Have you tried
Mandriva GNU-Linux? Because we have the same problem, two of us on
the Puppy Yahoo group are using Mandriva on our non-Puppy machines.
(I'm also using Ubuntu on a couple junk desk-tops that couldn't
possibly run MS.) Unfortunately, neither Dennis nor I have the skills
to back track through Mandriva to find a method to transfer the Wi-Fi
functioning to Ubuntu.

Let me second the Mandriva suggestion. It picks up the Atheros card
in my HP 6810US with no problem.

I tried Mandriva. It worked perfectly at first and then became unstable. I
reloaded Mandriva and wifi didn't work the second time.

I'm going to try Mandriva again. I was at the coffee shop and couldn't
connect to his wifi using Vista. Everyone else was on. I figured maybe
restarting the computer would fix the problem. It took almost 10 minutes for
Vista to restart. I have a 1.7Ghz Intel dual core computer. It shouldn't
take 10 minutes to restart. Vista is about to P!$$ me off.

Support for the the Atheros 5007eg is said to be working with linux kernel
2.6.27. See 11/20/2008 entry at the end of this ticket link:

http://madwifi-project.org/ticket/1192

What version of Ubuntu are you using?

I was running 8.10. I don't know why it didn't work. The hardware was found
and it said it was active, but it just wouldn't hook up.

Mandriva seems to be working fine now.

Often when I change Wi-Fi hot spots I have to fuss with Mandriva a bit
to get things connected. Probably Mandriva has a way to save Wi-Fi
settings. I haven't found it. But maybe your Wi-Fi gets this way
after connecting to a few different hot spots.

Usually, before getting a connection in a new hot spot the routine
goes something like:
Click on double-computer icon. Wait for screen.
Open monitor.
Start Firefox. Click on Google. Wait for error message.
Click configure. Accept.
Connect using the button in the monitor window.
Maybe repeat configure and connect.

It's still better than the start-up and shut-down problems, etc. with
Vista. I've had problems with Vista not reading thumb drives that
work fine with Ubuntu and Mandriva. I use Vista about once a week.
After I get around to setting up XSANE I may wipe Vista.

Your Vista isn't configured properly. With that CPU and assuming your
HD is at least 5400RPM and assuming at least 1GB RAM it should take
about 45 seconds to boot up to where you can login.

Probably services you don't need are starting up. HP and Compaq, for
example, preload their systems with so much junk it's unbelievable,
and all of it can be safely removed from the system.

Yup. Acer added lots of extra stuff that starts up at the beginning. I tried
removing a bunch of it and I couldn't get it to run right after that. I
ended up running the recovery disks.

I had Vista installed in my desktop for a while, too. It was alright, but I
went back to XP because of hardware issues. At home, I leave the desktop on
all of the time. The laptop goes in and out of Hibernate fairly often.

I tried Mandriva again. Everything is working. Even wifi. The first time I
tried Mandriva, it worked good but wouldn't connect to the 2wire router/DSL
modem. I had to have my Linksys plugged in to use it. After the crash, I
reloaded Mandriva. Wifi didn't work at all. This time, it works fine and
connects to the 2wire. Go figure. I'm a happy guy (for now). We'll see if it
works permanently.

I just plugged a thumb drive into the Mandriva laptop. One I can't get to
work on my ubuntu box. It opened fine.

My brother, who has been using ubuntu for a few years, sent this to me about
thumb drives.

Quote;

I discovered something that may part of your issue here. I notice that if
when you are using these drives with windows and don't properly remove them
before clicking the safe removal icon, Ubuntu will declare the drive
unreadable. However, if you plug these drives back into a Windows machine
and go through the safely remove routine; they will be readable in Ubuntu.
When you are in ubuntu, it is recommend to un-mount these drives or shut
down the computer before removing them from the computer.

Now that's fascinating Keith, I've had similar problems, couldn't get them to
work with Ubuntu and they work fine with Mandriva.

But now that I've read your post I'm going back and do some more testing.

thanks for the post ..

I was having problems getting my atheros ar5007 wireless working using
8.04 I downloaded the 8.10 release and was able to use the card
without any setup or hoops. After some playing with 8.10 I decided to
forget the dual boot and only run Ubuntu. The signal meter showed a
full 100% so I question any loss of strength.

The problem is I started the lan to check it out and make mods to the
router only to loose the wifi connection and have failed to get it
back( the wifi is not listed under networks ). This however is an
improvement because Ubuntu 8.04 would lock up anytime the lan
connection was turned on in the BIOS, now the lan works without a hitch.

Because I haven't needed the wifi I have left it alone, but hope to
get it working again in the future. I may dual boot Ubuntu if that is
what is needed to make my system use wifi while I am not at the home
front. This seems excessive but I would rather use Ubuntu than Vista,
I was not happy with Vista and that is what made me look for
alternatives, and I have been happy with what I can do with Ubuntu, so
there you have it. Most likely I will boot from a USB flash drive
rather than change my system.

Note:
I noticed that the device is called wlan() as configured in the
kernel, rather than wifi() or ath() as it was using the madwifi
snapshot for the atheros 5007 card.