Finally figured out my two problems:

First: How to get the Dell Inspiron 8200 to work with Mandrake 9.2 and NOT freeze when I plug/unplug, close the lid, etc?

There are two power management methods that activate when you close the lid, etc., used by Mandrake 9.2 that conflict with each other when both are activated. I chose APM because it was a quick, reliable fix. ACPI seems like it will be cool when I have some more time to tinker.

a) The key was in the /etc/lilo.conf of course, but it took a while:

b) I opened the /etc directory, opened a terminal session, entered as super user, then “xemacs lilo.conf” and changed the append line to:

image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.22-26mdk
label="2422-26"
root=/dev/hda7
initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.22-26mdk.img
append="nolapic devfs=mount apm=on splash=silent hdb=ide-scsi acpi=ht resume=/dev/hda6"

So that it says apm=on and acpi=ht. Finally, save and quit these settings and then type “lilo -v” in the terminal window to save these changes to the master boot record.

c) Change the Kernel to use APM only:
Go to /etc/src/(my linux kernel), open a terminal window and login as super user. Enter “make xconfig” to open a graphical interface to change kernel options. Under General Setup I ticked off YES for advanced power management and another option for Power Management, then turned OFF acpi power management as an option.

Save and exit, then typed “make dep” to finally recompile the kernel with those new settings.

Reboot and boom, no power issues.

Second: How to get the Radeon Mobility 9000 64Mb card to give 3D performance at any resolution on my 1600 by 1200 UXGA screen?

I'm glad to keep the ATI card instead of nVidia, because it supports open source. If there are bugs now, they'll be fixed by the open-source community before too long. Nvidia depends on commercial drivers and depends on their devel-level support for as long as they want to give it.

I got excellent 3D performance with my ATI card, but the problem of resolution remains: if I want to keep 3D performance and keep things looking fast and sharp, I am limitted to 1600 by 1200 so far. Accelerated-X makes a usable commercial driver that gives 3D at any resolution, but it costs dough and I don't like the idea of someone else solving my problem.

So 3D at 1600 by 1200:

a) Download the latest driver from ATI (mine was called fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.7.0.i386.rpm), install it with this:

rpm -ivh –nodeps –force (driver name)

Then, configure your kernel properly by playing with a module. If you go to /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod and type “./make.sh”

If you get an error message about adjusting symlinks because your kernel is called something else than the program is looking for, ignore it. I bypassed the symlink thing by changing the name of my kernel 'header' directly to match what they were looking for (mine was called ...mdkcustom instead of ...mdk).
To do this, go to /usr/src/(current Linux kernel)/include/linux

Then, open a terminal window, login as root, type 'xemacs verson.h' to edit this small, two line document. Change the name of the kernel to match what the command './make.sh' was looking for.

Then, retype “./make.sh” as instructed above.

Finally, switch to /lib/modules/fglrx, login as super root on a terminal, then type './make_install.sh'.

After that, it's just a matter of logging in as super user, running 'fglrxconfig', picking the options that work (I can post my choices if someone gets there) and bango- reboot that thing.

Test 3D and graphics rendering by running TuxRacer, which comes with the distro.

Good luck for those with the same problem,

Sean

Do you recall what your "other option for APM" was? Some of my problems seem to be solved, but I still get an occasional lock-up after screen wakeup. Is it sufficient to simply make dep, or is it necessary to make bzImage...

Whatever you do, DO NOT get a Presario 2110.

I just bought one before Xmas (AthlonXP2000+, 512Megs RAM, ATI Mobility 64M, 60Gig HD, CDRW/DVD and 15.1 inch screen) and getting linux on there was a B**CH. You CAN do it...but it'll be painful. Compaq/HP only supports XP with the thing (I have complained about it) not even Windows2000 so I'm stuck dual booting XP.

However, once the install pains were over, Mandrake 9.2 works pretty well on the thing...but you need to get Kernel2.6 in there for ACPI and I've still got to try and compile the CVS version of X so I can get 3d acceleration.