6 Operation
This chapter explains how to establish wireless connections using your Vigor520 WLAN
PCMCIA Adapter and the Wireless Adapter Utility. It is assumed here that —
• you have completed installation of the adapter, driver, and utility;
• you know how to start the utility, close and redisplay its window, and shut it down (see
section 5.2, “Controlling the Utility”); and
• you are within range of at least one wireless device that is working and will accept a
connection from you.
Any wireless connection, even a connection to a single device, is treated in this chapter as a
connection to a wireless network. There is, in fact, no difference in the steps required to connect
wirelessly to a single device or a whole network, and a connection to a single device is in fact a
true network connection.
6.1 The Utility’s Panels
The utility has six tabbed panels. When the program starts up, the Information panel is
shown, and a dotted rectangle on the tab shows that the panel name is selected. For
convenience on laptop computers, you can switch panels with the right, left, and up arrow
keys when a panel name is selected.
The utility's panels are explained briefly below. The order of the explanations matches
the order in which the right and left arrow keys take you through the panels
6.1.1 The Information Panel
The Information panel shows if you are connected to a WLAN. When you have an active
connection, information about it appears here. This panel can also display important error
messages. A Rescan button, visible only when this panel appears, is for attempting to
reconnect if the radio link has gone down.
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