New Ubuntu User Needs Help!- version 9.10 does not communicate with laptop

Hello folks,

Several days ago, I installed Ubuntu 9.10 onto my Acer Aspire 3100 laptop, running it alongside Widows Vista as a dual-bootable system. Creation of the Ubuntu boot CD went fine, and the installation onto my hard drive was flawless. Ubuntu opens and behaves as I would expect, except for one little problem.

For reasons unknown to me, Ubuntu is not communicating with my laptop's networking hardware, and I have no internet connectivity, even when sitting directly under the wireless router at the local library (literally), which puts out a wickedly-fast signal that my Windows Vista OS auto-detects and immediately connects to.

Up in the right side of the Ubuntu desktop, I click on the network icon and it does not show a wireless connection at all, even though I am only a few feet from the router. At home, where I use a dialup modem, I also see no means of getting online. My modem is an HDAUDIO Soft Data Fax Modem with Smart CP,manufactured by CXT (Conexant Systems Inc., file version 4.0.13.0, and the driver version is 7.58.0.0).

I desparately wish to convert to Ubuntu. I used Mac for ten years, and then Windows for ten years. Now, after 20 years, I want to live out my days as an open-source Ubuntu fanatic. I am ready to give the old status quo the boot!

I am an advanced computer user, but I am not a programmer. I seek a solution that is user-friendly for normal people, something equivalent to a driver that I can easily install or activate that will allow Ubuntu to see my hardware and get me connected. Can anyone help me over this hopefully-little glitch so that I can move on in total Ubuntu bliss?

My processor is a Mobile AMD Sempron Processor 3500+ at 1.80 GHz, 1.50 GB RAM, and a 32-bit Operating System. I am running Windows Vista Home Basic, Service Pack 2.

My current email is [email protected] if you have a workable solution that does not require programmer status to implement. Surely this must be a simple fix that I simply am overlooking, but being the new guy on the block, I have yet to be enlightened. Thanks for your help in coming up to speed!!

Steve Wanna' be Ubuntu Fanatic "If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space."