Best OS for a T23?

[ArrayInteractive]

Hey Folks,

I recently had a T23 that got some trojans. After I cleaned them up, I decided it would be better to just wipe the system and start fresh. I installed Win 2kPro sp3 and now the machine seems to run a lot slower than it did before. It's possible that it's a combination of the new antivirus program I installed, or maybe open office instead of MS office 97. I know Win 2K Pro was running before, but was probably SP1 (if that). While it's an old machine, it still has some life but I need it running as quickly as it was before. Should I switch to an earlier version of win 2k? Or should I try XP pro? I had always assumed XP would be slower, but it does look like some people run XP sp2 on their T23's.

It looks like people are also using linux on these machines, which I'd like to try, but I don't think that would fly with the person who'll be using it.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks!

[RealBlackStuff]

If you put in W2K, you should also put in SP4 and the final W2K-Roll-up from M$.
If you put in 2x 512MB (= 1GB) RAM, the T23 will also run very nicely with XP-Pro/SP3.
Office 2000 or 2003 will also play 'nice' on them.
A modern hard disk with at least 5400rpm and 8MB cache will also improve T23 performance.

[rkawakami]

One of the best things you can do is to install the maximum amount of memory: 1GB. Since you are starting from scratch, you might also think about installing a fast hard drive (5400rpm or better) if you don't already have one. I run Windows XP SP2 and SP3 in my T23 machines and they work fairly well on office productivity programs (Microsoft Office 2003; played around with Open Office for a little while and have returned to using MS). Systems are running AVG 9.0, which does seem to be a little bit slower than version 8.

From now on I cannot recommend Windows 2000. Microsoft will discontinue support for Win2K in July of this year, the same time that support also ends for Windows XP SP2.

ref: http://support.microsoft.com/ph/1131

[eyestrain]

I'll second the "No" for 2000, for any computer connected to the internet, for the same reason. Too bad, since the T23 does run well with it, even with somewhat less than 1gig memory.

If you want to use as little memory as possible, that really pushes you towards using Linux, and specifically smaller distributions of Linux. Upgrading memory on these machines is relatively expensive compared to the cost of the computer itself, or the cost of a cheap Pentium M Thinkpad. Each 512MB PC133 stick is about $25-$30 including shipping. I've seen X40's with 512mb on the motherboard go for under $100. And they use much cheaper DDR memory. Though cheap X40's on ebay come without their 1.8" hard drives, so unless you're going to do Live USB Linux, there's a project to do CF, or $$ for SSD.

So I have mixed feelings about upgrading memory on a T23. It's a very nice computer, and if the user especially likes the model, it makes sense to pay for more memory, because it can make a big difference what OS will run well. If it's being used because it's the computer that happens to be available, I wouldn't spend the money. JMO.

[billp117]

Max the memory, install Windows XP-w/SP2 then upgrade to SP3. (any version will upgrade).

Then go into control panel and setup to "best performance".

You will be happy for a couple more years.

[ThinkRob]

It looks like people are also using linux on these machines, which I'd like to try, but I don't think that would fly with the person who'll be using it.

You'd be surprised. Why not throw a live install of Ubuntu or Xubuntu onto a USB key and do some informal user acceptance testing? A lot of folks actually find themselves pleasantly surprised: switching to a modern desktop Linux distro for most novice users usually requires little more than re-learning the look of various icons, etc.

(Disclaimer: YMMV. I've transitioned three folks to Linux this year. One of them was a complete novice, and was able to switch from OS X -> Ubuntu within two days. The other two were intermediate users and had no trouble figuring out the new system once they were given the "if you break something while exploring, just let me know and I'll fix it" talk. Supporting someone through the transition is the key to success in my experience...)

[rkawakami]

Each 512MB PC133 stick is about $25-$30 including shipping.

My most recent purchases off eBay for such modules have been between $11.50 to $15 apiece, shipping included. If you are patient enough, good deals can be had. I generally bid on pairs or lots of modules so the cost per module goes down but the $11.50 purchase in March was a single Apple-branded module.

[eyestrain]

Wow, when I was looking a few months ago, never spotted it that cheap. That does change the economics of upgrading from what I thought (and said above) and might open more options even on a somewhat tight budget.

IMO, even the larger, newer--and popular--Linux Mint or Ubuntu seem to run fine even on 768 meg (I don't have 1g in a T23) and in some ways are more modern, fancier OS's than WinXP. I think they automatically shut off some eye candy for older computers, but you still get many benefits of a new OS? I'm not an expert on this, just have used them and thought was fine.

Xubuntu is a lighter version of Ubuntu meant for older computers.

In another thread http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=80423 someone mentioned trying Arch Linux for more speed, maybe we'll hear how that goes.

[ArrayInteractive]

Hey Folks,

Thanks for the feedback. I had actually maxed out the ram on it when I first got the machine off-lease at least 5 years ago. I've still never touched the hard drive, so my guess is that it's the original. One thing I need to do with it is replace the fan, other than that it's been a great little machine. I used it for a little while for DJing and some gaming and was pretty impressed with how far I could push it. I laugh every time I notice the specs on the 16mb video card .

I had been thinking xUbuntu might be a good fit for a performance OS. However one problem I've had with my forray's into linux is that for most machines I haven't been able to get the 'sleep' function to work properly. And that's a deal closer for me. That being said I haven't tried on a thinkpad, hopefully sleep works really well, as it seems Thinkpads are well supported in the linux world.

I think I ended up installing Avira for antivirus, and it had been running Avast in the past. I wasn't able to install avast this time though, it was having some issues with my version of Win2k. And I wasn't able to find any other free A/V programs that still supported win 2k. It could be the Avira program is slowing things down.

I think I'll give XP sp2->sp3 a try. Sounds like the way to go. It seems like using older versions of win2k is asking for security trouble, which is likely why the machine was infected in the first place. Actually I think it was a Firefox flash exploit, but I digress...

[ThinkRob]

I had been thinking xUbuntu might be a good fit for a performance OS. However one problem I've had with my forray's into linux is that for most machines I haven't been able to get the 'sleep' function to work properly. And that's a deal closer for me. That being said I haven't tried on a thinkpad, hopefully sleep works really well, as it seems Thinkpads are well supported in the linux world.

Xubuntu's not really much lighter than Ubuntu. It's still *very* heavy when compared to real lightweight distros. Still, if it works fine for you, use it -- it's pretty well polished.

And yes, suspend has worked "out of the box" on every ThinkPad I've used Linux on.

[ArrayInteractive]

And yes, suspend has worked "out of the box" on every ThinkPad I've used Linux on.

Great to know, thanks!

Maybe when I finally decide on a flavour of T60/61(p) to buy, I'll try putting Ubuntu on it.

[Cuda]

Is there a trick to dual booting Linux on a T-23? I installed Mint 8 in my old ToughBook CF-48 along with XP Pro and it installed fine, so I wanted to put it on my T-23 alongside Win2K Pro but it would not install, it would start installing and then just hang up, the disk is good but I had no luck. I was wondering if something IBM installed was blocking it?

[Neil]

At what point of the install does it hang? In other words, what exactly is it doing when it stops?

[portsample]

I'm happy w/openSuse 11.2 on my T23.