Basically I need only the answer to above question. Please think of that I am new to linux.

For further explanation here is the full story:

I have the following problem. My friends notebook (Vista) has got a trojan and refuses to work anymore. The Avira Rescue CD did not help either. So I tried an old (9.1) Ubuntu CD and backed up all the essential files. Since we have no Windows Install Disk we want to put Ubuntu on that notebook. But with the 9.1 version there is no WLAN. Systemtest tells me, that it finds an Atheros AR928X, but ifconfig does not show that and the network manager tells me there are no LAN/WLAN devices. So: does that work easier with the new Ubuntu version or is that network adapter a known troublemaker?

And: if I get the adapter to work, will it work with the WPA2-network around here?