I seem to have solved the problem, in a couple of unusual ways. What a
reflief to finally have solid, unbroken connectivity with my NetGear router!


First, I found my Firestarter firewall automatically turned itself on every
time I rebooted and blocked net and internet access. I tried uninstalling it
and also KMy Firewall but it must have left behind iptables settings which
still blocked connectivity. So Firestarter is back and if I have to manually
rejig it every time I boot up it won't be the end of the world. I'm rather
glad to keep it as I'd like to have a bit of protection when I travel. I'll
investigate further when I have a few other things sorted out.

Second, I had used wicd before and found it provided an easier to use
interface than anything that came with K/Ubuntu or from the official
repositories. This time I decided to stick with the official programme, so I
hadn't installed it. When I did try it gave me an error message that it
couldn't be installed because of a conflict with WiFi Manager. So I removed
that item with Synaptic and now find all is working as it should. Others may
find it useful too.You can find it athttp://wicd.sourceforge.net.

Now I have another problem on another machine! I've installed Hardy Kubuntu
on my main desktop machine and run into the low-resolution issue with my
Nvidia card - I think it's an FX5500. It was a fresh install because every
time I tried to upgrade from Gutsy it gave me an error message. So I copied
my home folder to another drive and started afresh. Alas the desktop
resolution is unacceptably low.

Any advice on the best way to bump the resolution up to at least 1024 x
768? I had it there with Gutsy on the same hardware, but now it maxes out at
640 x 480. It's so big and blocky I feels like I'm using a kids toy! I've
tried sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg but it doesn't seem to do anything
with the display or monitor. Hardware Drivers says NVIDIA accelerated
graphics driver (latest cards) is enabled and in use. I've installed the
nvidia-glx drivers from the respositories, but the detected graphics card is
stuck at NVIDIA GeForce4 (generic) which is wrong and I can't change it.
Driver remains stuck at "Standard" and the "Proprietary" option is greyed
out.

I've done some research on the K/Ubuntu websites and find conflicting
stores, none of which have worked for me so far. I have a feeling I need to
do some editing of a configuration file as root... but what and where.

So, if you have any wisdom it would be deeply appreciated. My only options
now are to re-install or try another distro, but I like Kubuntu so I'm loath
to stray...

Before I send this I'm going to reboot once more, just to be sure I really
have a reliable working connection... It works.