You don't need to do any of this or need root access, i've had 3 android phones (hero, desire, galaxy SII) and I've never had to do any of this. Just plug it in and select USB tethering and it is recognised by ubuntu as an ethernet adapter.
You will need root access to the phone (for old Android versions, Froyo (Android 2.2) and beyond can do it natively). I agree that most Linux distros will recognize it automatically as soon as you enable USB tethering but there are some distros which will not do the same, in that case you will have to follow the steps given above.
Fair enough, did you add the bit to the start of the article about 2.2 or do I just suck at reading and comprehension(in which case apologies)
My bad, sorry, looks like i need to work on my reading skills. Comment withdrawn.
BTW the HTC Hero supported tethering since Android 1.5, hence why i was confused. I didn't realise it was vendor specific before 2.2 because it seems all factory unlocked HTC's(and some carrier locked ones) have supported tethering since 1.5 without rooting.