nightflier - I posted the i810 problem here
http://www.vectorlinux.com/forum2/index.php?topic=5990.0 - everything I was reading today - it seems to be a problem of the new xorg-server - all the older intel chipsets seem to have problem with it.
VL 5.8 should work - I will test VL 5.8 with my compaq next week. - I just post my idea - I think, it would be a tragedy to exclude all the older intel chipsets from VL (speaking a a new enthusiast of VL) - would it be possible to have an older x on the cd - and all those, who have no problems with it could upgrade later through the net?
I will see, if the problem will be also in ArchLinux (because it has also the latest packages)