Linux Ubuntu.. wireless adapter?

Wireless and Linux, whatever flavor is a bit of a pain. The problem is that wireless adapter manufacturers do not write drivers for Linux as a general rule. What you have to do is run a "wrapper" program that will let you use the Windows driver for your adapter. Ubuntu forums have an entire section devoted to wireless issues. The chances are you will find all the answers you need there http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=336

It's unlikely that your particular card is unsupported if its an internal or pcmia adapter. A usb addapter is less likely to be supported. Anyways the first step is to find out which make and model of adapter you have, and then look up the specific issues and drivers, or ask the question again with this information. after you boot up with adapter in place "lsmod" in terminal might give you a clue, "dmesg | grep ifname" or "ifconfig" may also help.

Don't forget to try with all encryption turned off on the wireless network. Problems can be with driving the wireless adapter or just with the Encryption I can get most cards and adapters working ok but never WPA encryption You can also try other linux distributions if you are not interested in digging too deep into the causes I like linux mint http://linuxmint.com/ but there are loads to choose from

With Linux it is better to plug in extra hardware before starting the computer. If say you have a USB wireless card, plug it in then power the system Right click on the network icon and you should find yours mentioned if it's in range.