Thinkpads Forum

The Giant G itself:

With the small 701C:

Well can anyone tell me what this strange keyboard layout is? I cannot find anything about it...since it has some key differently marked/placed compared to the standard US keyboard, it often causes problems.

Keyboard looks Portuguese to me.

basketb wrote:Keyboard looks Portuguese to me.

+1

I bought once a X200s UK keyboard in Ebay from a chinese seller and got sent something very similar to yours, which turned out to be a Brazilian keyboard. You can check pictures of keyboard layouts in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout

If you could trace the history of that G50, you may find it probably 'lived' in Macao for a while.

looks good. That TI-83 calculator is also a classic.

basketb wrote:Keyboard looks Portuguese to me.

RealBlackStuff wrote:If you could trace the history of that G50, you may find it probably 'lived' in Macao for a while.

But wasn't the G50 sold only in Japan? If it was also sold outside of Japan, how come it's so very extremely rare?

jack_zhan, nice photos BTW. You got yourself one of the most lusted-after Thinkpad.

Thanks everyone! Finally keys work as shown on the keyboard!

I particularly prefer this layout for the standard US English now . It offers more possible characters while keeping QWERTY for usual typing. The ability to type point above letters, e.g. ä,ö, also give me much convenience since I sometimes use German. Still lacks the ß though.

BTW someone go to change the ThinkWiki page a bit? The G50 have DDR2 memory cards, i.e. PC2-5300, rather than PC2700 cards. And this machine, used to post this, is runing like a charm on 2GB+512MB configration (well the 2GB card is from my SL400, which has 2GB+2GB formerly). I will try 2GB+2GB later and see if it works.

jack_zhan wrote:I particularly prefer this layout for the standard US English now . It offers more possible characters while keeping QWERTY for usual typing. The ability to type point above letters, e.g. ä,ö, also give me much convenience since I sometimes use German. Still lacks the ß though.

This would be cool, but the short left shift would be a deal-breaker for me.

jack_zhan wrote:BTW someone go to change the ThinkWiki page a bit? The G50 have DDR2 memory cards, i.e. PC2-5300, rather than PC2700 cards. And this machine, used to post this, is runing like a charm on 2GB+512MB configration (well the 2GB card is from my SL400, which has 2GB+2GB formerly).

Done.

jack_zhan wrote:I will try 2GB+2GB later and see if it works.

It should work, but only 3GB will be usable. The same chipset is used as in T/R/X60 and Z61 series, and the same limitations apply.

Oh, and congrats on this rare awesome machine!

jack_zhan wrote:Still lacks the ß though.

True, but "ss" is an acceptable replacement in most situations AFAIK....

BTW someone go to change the ThinkWiki page a bit? The G50 have DDR2 memory cards, i.e. PC2-5300, rather than PC2700 cards. And this machine, used to post this, is runing like a charm on 2GB+512MB configration (well the 2GB card is from my SL400, which has 2GB+2GB formerly). I will try 2GB+2GB later and see if it works.

I just went to the page and I see that it's been fixed...

Did I say I'm envious yet?

A great, great find...enjoy it!

jack_zhan wrote:Still lacks the ß though.

I suppose the following key combination should work, but probably you need to set the keyboard layout to German in Windows too.

*PIC WARNING* (I deliberately took your picture and marked the keys needed for "ß". I'm Hungarian, so I use Hungarian keyboard and layout in Windows, but in this works this combination too.)

Thank you for your help Tim82. However, as I am using Portuguese layout now, I suppose that switching to the QWERTZ German layout may cause even more inconvenience since the Z and Y are swapped, and there are separate keys for ä, ü, etc. These changes can result in difficulties when typing punctuation.

I suppose that your pic may help, but I don't know because I can't see it Maybe a dead link? Or try to describe the key consequence in text please.

Anyhow, German is not my main language. So if the 'ß' problem can't be solved, I will still be happy as I use English most.

As ajkula66 pointed above, you don't need to worry much about the 'ß', since "ss" will be ok too. Also consider that the Swiss and Austrian both dropped the 'ß' in the writing form long long ago.

In fact, my Swiss keyboard lack the 'ß' as well (I had to copy/paste it from your text above to get it here )

jack_zhan wrote:I suppose that your pic may help, but I don't know because I can't see it Maybe a dead link? Or try to describe the key consequence in text please.

