Well, it was weird. I woke up the day after I had given up (no wireless, nothing installed except what I did with the recovery disks) and MIRACLE: everything was perfect! I guess it quietly sorted itself out overnight without further human intervention.

So now I have a smoking laptop and spent the evening downloading my Captain Sim collection. It was like meeting old friends again. And I can't say how much easier Captain Sim's system is than some.

I recall having to execute some tweaks re: sound and possibly battery. Are all of those sorted out, or do I need to dig through the forum for the drill?