Ever since Ubuntu 8.10 when I first started I couldn't get my old Linksys WUSB54G wireless card to work. At least in 11.04 it somewhat works only when you set a static IP, and even then speeds are pitiful (The ping time to my router is 10ms(!), DNS takes a while, and bittorrent is painful). Yesterday I bought a Linksys WUSB100 only to have the same problems.
With these two devices not working, do Linksys wireless cards or the Ralink modules that power them in general work well in Ubuntu? Or is this pretty much the standard experience?
Note: I know I can use ndiswrapper but at least with the WUSB54G its very flaky and causes lots of kernel panics in both Ubuntu and Fedora. Its also a workaround that I'd prefer not to rely on
Note 2: I'm asking this since I'm returning the WUSB100 I just bought and needing to know if I can use Linksys products in Linux
The Ralink drivers can be downloaded from Ralink's site (http://www.ralinktech.com/support.php?s=2), and you'll need to know which Ralink chipset is used in the adapter (and it sounds like you do), but they need a bit of work to get them working. This site (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1630358&highlight=ae1000) has a thread about getting Ralink's drivers for the Linksys AE1000 to work, and might provide some useful information and guidance. In the end, I found that they worked with 32-bit Ubuntu but not with 64-bit Ubuntu (at least in my case).
[Edit 2 March 2012] The drivers for the 64-bit now work through the procedure found at this link. I know it's too late for you since you bought something else, but I'll put it here for others. It works in Oneiric and I just tested it in the Precise Beta and it works there, too.