Linux Mint XFCE Roller Coaster

I have been trying to use Broadcom 4311 WiFi card on most Linux distro I have tried so far. This card is built into my Compaq C300 laptop. I think it became my idee fixe at some point. Especially when I was taking Debian-based systems for review.

Just few days ago I wrote about my happiness after achieving my long-term desire with Linux Mint XFCE. This distro is based on Debian Testing. I managed to activate and use Broadcom 4311 there in Live mode!
Did it make me stop?
I have another laptop at home - Toshiba L500. It has Realtek 8191SEvB WiFi card. I know that Linuxes based on Ubuntu 10.10 are working correctly with this WiFi card. I have written about this already (1, 2, 3). As long as I had USB stick with Linux Mint XFCE on it, I decided to give Debian another go.
USB stick is in the port. Reboot. Choose to boot from USB.
Let's go!

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What did I get right after boot? Of course, there was no connection established. Moreover, Network Manager in Linux Mint XFCE even does not see presence of WiFi card.
Can Software Manager help here? Let's see. I typed in Realtek into search box. There is one package in the list, and it's name looks promising - Realtek firmware. But details are disappointing: it's not for 8191 cards.
Next step. LAN cable still can be plugged in. Now Toshiba laptop runs Linux Minxt XFCE with LAN connection, which means I can download software from Internet, browse forums etc.
Googling did not give me any positive results. While doing it, I found 2 interesting bits of information.

• Realtek 8191 is supported from kernel 2.6.32-10. What does Linux Mint XFCE 201104 have? 2.6.32-5. Oooops. This is not promising at all.
• There is manufacturer's driver on their web site. But it is supplied as source code.

Can I manage to get driver working from source code? Let's try. Archive is downloaded and source code folder unpacked. Now it's time to make the driver. Make works fine. Then make install works fine. But afterwards... reboot is required! This would effectively destroy all the changes in my Live run.
Anyway, bad experiment is still an experiment.
Now I can be sure that Linux Mint XFCE does not work with my Toshiba laptop in Live mode, but there are good chances to make it working if I wished to install Linux Munt XFCE there.

Do you have issues with Realtek 8191 WiFi card? Is it working correctly in your Debian-based system?