Got my wireless USB adapter! Wireless, sweet!
It is an 3Com OfficeConnect Wireless 54Mbps 11g Compact USB adapter ( model-547 ). Works on Ubuntu hardy out of the box using the "zd1211rw" module, and matching firmware.
Appears in lsusb as : "0ace:1215 ZyDAS WLA-54L WiFi"
Now I have 2x512Mb DDR2 DIMMs and a Broadcom mini-pci WLAN card for sale. Any takers ?