F7 on EeePC : how to connect??

[Beartooth]

   I have what I think is one of the earliest EeePCs; a label on the back 
says ASUS 701 -- model number??

   After a lot of trouble, I got it to triple-boot Puppy, Eeedora, and 
Fedora 8, two of them from geek sticks. Then when I tried using them all, 
I soon found that for anyone with large trifocal fingers and arthritic 
eyeballs, about its only worthwhile use would be sitting in waiting 
rooms. 

   So I fitted it and its peripheral paraphernalia into a suitable 
receptacle, and kept that handy. But it happened that I had no occasion 
to use it for several weeks.

   When I did, the battery had gone dead, just sitting there. 

    Once I got it usable at all again, two of the three boots were 
unusable, and the other was my least favorite.

   Yesterday I installed Fedora 7, from a live CD in an external USB 
drive -- twice. After the second install, which wouldn't boot, I tried 
booting it with the puppy stick inserted -- and it booted, but to Fedora. 

   But it can't seem to find the ethernet cable which is plugged right 
into it. (Come to think of it, anaconda never asked me its usual routine 
questions about connecting.)

   How do I get the fool thing to connect??

-- 
Beartooth Staffwright, PhD, Neo-Redneck Linux Convert
Fedora 7, 8 & 9; Alpine 1.10, Pan 0.132; Privoxy 3.0.6;
Dillo 0.8.6, Galeon 2, Epiphany 2, Opera 9, Firefox 2 & 3
Remember I know precious little of what I am talking about.