ad hoc mode problems

[Dilip joseph]

Hello!

I am trying to set up an ad hoc wireless network.  But
it is not working although iwconfig says Ad-hoc mode. 
Would someone please tell me what is going wrong?  Is
it possible for two cards from different manufacturers
interact with each other in ad hoc mode.  What does
CELL mean in the iwconfig output?  How is it
automatically detected?

Machine 1 (kernel 2.4.18-3) has a USRobotics Wireless
access PCI adapter and card.  It works fine with the
hostAP (0.0.3) drivers in the managed mode.

Machine 2 (kernel 2.4.18) is connected to a LinkSys
Instant Wireless USB network adapter (WUSB11 ver 2.6)
running on driver AT76C530.  It also works fine in
managed mode.

The problem comes when I try to get them talk to each
other in ad hoc mode.  Is ad hoc mode possible between
cards from two different manufacturers?  I try pinging
- but neither machine is able to hear the other.  The
iwconfig output of both machines are given below:

Machine 1 (USRobotocs)
#####################
wlan0     IEEE 802.11b  ESSID:"linksys"  
          Mode:Ad-Hoc  Frequency:2.437GHz  Cell:
00:00:00:00:00:00
          Bit Rate=2Mb/s   Tx-Power:-2 dBm  
Sensitivity=1/3  
          Retry min limit:8   RTS thr:off   Fragment
thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality:61/92  Signal level:-58 dBm 
Noise level:-100 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx
invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:499  Invalid misc:149  
Missed beacon:0

Machine 2 (Linksys USB)
#####################
eth0      ATMEL RFMD503A  ESSID:"linksys" 
Nickname:"linksys"
          Mode:Ad-Hoc  Channel:6  Cell:
02:00:4F:58:1A:01
          Bit Rate:11Mb/s   
          RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr=2346 B   
          Encryption key:off
          Link Quality:100  Signal level:92  Noise
level:0
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx
invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0  
Missed beacon:0

I noticed that the Cell values are different.  Is it
relevant?  How can I change it?  I also found that the
bitrates are different?  I tried using iwconfig wlan0
rate 11M, but to now avail.  

Would someone please tell me why the ad hoc mode
operations are not working in this setup?

Thank you in advance,

With warm regards

Dilip Joseph

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