> When I do "ifconfig ep0 blahblahblah" the 3c589b adapter
> dies. The led goes out. Somewhere something goes wrong.
...
> Of course, I then tried "ifconfig ep0 up", but, of course --
> the card dies again. The led goes out.

Are you setting the card correctly for the network type??  (ie. BNC or TP)
For TP you need to add "link1 link0" to your ifconfig command.  For BNC,
add "-link0".

If that doesn't work, recompile your kernel with the PCMCIA debugging
turned on.

Good luck

Dave