Big Long thread I am afraid...But please do read thru patiently:

What I want--> Setting up a wireless ad-hoc network between my Linux (mandrake 9.2) desktop and XP Laptop

Wireless Devices involved --> Compex WLU11 USB wireless adapter based on ATMEL chipset on the desktop and Intel Pro 2200 card on the laptop

What I managed to get done-->

1- Installed the Atmel WLAN drivers which did not work
2- Installed the Berlios atmel drivers which thankfully, got the device up
3- AT this stage, an ifconfig -1 showed the following

eth0- IP 192.168.2.15 Mask 255.255.255.0 etc....
atml0- essid "" tx 0 rx 0 etc....

Note that the device was called atml0 and not eth1 as expected
anyway:
4- i did an ifconfig atml0 192.168.0.1
5- Did an iwconfig atml0 mode ad-hoc essid home

now here in comes the problem, when i tried to create the ad-hoc network called home on the desktop, though no errors came up, a scan on the Laptop did not show any available networks....

I would have given up here, but for this:

I created an ad-hoc network called xyz between my XP laptop and my flatmate's XP laptop with IPs of 192.168.0.2 and 192.168.0.3 (which functioned perfectly)...with this network up. i did:

"iwconfig atml0 mode ad-hoc essid xyz" on the linux machine,....lo and behold, it connected to the network and the ping b/w the desktop and the two laptops started functioning perfectly well...

6 - this probably means that the linux desktop is not being able to create an ad-hoc network by itself.....All it is being able to do is connect to an existing ad-hoc network....

7 - I need to create the ad-hoc network on the desktop as this machine acts as my gateway machine to my Internet connection.....

How do I do this?

Also:
1. atml0 is not showing up in the netwroks section of the mandarke control center in the KDE GUI, where do I need to eneter atml0 so that it appears there along with eth0 in the list of network interfaces

2. How do I do an ICS between atml0 and eth1 as eth1 is the primary Internet interface.....

Thanks for listening to the whole sob story....Any pointers on the way fwd welcome.....