Ok, I am crying Uncle!
I have a gateway laptop that I installed fedora core from a linux bible dvd. This was the only distribution that installed all the hardware properly right off the bat. All but the wireless adapter,that is.
I have been trying to install ndiswrapper, which isn't working
The only thing I can figure out is that I don't have an up to date kernel. I have version 2.6.11-1 and it recommends at least 2.6.6
So I went out and downloaded a patch, but I don't know how to install it. I have been all over the web but I am getting a bit overwhelmed with all the information.
I am better than average at solving problems on windows PCs, but very little of that is helping me here.
I have come to really dislike microsoft over the years and would really like to learn linux.
Any help would be greatly appreciated

Kernel version 2.6.11-1 > 2.6.6, therefore you satisfy the requirement and a new kernel isn't what you need. I would recommend that you start a new thread describing, in detail, what the problem is with ndiswrapper and everything you've done to solve the problem.

FYI, patches are applied to the source files with the 'patch' command. After applying the patch, you would need to compile the program (the kernel in this case).

Ok,give me idiot of the year award! I suppose 11 is > 6 any way I figured it out. I had forgotton the make install command. Now I just gotta figure the iwconfig and wpa stuff. I'm sure I'll be back. Thanks for the help!