[YLUG] Urgent help request from Linux newbie.

[Kit Hamilton]

Hi there YLUG people.
Please may I pick your collective brains, or better still maybe one of  
you would be kind enough to spare me half an hour of real time to help  
with an install issue.
I'm new to LINUX but have successfully and effortlessly installed  
Edubuntu 11.10 on half my school Toshiba Satellite Pro 300 laptop. My  
six year old loves it, and I am overjoyed to escape from the Windows  
environment I have to work in at my Microsoft school, and looking  
forward to getting some alternative to Apple's obsessive DRM into my  
music library.
My son has asked Santa for a net-book like the one he has at school  
but with all the 'Penguin Games" on. After reading lots of posts and  
asking some questions on Ubuntu forums (posting as Hare Brain) I  
bought an ASUS eeePC 1011PX. This ships with Ubuntu 11.10 from some  
continental sellers and I've been assured it should work fine, plus it  
was £100 off in Comet's recent sale so only £199.
I hadn't bargained for the hassle caused by its lack of CD drive  
though. I followed Ubuntu's instructions for creating a bootable USB  
Thumbdrive, but as predicted in the 'Known issues' section of the  
page, the eeePC wouldn't recognise it the USB stick as bootable, so I  
followed the tip of trying to press the escape key right at the end of  
the BIOS. Maybe I just couldn't get the timing right. I'm very  
unfamiliar with Windows ( this is my first ever purchase of a PC  
though I started with a Mac LCII in 1993) and as we all know a little  
learning is a dangerous thing.
I started messing with the BIOS settings to see if that would make a  
difference, (I can hear your groans) and now Windows opens with a  
message to say it can't automatically repair itself and nothing else  
happens. There are three drives showing when the BIOS runs but they're  
all in brackets as disabled. One is the Hard Drive, one is a CD drive,  
which I don't understand as it hasn't got one, and one is the USB 2  
drive. Have I completely wrecked a new net-book?
All I want to achieve is a full Edubuntu install in time to put this  
little beauty in my son's stocking on Christmas eve. I'd be happy to  
pay for assistance and bring the net-book over to York from  
Pocklington if any of you think you could remedy my mindless meddling.
Many thanks in anticipation of your advice and help.

Kit Hamilton
kit.hamilton at o2.co.uk