OpenSource developer in need of a LapTop

[Richard Sharpe]

Hi,

My LapTop's LCD screen is giving up :-(

It is two months out of warranty, and my IBM 380ED has decided that its LCD
screen does not want to play ball.

This LapTop is the focus of my Open Source activities (as well as other
activities) and is used a lot for development when I am on the road. Many
of my contributions to Ethereal and fixes to parts of Samba were developed
in Quantas Club lounges, motels in Hobart, Hotels in Sydney and Melbourne,
etc (that laptop has logged so many miles, it has its own Frequent Flyer
number :-).

I have spoken to IBM's Service people and they say that it could cost
$2,000 to replace the LCD if that is the problem (or a lesser amount if the
problem is elsewhere).

So, what I am asking is:

Is there some company or vendor out there who feels they have derived
enough benefit from the open source projects that I work on that they can
help me out with a new LapTop so I can continue my work?

I have an extremely busy schedule until the end of August, and even finding
the 5 days required to send the current LapTop away for repairs is going to
be a significant problem (it currently has a monitor attached, but this is
not a solution for when I am on the road :-).

Of course, any assistance would be acknowledged on a couple of web sites ...


Regards
-------
Richard Sharpe, sharpe at ns.aus.com, NS Computer Software and Services P/L,
Samba (Team member www.samba.org), Ethereal (Team member www.zing.org)
Co-author, SAMS Teach Yourself Samba in 24 Hours
Author, First Australian Linux Course