OK, I'm back online after a week's hiatis. Thank you Anticapitalista for helping with my registaration problem - the spam has stopped. Here's where I am a week later:

I've successfuly installed Antix 8.5 on 3 computers - the previously mentioned E-Machine, an old Dell Inspiron 8000 laptop that previously had Windows XP installed on it and was therefore completely useless, and my 1-year old Compaq Pressario laptop. Antix makes them all fly like the wind, by the way. The Compaq originally came with a"trial version" of Windows 7 which I replaced with Xubuntu 10.0. I liked everything about that except my sound wouldn't work. From what I've seen on the Ubuntu forums, this is apparently an ongoing problem with the Compaqs. Anyway, I tried the live CD of Antix and my sound worked so I did a full install. I didn't do a duel boot as I'm not comfortable with the partitioning thing and recognized I could screw up it's ability to boot. With nothing on this computer I cared to save, I figured I'd try it. All installations went relatively smoothly. The only hitch was with the Dell as the CD/DVD drive is dying and it took me 3 tries to get it done, but I did. My major stumbling block to this point is no wireless connection on either the Dell or the Compaq. The Compaq of course works off an internal wireless card, and the Dell was previously working with the aid of a Trendnet USB adapter (dongle?). In both cases. the network manager simply tells me no wireless network is detected. I not only have my own wireless net, but my compaq used to recognize about 6 other ones in my hood. I don't know much, but from the reading I've done in the Mepis Manual and on the Wiki, it looks like I have a driver problem. So I downloaded one of the the ndiswrappers (from the wiki) into the Compaq. When I saw the file in the download manager, I clicked on"extract" and it then disappeared and I rebooted. Now, I not only don't have wireless, but I don't have a wired connection either. (And yes, I know I still have a connection because I can plug the cable into my trusty old E-Mac and I have internet.) The only other thing I did concerning internet is I checked on a box that said" Always choose a wired connection when one is present." I fear I have competing drivers, but I really don't know what to try next. Keep in mind I'm not at all comfortable with the command line, so any instructions will have to be very detailed and simple enough for me to understand. Please help!

It's likely that you don't have the right drivers. In order to find out what wireless cards you have (and which drivers you'll need), please paste the output of the following command (in a terminal).

inxi -F

This will list your cards (and other stuff too).

Also, not quite sure which network manager you are using. Did you try CENI?

I used Wicd. That's where I was told"no wireless networks found". I don't know anything avbout CENI.

In control center, click on Manage Network Interfaces (I think; the name may change depending on your version of antix), and see if your card is picked up.

Also, please post the output of: inxi -F

thanks