3D Accelerated graphics on a T23?

[likesspace]

Hi guys....
I didn't know if this post should be placed in the T2x forum or here, so I'm taking a chance on this being the proper place.

My wife has an old T23 laptop that she is running Linux Mint 6 (Felicia) on.
She loves the laptop and the operating system but she really wishes she could use the 3D effects such as rotating cube, wobbly windows, etc.

My question is if it is possible to use these types of effects with the T23 graphics card.

Currently none of the Compiz effects seem to work for her and I admit that I know NOTHING about a graphics card (and very little about Linux). My hope is that someone here can talk me through downloading the correct updated S3 driver and also talk me through the installation.

Again, I am a total newbie when it comes to things like graphics drivers so please be as explicit as possible with your instructions.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Dave

[Harryc]

All of the effects that you mentioned require Compiz. There's no way that it will run on a T23. I'd say you need Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 or better and ATI R200 or better. At least 64 MB of VRAM for the graphics card is recommended, even though compiz can run with less, there may be potential problems. I believe the T23 has 16MB of VRAM.

[likesspace]

Harry, thanks for the reply....
The only reason that I asked this question is because I came across the following web page while surfing for an answer. My problem is that NOTHING that this guy says makes any sense to me!
The link is: http://vcn.bc.ca/~dugan/t23.html

First of all, is he saying that 3D capabilities are possible on a T23 and if so, does this mean that Compiz settings can work?

Also, what is your opinion of the best distro to use with an older laptop like the T23?

My wife really is happy with Mint 6 yet support was pulled for this version in April. I honestly don't know that this is even a problem but I'd hate to think that her machine could become a security risk because it is no longer supported.

As you can probably tell we are very new to using the Linux operating system but even though I'm only a couple of weeks into it, I don't see myself ever returning to a Windows based system. I honestly feel that I've found the perfect operating system in Linux.

Right now I'm reading "Linux for Dummies" and have a second book on order (Linux Complete Bible, or something like that) that I plan on reading next. I figure if I'm going to use this system I need to use it to it's fullest capabilities.

Even though this question is totally unrelated, I'll ask it anyway......

Each time that I log onto Mint 6 I have to reset my keyboard layout to USA 105 key.
For some reason the system keeps defaulting the keyboard to an "Ireland" setting.
Now I will admit that I have a lot of Irish blood running through my veins but I doubt that Linux is able to figure this out, no matter how good the operating system is.

If you, (or anyone else) has any advice concerning this problem I'd love to hear it.

I really do appreciate you taking the time to answer my previous question and if you have any ideas on what I've written above, I would be very happy to hear them.

Have a great evening.

Dave

[BruisedQuasar]

Your wife may want to consider the following Linux distros. The project objective of all of them is small size & ease of use. They have active forums where users can get quality help. In my opinion, Ubuntu and Ubuntu family distros have evolved to become too big and clunky. I installed an older version of Xubuntu (8.XX) on a T-23 I gave to my daughter and her family. It runs well on it but the following run significantly better.

LinuxMint is superior to Ubuntu (smaller size, faster, & easier to use and access to huge Ubuntu repositories. However, I am finding problems with Linux Mint 9 (build on Ubuntu8.10) that I am not used to seeing on Linux O/S systems. The problems are Windows like. Never before, have I used a Linux version that needed a full reboot every 24 hours or so or one that freezes up like 9 does. I installed Ubuntu 10.XX on an older Dell desktop recently and found it still faster that Windows XP but noticeably slow compared to the better designed versions of Linux

The new release from the Puppy Linux team, "Lucid" 5.0
It is small yet powerful and easy to use. Like Puppy 431, Lucid automatically loads into RAM memory and runs from there. I install it to USB stick drives and boot & use from there. The Puppy distro is still less than 400MB including basic software & the newest Opera and Firefox.

Open Geu & Gos 3.1 are worth looking into.

You can get basic information & these and other many Linux O/S versions (distros) @ distrowatch.com. The above O/S are available in Live CD form (installs and runs from a CD & memory and does not alter your hard drive._ Most Live CDs are intended for trial runs but some like Puppy (and an abandoned small O/S called [censored] Small Linuxs are designed to run off a live CD or better yet from a modest USB flash stick. I have Puppy 431, 432, & Lucid 5.0 installed on 2GB USB sticks.

You download free Linux O/S in an iso file format and can use the simple, free ISO burner program to install and burn them to a CD. You then boot from the CD, something the T23 does well. Distrowatch.com includes a link for each O/S where you can download the O/S (Distro) iso file. Distrowatch insludes a link to a site from which you can order CDs with the distros you want to try for just a few dollars each.

[likesspace]

Thanks for the informative reply. I really appreciate the information.
I've done a little bit of reading about puppy linux but have yet to give it a try. I think that I will have to do so and see how it responds on the T23.
This machine does have a gig of ram so it's handling Mint 6 fairly well and in fact she was able to run Mint 9. The only problem with 9 is that it's pretty slow as compared to 6.

Since making this post I have found a T43 that I think will make my wife happy. I've been running one for the past year and have no problem at all running the newest version of Mint.
It sounds as if it was a good thing that I bypassed version 8 since it's having Windows type problems.

Again, I really do appreciate the information you supplied. Once I get the T23 back in my hands I can start experimenting.

[arabianights]

3D Acceleration on T23 is possible:)

check the link below
http://vcn.bc.ca/~dugan/t23.html

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