:3129 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:409
TX packets:1690 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:195
RX bytes:362819 (354.3 KiB) TX bytes:77286 (75.4 KiB)
Interrupt:17