What a tangled web we weave...

OK, I feel compelled to outline the steps I had to take to figure out which adapter to purchase. I started this whole effort to try to learn something, hopefully become a better sysadmin for my own machine, and last but not least, get the wireless functionality working so I could ditch the cord.
I started off knowing that I would probably need to use ndiswrapper, since I purchased my existing card back when I was only running Windows.
When I went to sourceforge.net to download the latest version, I chanced upon an article, and the comments pointed me to the Atheros chipset as being one that had good open source support. A quick google only showed some adapters out of my price range, so I went back to trying to get ndiswrapper working.
After thrashing around with that for a while, I googled for the ndiswrapper wiki, as I remembered that ndiswrapper used to have quite a comprehensive wiki at their site. I couldn't find it anywhere, but I did find Eric Hameleers' wiki about using ndiswrapper. Happily, he lists several different options for open source drivers for chipsets that will not require ndiswrapper. (Many thanks Eric.)
Armed with a few different chipsets to look up, I googled my way to http://linux-wless.passys.nl . There resides an excellent resource for finding info on adapters and drivers. After checking out the madwifi webpage and the rt2x00 webpage, I searched for an Airlink 101 AWLC-3026. It should have an Ralink R61 chipset, and I should be able to download the drivers from http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com .
I'm sure that there are lots of other options out there, and I'm sure that some more thorough research of features and prices would make sense.

But come on! Why should we have to go through this much work just to find one lousy piece of hardware? The linux using community is awfully good at lots of things; the GIMP, Slackware, and many more, but we aren't doing a very good job of promoting the vendors and products that are helping us and working with us.
I don't mean to criticize the LQ HCL. It's a terrific resource. I'm just suggesting that there ought to be a way to feature the best products from the best vendors in a VERY visible way. The first thing that we should see in each category of the HCL ought to be links to the products that the community has rated most highly.

Ok, I'll get down off the soapbox now.