Someone please help a frustrated newbie to linux!!

I have a Compaq (POS) Presario 1247 running slackware version 9.0, with 2 major problems

I can get the gui to load, but the mouse pointer and all of the text is huge, so big that the desktop will not fit on the screen

I have a linksys WPC54G wireless networking PCMCIA card, and i can't get it to work. I tried netconfig and DCHP scan, and it locked up my computer totally (3 times)

Can someone please help me, and please type very slow and use small words...i've been spoiled by windows

Help much appreciated

Rah Rah open source!!!

I would say your XWindows (and icons) are huge because you're using a very low resolution and you have a virtual desktop bigger than the physical screen. Run xf86config (from command line) and choose better options.

For the networking card, I would be surprised if there are any drivers installed for it at the moment. I have a similar card, the linksys WUSB11, and I needed to download drivers to get it working. Go to: http://atmelwlandriver.sourceforge.net untar it, run make config, then make all, then make install.

I've been aimlessly changing the options in my xf86config file for days...i really need some direction...i'm assuming i need to run on something higher than 256 colors as my default, but it'll crash if i pick anything higher

am i on the right track or are you laughing at me now???