What should I do Problematic Inspiron 6000
 

Alright I would appreciate any suggestions.

So I have an Inpiron 6000
specs
centrino processor 1.5
Intel Wireless Pro BG 2200
ATI x300 mobile 64(?) meg graphics card
1920x1200 LCD
sata HDD 60 gig
ATAPI DVD-ROM drive
and I have a PCMCIA Proxim b/g Orinoco wireless GOLD card

Alright Im going to try to make this flow as smooth as possible.

So First off choosing 2.4 or 2.6 kernel

Apparently there are no official drivers for the 2200 so you can get the unofficial drivers from sourceforge, which only supports the 2.6 kernel

Im under ther impresion that my Orinoco Gold card only works for 2.4 kernel (which is all i can get it to work on)

to get the HDD and DVD-ROm to work correctly i am also under the impression that it must be used on a 2.6 kernel ( if im wrong let me know)
there were many support issues with the ATAPI and sata being used and ATAPI being blacklisted and then un-blacklisted (word?) in later 2.6 kernels.

ATI doesnt release drivers for their mobile processors and DELL doesnt make any for linux... the X.org versions for ATI sucks, and forcing the DEsktop version to the mobile runs really bad ( I cannot watch DVDS!) and if the 3d support is working it is runnning so slow it makes my old geForce 2 card look like 7800.

Now for my delayed question... WHAT SHOULD I DO?
I want to be able to use the intel wireless card and also my Orinoco card as well.....

the 2.4.31 kernel that im using right now runs sooooooooo much nicer then the 2.6.10 kernel i was running earlier but much of my hardware goes unsupported or doesnt work as inteded.

I have had this notebook relatively since the 6000 was introduced and had to do nothing more than compromise since i had it.... I want to get out of it what i paid for, I have my reasons for using linux (not religous :P) and thus cannot go back.

I mean seriously whats the point of having a 1920x1200 res and not bein able to watch DVDs?

But seriously if you can offer ANY help to my problems let meknow, thanks in advance.

Just on a side note:

Man Im going throught he forums and from the looks of it, if Dell doesnt start coming up with better support Linuxquestions just may have to make Dell notebooks its own category :P
If only i have the cash for a thinkpad :) or hell even a iBOOK lmao so sweet looking....

Seriously whats up with the Inspiron's ugly white trim??? if i wasnt so afraid of messing up my laptop i would paint it... just ew.... i would rather have a gray box than a white trim ... just not my kind of blind blind.... ahh im just ranting till i get some replies.... deciding right now to reformat the damn thing and stick with 2.4.31 until i get replies.... but i dunno if Slackware 10.2 comes stock with the orinoco drivers hmmmmmmmmm.