I use ndiswrapper too, what can I say...it gets the job done. I even have WPA support. If I was to buy a new wireless pccard, it'll definitely get one with support under the vanilla kernel...cause I'm lazy :). It's very easy to install ndiswrapper module by following its wiki but is *super* easy via module-assistant.
for such cards, ndiswrapper is not needed, i guess... or am i wrong? regards, -- Lubos _@_"