Ubuntu notes
From Jon's Wiki
Enable Sensible Repositories
A vaguely useful apt sources.list:
deb http://nz.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy main restricted universe multiverse deb-src http://nz.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy main restricted universe multiverse deb http://nz.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-updates main restricted universe multiverse deb-src http://nz.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-updates main restricted universe multiverse deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu edgy-security main restricted universe multiverse deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu edgy-security main restricted universe multiverse deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu edgy-commercial main deb http://packages.freecontrib.org/plf edgy-plf free non-free deb-src http://packages.freecontrib.org/plf edgy-plf free non-free
Note: Can replace security.ubuntu.com with nz.archive.ubuntu.com for faster transfers, with slightly less up-to-date-ness.
Crazy Wireless Drivers
If you are lucky enough to have bought a HP or Compaq laptop recently, you've probably got a Broadcom wireless chipset. Broadcom are lazy wankers and don't release their driver code.
Solution
Use ndiswrapper 1.8. Blacklist the built-in bcm43xx and download these Win32 Broadcom 4318 drivers.
sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-utils-1.8 ndiswrapper-common