The link isn't broken or dead. It is an image uploaded to imageshack.us picture hosting site - I suppose most forum members can see the picture. I don't know what is the exact reason you cannot see that, but I try to describe.

The key combination for the ß is the Alt Gr + a key up to the "- _ +" and two times left to the Enter. I'm not familiar with the Portuguese language & layout, so I don't know the name of it, but it's a special character.

In Hungarian layout (and I'm 99% positive in the German too) the combination of these two keys make the ß character.

Actually this is a funny thing: we Hungarians do not use in our language the ß, but in our layout there is this character. (I think it's something of a nearly-forgotten tradition: our nation was part of the Habsburg Monarchy for centuries and in this state-entity the language of the government and bureocracy was German.) But we have other, unique special letters... (Sorry for the long off-topic stuff.)

Tim82 wrote:In Hungarian layout (and I'm 99% positive in the German too) the combination of these two keys make the ß character.

It is. I'm sitting in front of german keyboard right now.

Actually this is a funny thing: we Hungarians do not use in our language the ß, but in our layout there is this character. (I think it's something of a nearly-forgotten tradition: our nation was part of the Habsburg Monarchy for centuries and in this state-entity the language of the government and bureocracy was German.) But we have other, unique special letters... (Sorry for the long off-topic stuff.)

The German ß "ss" is the equivalent of the Hungarian "sz". Which is why its present on both layouts. The usage of ß was never adapted by the Hungarian language but they were once considered synonymous. Also, German is still considered an unofficial second language in Hungary. More so than English. That however is changing since most students now opt to learn English instead. Among adults, German is far more widespread.

DaKKS wrote:The German ß "ss" is the equivalent of the Hungarian "sz". Which is why its present on both layouts. The usage of ß was never adapted by the Hungarian language but they were once considered synonymous.

Well, maybe in 19th century, but not in the last 150-160 years. Hungarians tended to distinct themselves from anything German, as their national movements grew stronger in time. That's the reason ß was never adapted (and Hungarians never considered the two letters synonymous). Generally, the relation between Hungarian and German culture is a love-hate relationship in the viewpoint of Hungarian history (as in the most of Hungarian history invaders who came from the West were German-speaking folks) and that explains a lot.

DaKKS wrote:Also, German is still considered an unofficial second language in Hungary. More so than English. That however is changing since most students now opt to learn English instead. Among adults, German is far more widespread.

This is not true anymore, sadly. German language held that position in Hungary until the 2nd World War, but after that... well, my parents' generation speaks better Russian than German, thanks to the communist regime which came after. Now English is the far more widespread amongst adults. For my generation - people in their late twenties and thirties - German is only the third language after Hungarian and English and the general fading of German language and culture knowledge is true for even older people.

Tim82, lets take this via PM and not clutter the thread, alright?

You're right, but I suppose this is the end of the long off-topic conversation. (Sorry for that.) Let's go back to the G50.

Back from school and enjoying a short holiday now

Return to this thread just to see a long discussion on 'ß'....well I don't mind the off-topic discussion, still learned much about history from it Now head back to the G50.

Well I just got an old Pentium 4, SPEC code SL6PC. Using this code you can find some useful information about it in the Intel ARK. I acquired it by disassembling a dismissed desktop formerly used by the school with my friends It has a PPGA478 package. So you may predict what I want to say next......yes you are right, I want to try to install it on the G50.

It is a desktop Pentium 4, and predictably the ARK does not mention anything about its compatibility with the 945GM motherboard. Its TDP is twice as much as T2400, the best pre-configured processor, close to those used on the G40. From ThinkWiki I knew that the G40 used a 852GM motherboard, and I did some search in the ARK for it. The ARK only claimed that it supports Celeron M and Mobile Celeron processors, but the Lenovo guys did succeeded installing Pentiums on it right?

Now my question is, is there any difference between the desktop PPGA478 and the mobile PPGA478? And will the high TDP cause any problems? If no, then I may try it some time later. And if it works, I will have a new range of replacement CPUs to select from since desktop ones with PPGA478 are now included Be sure to tell me other related roadblocks! Well not the BIOS now as it has been updated to the latest version which supports newer Core 2 Duos

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About the image...well I am in China so the Great Firewall may have blocked the image hosting website

Pentium 4 CPU won't work on that board. Don't even try it.

And yes, there's a BIG difference between desktop and mobile CPUs of the same designation...

Get a proper Core Duo or Core 2 Duo and enjoy...

Well...now continue saving money for a T7600