bad temp guage??

My '95 gc has a dead temp guage. I changed the thermostat out and it wasn't the problem. I'll get my hands on an ohm meter and see if the sensor varies w/ coolant temp (i. e.- I guess if it varies, it's okay). If the sender's okay, is there a way to mount up a generic temp guage using that sender or can I pop the old one out, abandon it and use the sender that comes with the new guage without messing up input to the computer?

I don't want to cook this engine, but w/ 123k miles I want a quick fix that doesn't involve pulling the dash board... but I expect to put another 75k on it (get the idea?).

For what it's worth... this is my new step daughter's cast off car that I thought was ready to "hit the jackpot" and was anxious to dump. (What's 'maintenance'?) We kept it as a spare car, I've caught up on the maintenance and based on what I'm reading, I think it's awesome and WILL make it to 200k. Also, it's pretty easy to work on and all the great posts in this forum make it even easier.

Thanks for any and all help!