Slender, thanks a lot for taking the time. I really appreciate it. I'm slowly learning the ins and out of Linux but it's gonna take a while, given that I don't get a lot of free time for messing around.
I will try what you said later today.
The thing for me is that I don't really mind if I mess up and need to reflash. I see it as part of the learning curve. I don't think I'll be doing anything to mess with the hardware like overclocking, but a software glitch or two can't be the end of the world. I take as much care as my limited knowledge allows. I'm very happy that there are people around ( both here and in the Ubuntu forums) willing to take the time. Thanks. you can be pretty sure I'll be back with more stupid questions in future :-)