in 9.1 i recall being able to install mandrake using as GUI witch made installing painless and eazy. in LE i get the text install and I can't figure out why. was it removed or was my Intel 845 G/GL Integrated Video dismissed from the hardware database?

figured it out, had to use " vgalo "

On some of the Intel chipsets you can change the amount of memory they report to Linux in the bios. I know there was a bug in the Intel 865G chipset that reported there was only one mb of vidmemory. Intel made a patch that could be incorporated into a bios upgrade which allowed you to change the vid memory settings to 8mb which took care of the vgalo issue.

If your bios was up todate you could just go into your bios find the video card memory settings and change it. Then when you did the install it would let you use what ever resolution your monitor could handle.

the problem with that is that its a dell system and any bois updates have to go threw dell first and dell isn't known for its quick firmware fixes

This fix should be out there as the systems i had the problem with were Optiflex 170L dell. The fix had been out there since 2003. So I'd make sure you had the latest firm ware upgrade on it and check the vid memory in the bios.