prism javelin/xbow works out-of-box, but the module is not loaded by default

Ah, this is Feisty.

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This bug does not meet the criteria for a stable release update and is being marked as Won't Fix for this particular version of the kernel. You can learn more about the stable release update process at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates .
However, the issue that you reported is one that should be possible to test with the live environment of the Desktop CD of the development release - Gutsy Gibbon. It would help us greatly if you could test with it so we can work on getting it fixed in the actively developed kernel. You can find out more about the development release at http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/ .
If you do decide to test with the development release of Ubuntu please comment on this bug report and include at least the minimal information requested at http://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies . Thanks again and we appreciate your help.

Kees Cook and I ended up looking at this in some detail as we were curious how kernel modules get automatically loaded and discovered that while the driver can be manually loaded the specific PCI id that your device has is listed in modules.pcimap but not in modules.alias. Kees discovered that this was a bug in the driver itself and has sent a patch to the driver's maintainer and Ubuntu's kernel team. I have attached it to the bug report also. It should be fixed for Feisty.

I really mean it should be fixed for Gutsy.

Thank you Brian. However, the prism54 in gutsy is not working anymore.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-source-2.6.22/+bug/138979

Gutsy lum commit 93ab6117a4e607ad8f4074877bcfb472be27449f

linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.22 (2.6.22-13.33) gutsy; urgency=low

  [Ben Collins]

  * ubuntu/d-i: Add atl2 module to udeb
    - LP: #148532

  [Matthew Garrett]

  * Work around uvc suspend issues
    - LP: #147757
  * Force-enable speakers on recent Thinkpads
    - LP: #140609

  [Tim Gardner]

  * Added et131x Gigabit ethernet driver support.
    - LP: #102291
  * AppArmor patch for disconnected path reporting
  * prism javelin/xbow works out-of-box, but the module is not loaded by
    default
    - LP: #133823
  * System freeze when bringing up rt2500pci interface
    - LP: #129183
  * [xps1330] microphone built-in doesn't work
    - LP: #147682
  * FUJITSU SIEMENS XTB70 snd-hda-intel fix
    - LP: #147827
  * Add ivtv-fb and saa717x support
    - LP: #147886

 -- Kyle McMartin <email address hidden> Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:09:03 +0000

Per a decision made by the Ubuntu Kernel Team, bugs will longer be assigned to the ubuntu-kernel-team in Launchpad as part of the bug triage process. The ubuntu-kernel-team is being unassigned from this bug report. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies for more information. Thanks.