Gateway Laptop T-6836

[K. Bizzle]

I just installed Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron on my laptop and I am unable
to use the correct graphics drivers. There are several issues:
The login screen is about 3/4 the size of the laptop screen.
When loaded the top gnome panel does not extend all the way to the
right and video does not play unless in full screen mode. Trying to
configure the display properties I see that the driver being used is
(none). I change to the i810 intel graphics driver and reboot. The
driver does not work and I am stuck at 800x600 until a random reboot
sets it back to 1200x800 without the ability to extend the top panel
all the way to the right. I had also got it to a point
 where the desktop environment would only appear in the top,left 3/4
of the screen, even though my mouse could travel the entire screen.
Any ideas?
Above is a post I made to Ubuntu forums.
I had no useful replies so I dumped Ubuntu and tried puppy linux. With
this distro I can sometimes get xorg to work but other times it tells
me that the 800/900 intel chip drivers that come with mac pup are not
working and the 915 resolution did not solve it. I know my chip is a
GM965 intel video chip and that the intel drivers say it should work
but it does not. I tired the experimental drivers on Ubuntu but I
could only get 1024X78 to work and no hardware acceleration. I have
the same problem with puppy linux where the top panel will not extend
across the entire screen. Is anyone aware of this problem and/or know
a solution?