Now own a t43 type 2668 laptop

[gnawzie]

Hi everyone. Been interested in IBM's stuff, own a 760ED laptop that was just going to get thrown away, and it's an incredibly tough machine. I got a t43 laptop off ebay and I'm curious how well it would do for everyday tasks, facebook, email, word processing, older games, some coding and if I should use XP or W7 or even linux, and if i should be aware of any hurdles with the drivers or firmwares. I know XP's support is discontinued but it seems the better choice so that not over 75% of the resources are allocated to the operating system's functioning. I am planning to mod it to hold an SSD and if using regular sata is a good idea, speed wise and battery life wise. And also if this particular version is one with the flexing problem. I just saw the gpu is an ATI Mobility Radeon X300 - 64 MB DDR SDRAM. Thanks for any advice

[brchan]

Congrats on the machine! If you want something that is fast and easy to use, look into puppy linux, or install Linux mint and use a lighter Window manager such as Openbox (the gui on most OSs are simply too taxing for a T43). Windows xp is too vulnerable, and Windows 7 is a little underwhelming on a T43.

I may be partial to Linux since I use it on all my systems , but there are reasons for it. Superior customization and security to name a couple.

[gnawzie]

I am perfectly fine with linux! In fact, I might dual boot windows xp and linux and just disable internet for xp and just do any internet stuff with linux! I was thinking about using archlinux since its base install is very light and there's many many options for window managers and just about anything else. I just hope its wifi isn't so obsolete its no longer compatible with any hotspot or wireless router.

[ajkula66]

What's the second part of that T43's MTM? That's a 7-character model number that can be found on the same sticker that shows the serial number and the production date on the bottom of the laptop. So it's 2668-???

"Bypassing" the SATA-to-PATA bridge is really not possible, one has to remove/disable the chip and install the SATA interface. Not an easy task to perform.

The wireless cards found on these machines will work just fine in just about any current OS environment.

[Dekks]

I am perfectly fine with linux! In fact, I might dual boot windows xp and linux and just disable internet for xp and just do any internet stuff with linux! I was thinking about using archlinux since its base install is very light and there's many many options for window managers and just about anything else. I just hope its wifi isn't so obsolete its no longer compatible with any hotspot or wireless router.

Any current Linux distro will run wifi with just about any authentication system there is, I've never done an install where wifi doesn't work after a few simple tricks. The most common catch with Thinkpad's are the older Intel wifi chipsets. With these you have to manually download the appropriate firmware file and then modprobe the driver name to get the wifi to work.

[gnawzie]

Thanks for the advice. Waiting for its arrival. The full model is 26686CU.

[ajkula66]

The full model is 26686CU.

A fairly basic 14" ATi-based system

P M 760(2.0GHz), 512MB RAM, 60GB 5400rpm HD, 14.1in 1024x768 LCD, 64MB ATI Radeon X300, CDRW/DVD, Intel 802.11abg wireless, Bluetooth/Modem, 1Gb Ether, UltraNav, Sec Chip, FPR, 6 cell Li-Ion batt, WinXP Pro

With RAM maxed out at 2GB it should still suffice as a daily driver in light usage environment.

[Dekks]

Thanks for the advice. Waiting for its arrival. The full model is 26686CU.

With a Atheros AR5004X wifi chipset should be OK with ath5k dtiver/firmware.

[gnawzie]

Okay thanks. I'm curious if it's possible to recalibrate the battery meter chip if a battery is recelled and possibly recelled with higher watt hour cells. Plan on trying to get as much run time as I can with it, try to install ssd and undervolt CPU.