There are alternatives such as kget or others listed at http://alternativeto.net/software/kget/?platform=linux. My favorite of that software type is flashget for windows.

With your complaints about things not working like windows it may be best for you to run windoss, with all tasks you use the right tool for the job and in some cases it may be windows or apple.

With enough patience you can get anything to ask as you wish, which is what makes linux compelling to many people but you need to know what specifically you want before you can find the right utilities.

Also, the reason why most linux help on the internet referes to the command line is because it is far faster and more accurate to type a command than instruct someone through several mouse actions. Just because we refer to the command line often does not mean that it is the only way to accomplish a task.

I am with you, each person should use the best tool for the job and in some cases that will be proprietary software. I do not think locking down software is necessarily bad, but it does severely limit it's evolutionary future and limit the users' capability to diagnose and correct issues.

MY observation of the FOSS loyals is that they are against proprietary software because it restricts knowledge (the source code) from the world and limits the potential for the functionality to evolve.

Any distribution would fulfill your needs. If you were a redhat user then I recommend trying fedora which is the community version of redhat. After installation you can use yum (the package manager) to install everything that you need.

Welcome to the forum, I look forward to your question and ideas.

I know that you can install dd-wrt into nearly all of the WRT series and configure them as wireless repeaters, but it is not possible to install dd-wrt on that router. I recommend checking tomatoe, openwrt and other firmware to see if any have support for your router and can enable the repeater setup.

The flash medium can overheat and loose data including the connectivity data, it will only make it completely unusable if the head causing physical damage else it will be a temporary problem.

Can you please share the error message that you are receiving from the bootloader.

On another note, I am encouraged by the amount of research and work you are doing. If you get this working I highly recommend documenting it on a wiki so others can learn from you. having a stable customized persistent gaming medium that can be used on various machines would definitely interest many people.