And sometimes we don't come through.

It's just as well everyone asked for more whiny geek entries. The eminently *pint*able mr_eleganza kindly gave us a PCMCIA network card. The card is recognised by the laptop and the cable is known good, but the little green lights on the modem don't come on, which implies the dongle to connect the cable to the card is not working. Of course PC card dongles aren't available separately or compatible between manufacturers, as that would be sensible and helpful and lessen their deserved reputation as some of the least reliable and most hated PC hardware in existence.

Bah. Anyone got a currently working one? I expect it's eBay time. I must say, this is quite a temptation.

Update: Have just purchased a Xircom Realport for twelve quid plus postage. Known to work okay with FreeBSD 5. (4 doesn't do CardBus.) And there's always L*n*x.