Good to hear you're still around.
I didn't expect it when knoppix noapic didn't work with this new version, but I tested it and found that booting in expert mode and answering all questions n also lets me boot up with the nic working, without needing to do the sudo mii-tool -r trick. I suggest you try both and see if either work for you. Please report back and let others know. And please tell, has Windows been run on this nic? If so, what flavors?