Research done.
Yes, but I did do research, and purchased a card that was on a list of linux compatible wireless cards. In fact, the list said that the driver was in the kernel since 2.6.30. Ubuntu 10.04 runs 2.6.32. So, great...only it didn't work. It's completely undetected by Ubuntu.
I installed Windows 7 with the same wireless USB card only, and it detected it and installed the driver from the start. The Windows 7 install disk was NOT from HP or Dell, or any manufacturer. It was direct from Microsoft. It later contacted Windows Update for a more up-to-date driver, but it still worked from the start.
Ok, fine, lsmod this or that...but that is exactly the point I was trying to make. If Linux wants market share, it has to work for the COMMON user, not only the programmer/IT pro/CS graduate. Do you think a common user will ever in their life have worked with a command prompt?
THAT is why I said that driver availability will be a game changer. Because if Linux starts to work 'out of the box', THEN it will be usable by the common user, which makes up probably as much as 85-90% of the market.
