pcmcia: i was using a standard netgear card; with this one, you need the firmware 2.13.12.0.arm from prism54.org; put the firmware into /lib/firmware/ and rename it isl3886pci; then load wireless extensions, and after that rmmod prism54 in order to remove the default prism driver;
usb: netgear w111 v2 works fine; you just have to modprobe rtl8187 in order for it to work;
usb: belkin wireless g adapter works fine too; you have to use the rt73.bin firmeware (similare procedure as above with the prism firmware)