I am a newbie to linux and bought a wmp54g of my friends recommendation without checking for linux support. Why do I have to learn the hard way?

I am running RH9 upgraded kernel to 2.6.0

I installed the ndiswrapper dirver and load it up. when i load the driver it does not give me a message like it says it does in the readme with the ip message. I can change the frequency and set the wep key but cant get the essid to setup. The driver i am trying to use is the bcmwl5.sys drivers. I have tired all sorts of different things without much success. Any help would be appreciated (step by step please).