Greetings from my 10.6.8 installation! Happy New Year indeed!
Freedomrock, you certainly do! Thanks to all for responses, but the order of steps listed above was particularly helpful, and should be rolled into the USB pen instructions IMHO, especially with the 8GB key being too small to fit the apple install image (or am I wrong about this?).
You cleared up several misconceptions:
That iFail 10.6.3 install (or any other flavor) could mix with EDP, better to wipe and start over with 10.6.0
The USB keyboard is a must, I didn't think of that obvious workaround (or trust that it would be fixed by end of install)
I wouldn't have thought it was ok to proceed with the 10.6.8 update when all was not functional in 10.6.0 base install (keyboard not recognized, wouldn't boot from hard drive boot loader, but would boot from usb stick boot loader).
other noobs might have trouble with how and where to run edptool.command from terminal (won't run without ./ preceeding it since not in the path) after download and install of EDP, and that EDP also should be installed to the USB key for safety backup. I had to reinstall chameleon boot loader from EDP to get it booting from hard drive again. And I recommend installing iStat from EDP, it's veri nice.
I have now loaded my 16GB install key (so much headroom!) with all sorts of downloaded postinstall goodies, including the 10.6.8 update file which otherwise takes an hour or so to download, and don't forget superduper (spend $30 for smart update/incr backup).
I also want to share that most D630s come stock with a non-compatible OEM wifi card, but I was able to buy a broadcom card on ebay for $5. DELL provides detailed instructions on how to remove the keyboard and install. I had it installed, reassembled, identified and configured on next reboot all in under an hour.
Thanks again to all, you have put me in the giving spirit toward this worthy community.