Installing the Gertboard Software and ATmega328P

First I would like to mention a site for anyone new to linux. http://cli.learncodethehardway.org/book/ I consider myself a newbie although I ran a multi-line Dial-up BBS (1200Bps!) on DOS back in the late 80's early 90's and used a linux shell account to import Internet e-mail and Usenet newsgroups for my users.   Now that I am starting with the Pi,  I have to learn the basics all over again.  Anyhow this site is a really quick read, just over an hour and I think I am up to speed with the basic shell commands again.  Someone with no experience with CLI might take a bit longer, but it is a free site and very informative. I  Absolutely recommend it to the beginner. (I am now using the sister site for Python learnpythonthehardway.org/book/ ..looks like it will take a bit longer to complete, but just  as "easy going"!)
Now for what I have been doing the past few days with the Raspberry Pi.  I have fully installed the Gertboard and all of the related software.  It has taken a lot of research and hunting since the software and details of the complete setup are in several different sites.  I read and did ALL of the sample projects in the user manual. (Python Samples, not the "C".  I also got both the RPi.GPIO and the WiringPi for Python versions working so I could try all the examples!)

Raspberry Pi Installed!

Ran into a few problems before even getting into the programming.  I have been reading several books on python while waiting for a delivery of arduino and parts to build a robot.  Anyhow every time I have tried to enter code or update the system, strange things have been happening.  The first keyboard I kept missing keys or getting certain keys stuck in the buffer. so I replaced the keyboard and it seemed to correct the problem.  For the last 2 days I kept trying to download software to install hardware or update the Raspberry Pi itself. My internet connection kept crapping out after 3-4% of a file. (could not keep an internet connection for more than a few minutes)