broken 'puter
maybe you could give the ubuntu dells a try? there hardware is quite decent (own a dell myself, and many dell laptop users @ work)...
though since I remember you have quite special customization desires on O's, it probably wouldn't do 
as far as dvd-rw drives go: my experience is they always deteriorate after some years of use... The laser lenses seem to wear out... What I did was buying an usb enclosure and putting a normal (and thus way cheaper then small form factor drives for laptops) dvd drive in... But I guess that doesn't matter since a new system will no doubt come with one installed...
I'm on 4M ADSL. And back on it, as you can see. The router tried to increase bandwidth by using smoke signals as an extra line 
. Of course when only one computer is in use, I don't need a router between that and the modem - d'oh!
I'm going to test the fire alarm now, because it didn't go off when it should have: there's an awful smell of burned plastic here even after the windows have been open for hours.
mm, i'm going to see if my dsl supports smokesignals as well, having only 2 mbit dsl (thanks to non existing investments in the copper in the ground I can't get any higher) i can use all extra bandwidth 
ps: you probably already know this, but you can also just use one of your computers (or an old one lying around doing nothing) as an internet sharing router.....
pps: seems like firealarms tend to be not too reliable, I hasd a smoke detector which did the contrary: go off all the time without any cause at all (scared me to death the forst time it went off, I searched the whole house for fire ). That is, till I ripped the battery out after the third night in a row the damn thing woke me without due cause
Natlia
Posts: 60
Hi all,
My computer is broken (disk crash), so I won't be able to come to Babylonia for a while. I hope to see you again soon!
- Natlia
Disks melt. Paper burns. Clay tablets get baked and saved for posterity.