I would like to put skype on my linux machine so I can use it on an international trip. However, I just discovered that it doesn't meet the hardware requirements. I was planning on spending a little bit, to buy a mic, speakers, wireless card, and maybe even a camera (dreaming big, I know), but I can't afford to buy a whole new computer, I have never upgraded a laptop, and I am not sure how possible or affordable it is to do.
Could someone please give me some advice on how to make my admittedly old system work while spending as little as possible. The hardware requirements took my breath away, and I was hoping there was perhaps some wiggle room or work-arounds, but I suppose that is probably unreasonable.
--Channah (using my dad's account, since I don't have my own yet)


Here are my current statistics:
I don't know what info would be useful, so I'm giving everything I could find.
Dell Latitude
I am planning on reformatting and reinstalling slackware.
/proc/cpuinfo
processor :0
vendor_id :GenuineIntel
cpu family :5
model :8
model name :Mobile Pentium MMX
stepping :1
cpu MHz :200.458
fdiv_bug :no
hlt_bug :no
f00f_bug :yes
coma_bug :no
fpu :yes
fpu_exception :yes
cpuid level :1
up :yes
flags :fpu vme de pse tsc msr mce cx8 mmx
bogomips :399.76

$uname -m
i586
/proc/meminfo
total: used: free: shared: buffers: cached:
Mem 30093312 19644416 10448896 0 1630208 12959744
Swap: 70152192 0 70152192
MemTotal: 29388 kB
MemFree: 10204 kB
MemShared: 0 kB
Buffers: 1592 kB
Cached: 12656 kB
SwapCached: 0 kB
Active: 6284 kB
Inactive: 9088 kB
HighTotal: 0 kB
HighFree: 0 kB
LowTotal: 29388 kB
LowFree: 10294 kB
SwapTotal: 68508 kB
SwapFree: 68508 kB