I remember when I bought my first fast ethernet card, there was some Linux HOWTO that discussed various ethernet NIC's, and crucially, their Linux drivers in excruciating detail. And the takeaway was that if you had a choice, pick either 3com 5xx(?) or Intel card. The 3com card was slightly cheaper at the local computer shop, so that's what I ended up with (595 Vortex, maybe?).
Yeah, I had gold-plated 100Mb 3Com cards and they were the best. (something-905-series?) With full-duplex, hardware offloading, good drivers. I still have one lying somewhere. )
