I also have a orinoco wifi card from shirtpocket, and have also experienced the LAN config utilities inability to configure it correctly. I would have assumed that the config utility would use the standard, non-card specific iwconfig options to configure it but on inspection of eth0 in iwconfig, no settings are set. Setting them manually and bringing the interface up works fine.
# iwconfig essid microwayes mode managed enc XXXX-XXXX-XX open
then
# ifconfig eth0 up
and finally
# dhcpcd eth0
worked for me. Although config is lost after suspend. It was extremely easy and reliable in Qtopia, and thats the way it should be. Also, the wireless applet appears and disappears of its own accord.