Ok, well I have my new install completed and have decided to put each post here seperately.

First, for those who don't know, the best way to monitor your temp in linux is with this bad boy The Computer Temp Monitor. Now you do have to install the required programs, listed here. You also need to have ACPI or a similarly supported parameter.

I had to use Synaptic to install 'libxml-parser-perl' and I think one of the GTK things. Now this was done after installing automatix and doing several things with it. Regardless, this all works well and I really like the control it gives me. I don't even have this kind of functionality in Windows with the same hardware.