Thanks for all the information!  I am thinking I really like the Buffalo solution as it does seem to avoid all the wireless driver and setup issues although it means both power and signal cables for a "wireless" network.  It might be the ideal though for this intended use (and others too).  I should explain:

Bud Rolley (leader of the EVALUG group) was always bringing old desktops to meetings for Linux demos which were then extremely slow.  Harold McMullen gave me a Gateway P4 desktop to give to Bud and asked me to install Ubuntu and a wireless adapter so Bud could bring it to meetings and not have to string a very long ethernet cable for connectivity. 

Given the issues some people have with wireless under Linux I started to look into it before buying an adapter.  The info I found on the net was chaotic at best and one article seemed to say adapters varied hugely in power and antenna gains.  Thats why I was hoping to find some good advice based on recent experience here.  I was also worried that a PCI card with an antenna on the back might be easily broken moving the machine back and forth to meetings.

Here is another aspect of the buffalo solution being ideal for this environment.  With the 4 port switch allowing multiple ethernet devices to share the wireless connection, Bud could let others plug in to it as well and none of those need be aware they are connecting to a wireless network if I am reading the Buffalo information correctly. 

Any more opinions or anyone think I am reading it wrong?

On 8/22/06, A LeDonne <aledonne.listmail@gmail.com > wrote:
On 8/21/06, Dazed_75 <lthielster@gmail.com > wrote:
> It seems the PCI devices all have the antenna attached to the rear plate of
> the PCI card which seems a terrible place for an antenna interference,
> blockage and breakage wise.  The USB adapter type which generally looks like
> a jump drive usually includes a cable so you can place the unit to improve
> reception/transmission probably have a less effective antenna.
>
> Does anyone have experience using both that could provide insight which is
> better and why?

I'll highlight a 3d option: a wired-to-wireless ethernet bridge.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833162168
That's the Buffalo WLI-TX4-G54HP - I've also seen it on the shelf at a
Best Buy. In some installations it may be your best option for several
reasons:

1/ Highly flexible placement. USB max cable run is ~15'. With this
device, your computer is connecting via wired ethernet to the bridge,
for which a max cable run is much longer.

2/ No driver headaches. Uses your existing wired nic - no worries
about the state of development of the driver for the chipset of the
revision of the make and model that you purchased.

3/ Hook up multiple devices. This one includes an integrated 4-port switch.

It's better AND cheaper than the "wireless gaming adapters" I've seen.
Better signal pickup than the Belkin USB adapter I've worked with.
Never used a PCI wireless card.

The obvious caveat is that this is an AC-powered device, but it should
work well for a desktop or multi-desktop situation.

-A
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