and then....

i got the driver by the cunning use of a wintards pc.

but command line ignorance prevented me from copying it to the linux drive.

still and all, this popular OS is really rocking and i can see the demise of wintards in the v near future.

not interested

tried installing ubuntu on a new drive, went like a breeze.

but it would not see my modem, so i could not get online to down load the drver i needed for my modem...........................

@KenBW2

Aw, and I hadn't even had time to praise the netbook remixes yet!

And if some praise and feedback (positive and/or negative) are what I can do to pay a little back to the people who supply, for free (both as in beer and as in freedom), the software I use to earn my living and also for entertainment at home, then I'll gladly be enlisted among the fanbois! :-)

Re: the netbook remixes, I tested both the regular Ubuntu and the new Kubuntu NRs, on my Asus Eee 1000HE, running from a USB key. I very much like the redesign of the Ubuntu NR version -- that's of course personal and you might hate it. Sound and WiFi worked perfectly -- I didn't test the integrated webcam and mic though, sorry... They got rid of the right hand panel, the one with the silly (in my opinion) "favorite folders" and (not silly) volume icons. These are now in a tab on the left. Better use of the screen. Only little "bug" I saw in my computer was a design one, where the icons sometimes do not fit perfectly at the bottom of the screen (the Games tab, more specifically), overflowing it. Before you ask, yes, I did submit a bug report on that, even it not being exactly important.

Now, the Kubuntu NR is not so much to my taste. Maybe it will get better for 10.04 -- they do say it's a testing ground and all that, and not a release to be used by the faint of heart. I always like KDE better, but in the netbook remixes, the Gnome version is organized in a much better way -- too many clicks to do things in the new KDE NR one. The only thing I liked a little better in the KDE NR in the quick test (long term usage might change my mind) was that when you maximize apps they take the whole screen (not the same as choosing "full screen" from the menu; window decorations and menus, etc. remain visible). That make the little netbook screen feel larger and more capable than with the other display schemes that still use some of the precious pixels for system pieces (top bar, in UNR). Of course, this being Linux, there ways around these things and multiple ways of doing everything. Anyway, will see what 6 more months of development bring us.