Asus 1005 PE netbook, wireless card not recognised

[Garazgos]

I've just installed Ubuntu 9.04 on an Asus 1005 PE netbook on which there was no Windows OS and had what appeared to be a non-GUI version of Linux since all there was after boot-up was a "Terminal"-like screen. That was fun.

(I am an absolute novice to Linus/Ubuntu and the Ubuntu 9.04 was from a DVD in the back of a "Linux for Dummies" book.)

While the "Wireless" light on the body of the netbook does illuminate, it seems that Ubuntu doesn't see the wireless card. (I did a quick Google and it seems that this is an issue that others have encountered and for which I didn't find any sort of a "fix" that was laid out in an easy-for-a-new-Linux-user-Dummy-to-understand manner.

I'm wondering if my best option would be to

(a) install a newer release of Ubuntu and assume that it will have whatever Linux needs to "see" the wireless card or

(b) try and figure out how to create a new partition on which I can install Windows (XP Pro ?) to create a dual-boot system and boot to the Windows partition when I need to use the wireless card or

(c) some better, simpler option that I'm too clueless to have thought of ?

I'm a bit wary of option "a" because in my travels with Google, I read something about newer releases of Ubuntu being more difficult to deal with... and since I'm already in trouble with 9.04, getting into more trouble wasn't too appealing.

Thanks in advance for your patience in accommodating this Ubuntu novice.

[StarZtorm]

Friend, im assuming your netbook is more or less the same as the one i have. My advice is to just do a fresh install of Ubuntu 11.04

Unity works great for these small screen netbooks and 11.04 found my wireless card and runs it without proprietary drivers.

So go ahead and install 11.04.

You can also try out the maverick meerkat if you dont like the unity desktop. But youre gonna have to use broadcom proprietary drivers i think.

Anyway, back up your important files and do a fresh install of 11.04

[Garazgos]

Wow ! A response with a workable solution within minutes of posting my query.

Thanks a bunch , StarZtorm .

If there were no other reason to try and learn how to use Linux/Ubuntu, this example of the kindness/generosity/helpfulness of the Ubuntu community would be a pretty good argument for diving in.

Thanks again StarZtorm. Much appreciated. Next trip into town , I'm definitely heading in to the library to make use of their high-speed access to download Ubuntu 11.04. (I'm on a rural dial-up connection at home)