John J - actually Ubuntu 10 is a more stable development line than 9, IME.

"won't connect to the internet"

A wired connection is more likely to work 'out of the box' - and allows you to debug the wireless hassles. ... KISS mate! ... :-)

Also KDE is much touted, but I have found that Gnome is less breakable ... :-) And there are many more minimal interfaces, if you want things to place less load on the machines ... XFCE etc ...

I am not only a computer geek, but in all 'technical fields' as well from the 60s - I just want an Atomic Typewriter' that works without needing a Degree in Atomic Physics ... if I wanna 'play', I'll do that on a separate box - been there, done that, thanks... :-)

"Most "upgrades" provided by distros like Ubuntu are just new versions of the gui and a bunch of minor files. The kernel is updated frequently."

... to fix security and other bugs ... Which is exactly what the user of an "Atomic Typewriter" needs and wants ... :-)