installing 3com 905b-tx.m

[P. Thomas Schoenemann]

This may not be the appropriate venue to ask this question, so please
direct me elsewhere if that is the case.

I want to install two 3com 905b-tx-m cards on a celeron (which I hope to
use  as a firewall of sorts).  The celeron comes with windows 98 installed,
but I of course will not be using it.  The 3com user guide for the cards
states the following:

"Before you physically install the NIC in a PC, you must run the following
preinstallation program to prevent conflicts with the NIC."

However, the preinstallation program requires windows to run.  Do I need to
worry about this step if I am going to install linux instead?  I don't even
want to boot windows if I don't have to, because (if I read their license
agreement right) I am then eligible for a refund on the amount the
manufacturer paid Microsoft for windows 98.

If I need to run this "preinstallation program" through windows then I
will, but I suspect this isn't necessary??

Thanks for any help,

-Tom Schoenemann