[Hampshire] Re: Wireless networking on dapper

> I have a RaLink (Belkin) wireless NIC (ra0) in my box, and I have it
> all set up to work with WPA, using TKIP (I gather AES doesn't quite
> work yet).
>
> If I have auto ra0 in my /etc/network/interfaces,
> then the machine will boot up, but the desktop is unusable, and the
> CLI is pretty much useless too. If I boot up without auto ra0, then the system works fine, but there
> is no network connection available. If I try to bring the ra0
> interface up:
>
> $ sudo ifup ra0
> failed to bring up ra0
>
> then system becomes unusable as above.
>
> However, if I use the ubuntu menu to setup the interface
> (System>Administration>Networking), select ra0, click on properties,
> select myssid from the drop down, OK the property change, then OK out
> of Networking.
>
> $ sudo ifup ra0
>
> Then I get the dhcp client running happily, grabbing a lease from the
> router, and wireless networking is up and running.

Semi-answering my own posts.
Before opening the ubuntu network manager, lsmod|grep rt61 shows:
rt61 233616 0
and only lo & eth0 are available in ifconfig

after opening ubuntu network manager, lsmod shows
rt61 233616 1 (I'm guessing this means the module is in use on a terminal)
and ra0 becomes available within ifconfig.

How can I make ra0 available for ifup'ing at boot time?

Chris