I have tried various linux versions over the last few years, I worked with Unix for many years then sadly with Windows. Now I've retired I would like to replace all the Windows apps in my home with Linux.
I've tried a few so far (fedora 8(Linpus lite netbook)) which is reliable and works in most of europe (we have a motorhome). I tried Ubuntu 10.04 and 11.10 on a Dell laptop and my wife loved it and suggested we used it on the home PCs. I tried it on my generic dual core and it failed to work with my Netgear WG111T USB dongles. I've tried all the posted sugestions to get it working, but the best I've managed is to have it working intermittently.
Any pointers to what linux will work with these dongles or should I just say we like the OS so lets buy an internal card (or different USB dongle.

So 2 questions which OS with Netgear dongle or which card/dongle with Ubuntu (11.10 onwards)

According to http://linux-wless.passys.nl/ there is no open source driver. However there is a driver available at: http://madwifi-project.org
http://www.linux-drivers.org/ is a good source of info.
If you care to buy new hardware, I'm using a D-Link DWA140 with Ubuntu 10.10, so it should work with 11.10.