Using an RealTek 8187 for 18 months now with Tiny Core by doing this (scripted)
tce-load -i wireless-2.6.33.3-tinycore.tcz
tce-load -i wireless_tools.tcz
(am using older version 3.x of TC)
Then try
sudo ifconfig wlan0 up
(at a terminal)
and if you have an internal antenna and an external USB
you may want to use
sudo ifconfig wlan1 up
so all antennas are lit up.
Try using dmesg |more at a terminal
and towards the end you will find your wlan antennas
(Juanito taught me that oh so long ago)
and you may want to DOWN/TURN OFF the internal antenna
and only use the USB external, such as
sudo ifconfig wlan0 down (shut that one off)
sudo ifconfig wlan1 up (turn that one on)
Then use
sudo iwlist wlan0 scan
or
sudo iwlist wlan1 scan (whatever antenna you are using)
for a list of local wifi antennas/hot spots
or better is a
sudo iwlist wlan0 scan >~/t
followed by
editor ~/t
so you can browse that list of hot spots.
Find a hot spot you like?
They are in that list near the ESSID heading.
If so, try
sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid "MyFavoriteHotSpot" rts 250 frag 400 txpower 100mW
I use the rts and frag commands
because there is a lot of cross-talk/bleed from
so many wifi antennas using the same channels.
txpower may vary based on your antenna
To see if you are connected, try
sudo iwconfig wlan0
and look for the LINK QUALITY
then pop open a browser and try google.com
...seems to work for me.
There is an entire script that handles all that
and locks on to any open hot spot if you wish to try that.
...a bit dangerous / promiscuous I suppose,
but works darn near anywhere with my realtek usb antenna.