Network Adaptor not recognised

[utu]

Greetings, paulfiske.

At least for LiveCD-size Knoppix 7.2, Synaptic says it doesn't include 8723:

Binary firmware for Realtek wired and wireless network adapters

This package contains the binary firmware for some Ethernet adapters with
the RTL8111/RTL8168 chips supported by the r8169 driver; and wireless
network cards with the RTL8188, RTL8192 and RTL8712 chips supported by the
r8192_pci, r8192s_usb, r8712u, rtl8192ce, rtl8192cu, rtl8192de and
rtl8192se drivers.

Contents:
* Realtek RTL8192E boot code (RTL8192E/boot.img)
* Realtek RTL8192E init data (RTL8192E/data.img)
* Realtek RTL8192E main code (RTL8192E/main.img)
* Realtek RTL8192SU firmware, version 902B (RTL8192SU/rtl8192sfw.bin)
* Realtek RTL8105E-1 firmware (rtl_nic/rtl8105e-1.fw)
* Realtek RTL8111D-1/RTL8168D-1 firmware (rtl_nic/rtl8168d-1.fw)
* Realtek RTL8111D-2/RTL8168D-2 firmware (rtl_nic/rtl8168d-2.fw)
* Realtek RTL8168E-1 firmware (rtl_nic/rtl8168e-1.fw)
* Realtek RTL8168E-2 firmware (rtl_nic/rtl8168e-2.fw)
* Realtek RTL8168E-3 firmware, version 0.0.4 (rtl_nic/rtl8168e-3.fw)
* Realtek RTL8168F-1 firmware, version 0.0.4 (rtl_nic/rtl8168f-1.fw)
* Realtek RTL8168F-2 firmware, version 0.0.4 (rtl_nic/rtl8168f-2.fw)
* Realtek RTL8192CE/RTL8188CE firmware, version 4.816.2011 (rtlwifi/rtl8192cfw.bin)
* Realtek RTL8192CE/RTL8188CE B-cut firmware, version 4.816.2011 (rtlwifi/rtl8192cfwU_B.bin)
* Realtek RTL8188CE A-cut firmware, version 4.816.2011 (rtlwifi/rtl8192cfwU.bin)
* Realtek RTL8192CU/RTL8188CU firmware (rtlwifi/rtl8192cufw.bin)
* Realtek RTL8192DE firmware (rtlwifi/rtl8192defw.bin)
* Realtek RTL8192SE/RTL8191SE firmware (rtlwifi/rtl8192sefw.bin)
* Realtek RTL8192SU/RTL8712U firmware (rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin)

Ubuntu users have the same problem, apparently.
The following link indicates it's possible to compile your own driver.
Good luck on that.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2017622

An easier solution might be to find a NetGear WG111v2 us adaptor for about $15.

Hope this helps.