So, yesterday I got a notebook, and, after installing debian etch on it, I thought I'd try my father's PCMCIA WLAN card in it. There are no drivers for it, but ndiswrapper seams to work fine. This solution is far from perfect, but I plan to replace it with an internal card that's supported by Linux, linux-wlan-ng or madwifi in due course.

To make things easy, I disabled encryption on the AP, which made it ridiculously simple to bring the network up on the command line:

# iwlist wlan0 scan
 (...)
              ESSID:"NETGEAR"
 (...) 
# iwconfig wlan0 essid NETGEAR
# dhclient wlan0

-> a nice connection to the home WLAN

However, I'd like to be able to use something more comfortable, like NetworkManager. NetworkManager detects the network fine, but fails to connect when I ask it to. The only thing it manages is to spit the following into the syslog:

Feb 24 12:54:05 zem NetworkManager: ^I[1172318045.237808] nm_device_802_11_wireless_get_activation_ap (): Forcing AP 'NETGEAR'
Feb 24 12:54:05 zem NetworkManager: ^IUser Switch: /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/wlan0 / NETGEAR
Feb 24 12:54:05 zem NetworkManager: ^IDeactivating device wlan0.
Feb 24 12:54:05 zem NetworkManager: ^I nm_device_802_11_wireless_set_essid (): error setting ESSID to '' for device wlan0: Invalid argument
Feb 24 12:54:07 zem dhcdbd: message_handler: message handler not found under /com/redhat/dhcp/wlan0 for sub-path wlan0.dbus.get.reason
Feb 24 12:54:07 zem NetworkManager: ^IDevice wlan0 activation scheduled...
Feb 24 12:54:07 zem NetworkManager: ^IActivation (wlan0) started...
Feb 24 12:54:07 zem NetworkManager: ^IActivation (wlan0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) scheduled...
Feb 24 12:54:07 zem NetworkManager: ^IActivation (wlan0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) started...
Feb 24 12:54:07 zem NetworkManager: ^IActivation (wlan0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) scheduled...
Feb 24 12:54:07 zem NetworkManager: ^IActivation (wlan0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) complete.
Feb 24 12:54:07 zem NetworkManager: ^IActivation (wlan0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) starting...
Feb 24 12:54:07 zem NetworkManager: ^IActivation (wlan0/wireless): access point 'NETGEAR' is unencrypted, no key needed.
Feb 24 12:54:07 zem NetworkManager: ^ISUP: sending command 'INTERFACE_ADD wlan0^I^Iwext^I/var/run/wpa_supplicant^I'
Feb 24 12:54:07 zem NetworkManager: ^ISUP: response was 'OK'
Feb 24 12:54:07 zem NetworkManager: ^ISUP: sending command 'AP_SCAN 1'
Feb 24 12:54:07 zem NetworkManager: ^ISUP: response was 'OK'
Feb 24 12:54:07 zem NetworkManager: ^ISUP: sending command 'ADD_NETWORK'
Feb 24 12:54:07 zem NetworkManager: ^ISUP: response was '0'
Feb 24 12:54:07 zem NetworkManager: ^ISUP: sending command 'SET_NETWORK 0 ssid 4e455447454152'
Feb 24 12:54:07 zem NetworkManager: ^ISUP: response was 'OK'
Feb 24 12:54:07 zem NetworkManager: ^ISUP: sending command 'SET_NETWORK 0 key_mgmt NONE'
Feb 24 12:54:07 zem NetworkManager: ^ISUP: response was 'OK'
Feb 24 12:54:07 zem NetworkManager: ^ISUP: sending command 'ENABLE_NETWORK 0'
Feb 24 12:54:07 zem NetworkManager: ^ISUP: response was 'OK'
Feb 24 12:54:09 zem NetworkManager: ^I real_act_stage2_config (): Activation (wlan0/wireless): couldn't monitor the supplicant.
Feb 24 12:54:09 zem NetworkManager: ^IActivation (wlan0) failure scheduled...
Feb 24 12:54:09 zem NetworkManager: ^IActivation (wlan0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) complete.
Feb 24 12:54:09 zem NetworkManager: ^IActivation (wlan0) failed for access point (NETGEAR)
Feb 24 12:54:09 zem NetworkManager: ^IActivation (wlan0) failed.
Feb 24 12:54:09 zem NetworkManager: ^IDeactivating device wlan0.
Feb 24 12:54:09 zem kernel: ndiswrapper (set_essid:60): setting essid failed (C0000001)
Feb 24 12:54:09 zem NetworkManager: ^I nm_device_802_11_wireless_set_essid (): error setting ESSID to '' for device wlan0: Invalid argument

Does anyome have an idea how to fix this and/or an alternative to the possibly broken NetworkManager ?