So I installed Ubuntu alongside Windows 7

[Francis]

Well dude I'm not a techie

You don't need to be a tech but if you can install Ubuntu alongside of Windows you can at minimum tell me if you can see the internet :ninja

 

[Francis]

my adapter is an Atheros AR5b95

I can't seem to find anything specific about Ubuntu 10.10 but there seemed to be a bit about Atheros and older Ubuntu driver issues..

They seem to point to using generic drivers but I am not sure if that is wise..

I know from past history that you can find may ways around but as you say you are not technical I really have no idea how much you plan to fiddle around with this and how much patience you have..

I use two drives, so my windows and Linux are always on different drives, never on dual boot..

 

[Siphorous]

On my Dell laptop and desktop, I've always had to connect via a wired link and do an apt-get of the Broadcom drivers before Ubuntu would recognise the wireless stuff.

The only Linux os that didn't need extra drivers was PCLinux OS. Comes with a lot of clutter and is a bit slow loading but at least it recognised everything straight away. I might just install it proper instead of testing it via a usb stick.

 

[Dana]

I might check out PCLinux. I'm too impatient to try and fuck with getting the drivers.

 

[Siphorous]

I might check out PCLinux. I'm too impatient to try and fuck with getting the drivers.

Only advice I'd say is to shove the iso on a usb stick using something like:

http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

...first, so that you can check out if it's gonna do the job for you with your different chipset. Nothing worse than going through an install process (on anything) to find out it doesn't do it.