Installation

I've followed the instructions, still nothing. 

I boot up on the cd: it claims it's on 192.168.1.1.  It isn't.

I try to configure it for a different IP address, it doesn't.

I'm not getting why this should be so cryptic. 

I've followed the instructions, still nothing. 

I boot up on the cd: it claims it's on 192.168.1.1.  It isn't.

Did you assign the interfaces? Do you have a link light? Do you get an IP from DHCP?

For what it's worth, I'm a network engineer of 15 years.  Not bragging, just setting the context.  I've lately  been giving a go at linux-based solutions.

I've managed to get the interface recognized by autodetect, and I've assigned addresses and LAN/WAN interfaces manually as well.  I've tried this on 3 separate machines.

The only thing I can think of as a possible problem, though documentation specifically suggests otherwise, is that I haven't used a diskette (and it doesn't seem to want to use my usb thumb drive).

That's probably it. You absolutely must have a floppy. It should use your USB thumb drive, but I haven't tried that myself.

Where in the documentation did you see that you don't need that?

[floppy disk]

http://m0n0.ch/wall/installation_cdrom.php

insert CD-ROM and floppy disk (do not write-protect the floppy disk!)