802.11 wireless network access at Swinburne using FreeBSD 5.3

FreeBSD is a UNIX oriented operating system which is also the default desktop Operating System (OS) for many at the Centre for Advanced Internet Architectures (CAIA). While networking is a key feature of FreeBSD and other UNIX type OS's, support for integrated 802.11 wireless networking on laptops is problematic. I have recently managed to set up my laptop (DELL Latitude D505) to: Support the Wireless network device on this laptop, Connect and disconnect to available wireless Access Points, Connect to the Swinburne Wireless Network through the Cisco VPN Gateway. In this report I document the steps I took. While your laptop may offer a slightly different configuration, or your wireless network is not the same as that provided by Swinburne University, many steps documented in this report will still be applicable. This document is broken down into the following sections: Enabling the Wireless Network Card driver for FreeBSD 5.3, Connecting to and associating with Wireless Access Points, Connecting to a VPN protected Wireless Network.