help needed

[Thelmaster]

I have problems with open source. I have a Dell Inspiron 537 n series which came with Ubuntu 9.04 installed. The ethernet adaptor is a Realtek 8169/8169S/8110S based PCI adapter (re). I have been unable to download
Desktop BSD, PC BSD, and every livecd that I have attempted including Gparted. I have been able to download OpenBSD 4.6 and FreeBSD 8.0, but I can't make them work either. With OpenBSD I used dhcp for my cable modem
and it got results, but I could not get anywhere with the ethernet card. When it was loaded, I could ping websites, but I could not get into the ftp site to obtain packages (not found). As for FreeBSD, I could not
find a combination of addresses that would get me to the internet. Rtfm? I have, and have read much of, three books on UNIX, five books on FreeBSD, two books on BSD, and one book on OpenBSD. Any help out there? I
also have a suggestion for a new category for the forum to consider. Troubleshooting. When a person has a problem, he could post in Troubleshooting. Anyone who wants to help, but without a verbose explanation, could
suggest page number and chapter number in a book or the Handbook or FAQ.

Thanks for your consideration.