I hear ya. 

Hows this.  I have to fix this 2nd gen Nano and I have a 1st gen laying around.  I'll probably have to part across from the 1st gen to get this thing working.  While I am doing this, I'll check to see how do-able / worthwhile it would be.
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MacBook 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo w/ 2GB DDR2 RAM & 120GB SATA 5400RPM HDD
Canon Rebel XTI
Google Cr-48 Beta Laptop