i had to download easypeasy and now i have trouble with source list!

Did you try following approach from http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1475399&page=3&p=9397572#post9397572

Step 1 - go to System → Preferences → Network Connections

Step 2 - Find either your wired or wireless network connection. Then select “edit”. Then go to the "IPv4 settings" tab.

Step 3 - Change “Method” to “Automatic (DHCP) addresses only” and enter OpenDNS's servers into the “DNS Servers” field. The IPs to enter are 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220. Hit "Apply" and you're all done.

Otherwise please provide cat /etc/hosts and cat /etc/hostname

ok sorry im fairly new to all this i will try that but i was thinking it was my source list that needed sorting. also i want to keep it all on sd card without installing it on to the netbook as it takes up so much room any advice?

Sorry if I missunderstood but you want to only use easypeasy as a live distribution? So you just have to follow these instructions http://www.geteasypeasy.com/get-easypeasy/ without the last step.

If your netbook boots the live system everything is in the memory and it will not install the system on your hard disk.

i did what you said above remains the same and also heres output to commants-
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cat /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 ubuntu

# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
::1 ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters
ff02::3 ip6-allhosts

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ cat /etc/hostname
ubuntu

and so when i put my sd card in i just dont install it to netbook? sorry asking two questions at once!

Oh, big sry I should have checked this before. The website http://archive.geteasypeasy.com is not available. I think this version is already unsupported it's based on the ubuntu lucid release from 2010, but there isn't a newer version, don't know if this project is still in active development. I would decide to use another distribution like lubuntu or xubuntu (it is lightweighter than ubuntu, maybe you have a better performance on your netbook)

Lucid is not supported now.
EasyPeasy is not supported by the Ubuntu community and it has it's own community.

Thanks

it would explain why its utter rubbish but the trouble is when i tried to use a bootable usb with ubuntu 12.04 it said kernal not supported or bootable. also i have a real old asus 701 and im about to chuck it. i manged to go from this easypeasy to ubuntu 10.04 then found away also to install 12.04 whichwas great,but because i wanted better i stupidly tried to boot windows, i should have left well alone!! so gutted, i really dont know how to sort it

Maybe it is possible to upgrade your current system to Ubuntu 12.04.
Please open a terminal and issue the following commands:

cat /etc/lsb-release
uname -a
find /etc/apt -name '*.list' -exec bash -c 'echo -e "\n$1\n"; cat -n "$1"' _ '{}' \;

then copy all output and paste into this question document.

What I did yesterday was formst sd card and made it bootable with ubuntu 10.04. Which has worked ive done all updates and there is an option to upgrade to 12.04 im just unsure if too. Ive had it before and loved it!

Lucid is no longer supported on the desktop. If you like the 2 panel session you can install Cinnamon from the official Ubuntu repositories. You can also install gnome-panel and get a desktop session like you are familiar.

So when u say no longer supported what do you mean? So do you think upgrading would be best option? I will look into your other suggestions now

I found this is this correct? sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gwendal-lebihan-dev/cinnamon-stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cinnamon

Bearing in mind I have an old eeepc asus 701 netbook would this cinnomon work?

I suggest you use Lubuntu on a EEEPC 701. It uses lots fewer resources. Lubuntu 14.04 is also LTS.

I tried lubuntu but I could not get it to boot from sd said about a kernal and cpu! can I install it via terminal ?

If you are running a supported release:

sudo apt-get install lubuntu-desktop

Sounds like your CPU does not support PAE. You can use this guide to install Precise on your nonPAE CPU
http://www.webupd8.org/2012/05/how-to-install-ubuntu-1204-on-non-pae.html

ve only managed to get ubuntu 10.04 which I believe isnt. So do you suggest the mini iso and selecting xbuntu 12.04? Which I believe is still supported?

Yes 12.04 is the current LTS release and is suported til April 2017.

Once you have the mini iso installed you will be offered desktop environments and yes you can choose Xubuntu if you wish. It is great on low end hardware.

ok im just about to give it a wirl ive been using unetbootin to get it on to usb is that correct?

when i click on install it does not do anything it just stays on the boot menu