I just ran Firestarter and it's working fine. What exactly does it say
about going to device drivers?

Also, not all programs show up in menus; some of them start up
automatically so don't need to be launched (like Tor) and some are
command-line only (like NDISWrapper), so don't need a menu entry. Some
are also just libraries and won't show up anywhere. What programs did
you install that you can't access?

I just put Ubuntu on on older computer I have to
try it out first before I jump in the water and put it on my
laptop.

I have a few concerns about putting it on the main
computer. Will it pick up my wifi card and connection?
What program will I make websites in... presently I use
Dreamweaver 8, and the big one, what about games.

I'm 56 an marginally disabled but some days I have tons of
pain and what I do to take my mind off things is play games
on the PC. I also play on pogo but I am presuming all the
online games will still work fine.

Other than my internet, the websites and games, I don't
use the puter for anything else. I guess I'm just a bit
chicken to take that first step.

When I ran Ubuntu from the live CD it did not detect my
internet connection.

I have an HP Pavillion ze2000 with 384 meg of ram. I have
a linksys plug in wifi card.

I'm also disabled. I too play games to pass time. What I do is
dual boot. When I turn on my computer it's set to give me a menu that
let's me pick between Ubuntu and Windows. I use Windows for the games
and Ubuntu for getting anything "real" done, in other words, for
everything else. As far as games in Linux it depends on the types of
games you like to play. I like all sorts of things. I'm addicted to
solitaire but I also love the 3D games, especially the FPS's (first
person shooters). More and more 3D games are either being made for
Linux and more and more of the games made for windows are being made
to run on Linux. It's slow going though. As far as the network card I
really can't say. I'm sure some of the more knowledgeable people who
frequent this group can.