Woody you would be better off with 9.10 which runs the later wifi manager and
the up to date drivers are included. (get a free CD)

There is an Ubuntu web page which gives to details of which adapters have
satisfactory drivers.
:- http://www.linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/

(In my experience Belkin USB adapter with ZD1211, RT73, Rt2500 & Rt2571 and
others using those drivers work 'out of the box'.