I was able to log in as "root", make my changes and restart. My G3 is now recognizing the NIC card, as well as authenticating to the DHCP server. I definitely will start using the new OS more frequently now. I greatly appreciate the info.
I just obtained the OS X beta version of the driver for Asante's 590 series NIC card. The read me file instructs me to do:
1 Download the driver folder : AsanteEthernet.kext
2 Drag the folder "AsanteEthernet.kext" and drop in to the Extensions
folder (System : Library ...