I think you might be right, the fact that i THINK i know what im doing leads to a mess. Plus every iteration of Ubuntu I have tried (up to 9.10) my wireless card wouldnt install (which makes it really hard to get updates and other things working with no ethernet available) and then there was a serious issue with ATI's display driver and my monitor (40"samsung 1080p tv). I'm yet to try 10.04, fingers crossed! this could be the 1!