<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> <title></title> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> First, thanks for all the help at last night's meeting. I got a copy of Ubuntu 6.06 Alternate and loaded it onto the laptop, which worked just fine, except that the problem with X-Windows still exists.  So as long as I can put up with the command line, I'm okay, but I'd rather not do that in this case if other options are available. After looking at a number of links about installing Ubuntu on this Dell model, I found one that indicated the A08 BIOS, which I downloaded and tried to install, but it barfed when I tried the installation. The end result of this, so far, is that I have Ubuntu 6.06 working, in command line mode and have no easy way to revise the BIOS. Any suggestions? Thanks, Frank P.S. Clay, a question from last night's meeting -- "How's your new job?" Clay Dowling wrote: <blockquote cite="mid:4B619F46.2000408@lazarusid.com" type="cite">On 1/27/10 11:38 PM, Chick Tower wrote: <blockquote type="cite">Well, given that information, Frank, I would advise you to get the alternate install CD for Ubuntu (or Kubuntu or Xubuntu, as you prefer and as available) so you can at least get it installed and then you/we can mess around with your X configuration to get it to work.  Or, unless you're wed to Ubuntu, try another distro.  There are others that are easy to figure out, like Mandriva, Mint (although, as an Ubuntu derivative, it might fail the same way), PCLinuxOS, and Mepis, to name a few. </blockquote> This is what I was going to suggest as well.  I used Mandriva back when it was still Mandrake, and it was a very nice desktop OS.  You're gonna want more RAM in that machine though.  Slick GUI on Linux means mucho memory. Straight command line Debian might be a happy choice for you.  And while you're wanting to stay with Linux, OpenBSD with Fluxbox would actually be just about perfect for that machine.  I think you'll have a happier user experience that way than with nearly any Linux installation, just because of your limited resources. Clay _______________________________________________ linux-user mailing list <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:linux-user@egr.msu.edu">linux-user@egr.msu.edu</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://mailman.egr.msu.edu/mailman/listinfo/linux-user">http://mailman.egr.msu.edu/mailman/listinfo/linux-user</a> </blockquote> <pre class="moz-signature" cols="70">*----------------------------------------------------------------* * Frank Dolinar <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:frank.dolinar@comcast.net">frank.dolinar@comcast.net</a> * * nanoSteps, LLC <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.nanosteps.net">www.nanosteps.net</a> * * PO Box 886 517.351.1899 * * East Lansing, MI 48826-0886 * *----------------------------------------------------------------* * Toward the future, one small step at a time. * *----------------------------------------------------------------* </pre> </body> </html>