2) Will two wireless PCMCIA adapters talk to each other without a base station?

This is tricky, but I think it can be done. They aren't meant to work that way

I'm not sure if I'm understanding this correctly, but using the software that came with my wireless network cards (of two varieties: Linksys and Netgear), there's different modes (Ad Hoc, Infrastructure) to dictate which type of network you're using.

Infrastructure mode uses an access point (the way I've always used mine) and Ad Hoc mode allows you to just have mutliple devices with wireless cards talk to each other without an access point.

Do I not understand this correctly? I was sure that they are meant to work that way.