linux cont.
So I reinstalled ubuntu... this time I used real ubuntu instead of kubuntu because I liked the gnome layout better than KDE. This used to not be the case. Back in the Mandrake 8 days I really liked KDE over gnome... but I digress. I got ubuntu up and running default everything. (I didn't even spec out the partitions because I was getting tired of doing that, this would have been the 4th or 5th in just a month or two that I reformatted that hard drive.) After I ran the first round of patches I jumped on the ubuntu forums and followed the steps to upgrade the kernel. I had to do a bit of reading beyond what was on the forums, but I was able to fallow all of the bash commands to change the repositories, update the kernel, then change them back then copy the kernel and boom. Rebooted worked great. I had to restart the machine with the wireless card in for it to see it, but then it worked fine.
I rule.
I rule.