I am at wit's end with this one.
My poor Dell d400 got left behind when Gnome went to gnome 3. Damned intel i855GM graphics.
This thread is half rant, half advice request.
This really pisses me off. I had recently fixed it up and i put a lot of new parts into it over the year i have had it so far:
1. 60gb hard drive
2. NOS battery
3. docking station
4. RAM upgrades (maxed to 2gb, the second 1gb stick was a freebie)
5. new mainboard (old one bombed the usb controller)
6. mainboard mod (soldering repair to a broken usb port)
I really like how it laid out. It is nice and compact, is realy easy to do repairs on, and is built really well.
The reason why I think I need to upgrade is Gnome 3's shell is no longer intel i8xx (graphics) compatible... To those who saw my other thread, I did check in linux mint 11 (ubuntu 11.04 based), its broke there too. I get the idea that there is no plan to resupport it... my choices are:
1. switch to KDE or XFCE or one of the other managers
2. dump linux and use Windows XP for everything
3. get a newer laptop with better graphics
the reasons why I am not fond of 1 and 2 are:
1. I tried KDE and hated it; XFCE and the others are too crappy (oldskoolish) for my liking.
2. I don't like XP or any windows all that much. I put up with it when I must (FIRST robotics software). For now, this is what I am doing.
the next problem is obtaining another laptop. I need it to be a decent unit as it will get lots of use in my freshman year of college next year. which leads to another lost possibility: I am in a bad finacial area; I am in the "doughnut hole"; I am too poor to buy a new or used laptop but too rich to get one paid for by scholarships and grants.
I have $75 coming my way as part of graduation gift money but that was going to be saved to go towards something with 4 wheels and an engine. Trading in my existing laptop is out as well; it has been modded in a way that I do not feel good selling it.
Does anybody have any ideas on what to do to get my problem solved? all of the working or reparable (read: no cracked screens, every part pulled, etc.) that will do what I want are at least $75, and that is with a dead battery (I use my battery a lot).
Are there any suggestions are am i just screwed?
edit- what I am looking for in a laptop:
-pentium m or newer CPU (AMD and pentium dual core OK, celeron and sempron not ok)
-at least 1gb of ram
-graphics that are non-integrated or intel 9xx or newer)
-any missing parts are easy to find (hard drives ok, caddies less ok, working screens not ok)
-wireless G (or faster) and bluetooth 2.0 (or the spot for an integrated module, please no 2.1 or 1.1; I am a heavy bluetooth user)
-decent quality/robustness
My poor Dell d400 got left behind when Gnome went to gnome 3. Damned intel i855GM graphics.
This thread is half rant, half advice request.
This really pisses me off. I had recently fixed it up and i put a lot of new parts into it over the year i have had it so far:
1. 60gb hard drive
2. NOS battery
3. docking station
4. RAM upgrades (maxed to 2gb, the second 1gb stick was a freebie)
5. new mainboard (old one bombed the usb controller)
6. mainboard mod (soldering repair to a broken usb port)
I really like how it laid out. It is nice and compact, is realy easy to do repairs on, and is built really well.
The reason why I think I need to upgrade is Gnome 3's shell is no longer intel i8xx (graphics) compatible... To those who saw my other thread, I did check in linux mint 11 (ubuntu 11.04 based), its broke there too. I get the idea that there is no plan to resupport it... my choices are:
1. switch to KDE or XFCE or one of the other managers
2. dump linux and use Windows XP for everything
3. get a newer laptop with better graphics
the reasons why I am not fond of 1 and 2 are:
1. I tried KDE and hated it; XFCE and the others are too crappy (oldskoolish) for my liking.
2. I don't like XP or any windows all that much. I put up with it when I must (FIRST robotics software). For now, this is what I am doing.
the next problem is obtaining another laptop. I need it to be a decent unit as it will get lots of use in my freshman year of college next year. which leads to another lost possibility: I am in a bad finacial area; I am in the "doughnut hole"; I am too poor to buy a new or used laptop but too rich to get one paid for by scholarships and grants.
I have $75 coming my way as part of graduation gift money but that was going to be saved to go towards something with 4 wheels and an engine. Trading in my existing laptop is out as well; it has been modded in a way that I do not feel good selling it.
Does anybody have any ideas on what to do to get my problem solved? all of the working or reparable (read: no cracked screens, every part pulled, etc.) that will do what I want are at least $75, and that is with a dead battery (I use my battery a lot).
Are there any suggestions are am i just screwed?
edit- what I am looking for in a laptop:
-pentium m or newer CPU (AMD and pentium dual core OK, celeron and sempron not ok)
-at least 1gb of ram
-graphics that are non-integrated or intel 9xx or newer)
-any missing parts are easy to find (hard drives ok, caddies less ok, working screens not ok)
-wireless G (or faster) and bluetooth 2.0 (or the spot for an integrated module, please no 2.1 or 1.1; I am a heavy bluetooth user)
-decent quality/robustness
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