Upgrade R51 1836BDU

[pensee]

First, my technical expertise is limited but am willing to venture. I would like to upgrade my R51 1836BDU in hopes of a few more years of service. Recently I attempted to change my XPP OS to Ubuntu (download) and failed. Now no OS, no boot, nothing so wondering where to from here... I long ago lost my IBM recovery disks and XP hard to find so:

1. What current, more suitable OS should I load?
2. Can I buy a bigger hard drive, currently 70GBs?
3. What other refinements realizable without breaking the bank?

Otherwise, fear it may become doorstop and as it was once a hummer feel compelled to try to salvage/upgrade for hopefully few more years of service.

Thanks much

[Neil]

Hi, welcome to thinkpads.com!

1) Any Linux distro with a non-PAE kernel will work just fine...your choice. It's just that, like Ubuntu, most have dropped support for Pentium M processors. I like Xubuntu 12.04 personally, but you might want something different. Some others that come to mind are, Debian, AntiX, CrunchBang, some BBQLinux spins (I think), and...I'm drawing a blank here. Maybe some else will come along with a better memory.

2) You can use the largest PATA IDE hard drive made, if you want too. It's 320GB in capacity.

3) Throw 2 x 1GB RAM in there, if you haven't already, and you'll be at the max for the machine. You could also up the CPU to a 1.8GHz Dothan, but only you know if you have any need for those few extra clock cycles, and possible larger cache.

That's probably about it, but should be plenty to keep the old work horse running for a good while yet.

[ajkula66]

ThinkPad R51 (1836-BDU)
P M 1.5GHz, 256MB RAM, 40GB 4200rpm HDD, 15 SXGA+(1400x1050) TFT, 32MB ATI Radeon 7500, 24x24x24x/8x CD-RW/DVD, Intel 802.11b/g wireless(MPCI), Modem(CDC), 10/100 Ethernet(LOM), UltraNav, Secure Chip, 6 cell Li-Ion battery, WinXP Pro

Agreed with everything Neil said...

I'd definitely upgrade the CPU, though...a 1.7 Dothan is $10 or thereabouts nowadays.

I can burn you a set of recovery media for your machine if you feel like sticking with XP till the support ends - just drop me a PM.