[Klug-general] Laptop questions

[Peter Apps]

Can anyone recommend a new or secondhand laptop suitable for the latest
versions of Ubuntu/Kubuntu.

It'll be mainly used used for word-processing and Internet. It'll
connected at various times by ethernet, wlan and 3 mobile broadband.

A largish screen, say >=15" would be nice.

My present laptop is an Acer Travelmate 230 running Puppy Linux. After
it's been running for a time the hard drive just chunters away and the
laptop slows so that it can take half an hour to shutdown. I think it
may be overheating but I'm not sure. Again, any suggestions would be
appreciated.

Finally I'm trying to set up mobile broadband in Puppy Linux using its
PGPRS Modem Setup Wizard. It detects three devices /dev/ttyUSB0,
/dev/usb/ttyUSB0 and /dev/ttyS0. I assume one is the phone modem, one
is the memory device on the mobile modem and the other is the modem
itself. How do I work out which is which?

It asks for the APN which I give as 3internet and the phone number. The
default is *99***1#. Is this the right number? 

The best solution would be to chuck it all away and start again but
unfortunately it's also the most expensive solution and I need to patch
the Acer up while I save for a new one. 

Many Thanks,
Peter.