<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;">[This email address is checked by its owner at least twice weekly.] Hello, I have an Asus N50vn laptop with bluetooth and atheros wifi. It seems atheros is Linux friendly, and that from the related bug reports, one of the main issues is that both services are running off the same chip. I have been using Linux for about three years now, and I know the basic file structure, and have fooled around with config files, terminal commands, and the like. I am also taking a fundamental course on the C++ language, with some background in C, noting differences in such matters as arrays. I'd like to get a little more involved, but the number of choices you present are bewildering. Mentoring of some type would be nice, if you could direct me to the correct choice. I'd like to set up a testing partition on my laptop to try out drivers and fiddle with the hardware on the machine, both for my own self interest, and the benefit of your community. I will donate one hour per week if I am busy, and considerably more if I am not, on the quest to completely free myself of Microsoft products. I recently had a rather disturbing experience that makes me want to completely shed my Vista partition. I'll describe it if anybody wants to know. I attempted to reproduce it, but to no avail. (Think about it, after a year at the current US minimum wage, I'll have donated $340.60 of labor to Ubuntu, that's more than a brand new copy of Windows 7 Ultimate.) My goals: #1 Make a better contribution to bug reports, and perhaps packaging or helping track down the source of bugs in the implementation of the ath9k driver on bluetooth enabled Asus N50 (and probably N70) series. #2 Help tweak, bug report, track problems and implement testing software for any other device on the machine, except maybe the fingerprint reader. (If a dishonest person got a hold of my password protected laptop, the machine itself is worth far more than any data they would mine. The fingerprint reader is just a bit silly.... Bond.... James Bond.) #3 Help package cutting edge, Debian Educational software, as well as helping make it more user friendly. (I have no idea how to package software, but maybe a gnome applet or something might be a nice pond to wade in. I'LL TRY, OKAY? I'm motivated at least.) #4 Increase my understanding of Linux, Ubuntu and Debian, so that I might go on to better things. #5 Get Asus to refund me for my Vista disk, or use it as an expensive drink coaster. </td></tr></table>