I found this antenna, take a look. http://www.engadget.com/2005/11/15/how-to-build-a-wifi-biquad-dish-antenna/2 Might be worth a try.

I have been using Puppy Linux loaded on an SD card. Puppy4.1.1 runs fine on my eee701, even the wireless works fine. Puppy is real fast, and is great for cruising the net or checking e-mails.

It took me 2 years to talk my dad into letting me build him a PC. I built it and loaded it with Ubuntu, and he just loves it. I love it for it's stability and lack of virus. He has been using it for about two and a half years, with no problems. My kids like SuSe better, they have been using it for 5 years now with no problems. If you want a small and fast OS try Puppy Linux. Well that's my 2 cents worth.