So I did a fresh reinstall of ubuntu edgy on my Acer 5101… and completely forgot about the wireless not working out of the box. After scratching my head for a while and googling quite a bit, I found what I needed. I am merely posting it here for future reference for myself… :)

To get the wireless card (Atheros) working… all you need is to find the following package from synaptic:

linux-restricted-modules-2.6.17-11-generic

(with correct kernel of course)
More specifically, you are looking for the MADWIFI module.

the package above also downloads ATI’s fglrx drivers for you.