The one on the Ubunto.com page doesn't work. Strange.
The other link, (1) in my earlier article, does have a valid link
but it wasn't obvious how to get the *.deb file -- it's done by
clicking in the "Architecture" column.

Since your wireless is working, this is moot now, but others might
still need the backport so I wanted to be sure people are aware
there is a working path to the *.deb file.

> [...]
> Now I feel a bit dumb for all of this hair pulling when the solution
> was so simple.

Please don't feel that way. 8.10 shouldn't have had all the new
problems as listed in "Other known issues" at:

<www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/810>

> I'm a happy guy now. I like ubuntu better then Mandriva. It is
> friendlier. Now I can install the packages that I like and put my
> address book in.

Super! I really like Ubuntu, too. I'm able to do all the software
development (e.g., compiles, etc.) I need/want to do, and it also
works fine for games.