[TriLUG] Latecomer to the RoadRunner party

[Mark Wilson]

Hi gang,
As soon as my last school loan payment has cleared the bank, I'm going to 
join the 21st century and get Road Runner.  I have an aged machine (2+ 
yrs.) which still mostly serves my needs.  
My 2-part question is on its way out soon, I promise. 
The box has Tyan  PCI motherboard with a Celeron 400 processor, and has 
two USB ports.  I don't have an Ethernet card; what do you recommend I 
purchase before I call the RoadRunner folks?  I've visited the Hardware 
HOWTO, but I don't  know *anything* about NICs, so I can't tell which ones 
listed will fit the available slot. 
 
(Forgive the ignorance please--chronic newbie here). The RR site says the 
Network hardware  requirements are "Ethernet card with RJ45 connector, or 
Open slot and  free compatible IRQ, or Open USB port".  Does the latter 
part mean I can get away with just using the USB port without buying a 
NIC? Or that I can get a NIC with a USB port instead of the RJ45 connector?

Anybody out there have experience with RR's 'cooperation' with the Linux 
community (and by cooperation I mean at least having the good graces to 
get out of the way if they don't explicitly support it)

Do I have a hard road ahead of me?
Thanks in advance,
Mark M. Wilson
Fayetteville