Greetings All! Chris Green's recent message arrived as I was about to compose a similar one!

My (somewhat ancient but much-loved) Advent 8117 recently crashed. It had Windows XP, into which I installed VirtualBox into which I then installed Debian (Etch, I think; and Ubuntu). It is the Windows, apparently, which crashed. While, after repeated attempts, it is possible to get windows started, many of the applications icons have vanished rom the screen, including the VirtualBox one. So Linux is now inaccessible on this machine.

Yesterday I took it to be looked at by a Computer Suppport person I know (very amiliar with Linux), and we did get somewhere -- using a Slackware Live CD it was possible to have a look at the filesystem. However, when I tried to reboot it just now nothing happened: no sign of power reaching the compuyer (and the battery is dead anyway). I suspect that yesterday's 60-mile round trip may have broken a power-supply connection somewhere in the computer.

So FIRST: I'm seeking a replacement. No special hardware requirements beyond a good amount of HD space and of RAM, plus the usual ethernet cable, print (via USB cable), USB ockets etc. And a nicely laid out keyboard with very visible labels (letters etc.) would be very welcome. especially if the "delete" key is at bottom right instead of top right.

I'd like it to have Linux installed, preferably Debian, but with Gnome 2 desktop rather than later versions (Fermilab's Scientific Linux has stuck with Gnome 2), since the way I work depends heavily on the array of workspaces displayed at the bottom of the screen in Gnome 2.

So any suggested offers? (willing to pay a reasonable price).

Then SECOND: I really want to recover files in the Linux systems which have accumulated over the years (not fussy about the entire OS's, though some of the system config files are also important).

The Linux filesystems are in VirtualBox ".vdi" files on the Windows XP system, which I was able to locate after booting with the Slackware CD. I've been looking around extensively for info about how to set about this. This does not seem to be straightfoward unless the VDI file is transerred (somehpow ... ) to another machine on which VirtualBox is installed.

Any help or advice?

With thanks, Ted.