After fighting with this problem for 2 weeks, I have a wireless card that works well with Knoppix (hard drive install): Netgear MA401

This one is discontinued,but still easy to find on eBay, etc. Worked the first time, using the "Wavelan Configuration" app (wlcardconfig), followed by "Network Card Configuration" (netcardconfig).

What DIDN'T work:

Netgear MA111 - supposedly works with "linux-wlan-ng", but I never got hotplug to associate the driver with it.

Edimax 7610 - I bought this because it said on the box that it would work with Linux. They provide Redhat pre-made drivers on their website. I tried to compile drivers from the sources they provide, but never could get it to work. Also, even the source code provided depends on a proprietary binary file.