Best Linux Distros for the A2x series?

[rampancy]

To make a long story short, I scored an A21m and an A22m for cheap ($6!) with a whole box of batteries and power adapters. My aim was to install a lightweight linux distro but everything I've tried so far simply hasn't worked. From what I've read, newer versions of lighter Ubuntu variants won't work because apparently support for the SCSI-IDE interface on these ThinkPads have been dropped in the newer versions of the kernel.

I've tried retro versions of Puppy 4.3.1, 4.2.1, and Puppy 4.0, but on boot the keyboard and mouse cursors are so slow and choppy that the system is nigh unusable.

So...for anyone running Linux on their A22s or A21s, is there a distro that works best on these machines?

Thanks in advance!

[Harryc]

http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/ibm.html
http://archive.debian.org/debian/

[Indy452]

I used to have an A20m with 500mhz celeron and 128mb ram and used Debris linux 2.0 successfully. Unfortunately the distros updates will end in April of 2011 so if you wanna try it you still have some time left for support.

Another I would recommend would be to try CTKArch. Its an Arch based open box distro that will run on that hardware.....you might be surprised at how well it does. Its a modern OS fully up to date.

http://calimeroteknik.free.fr/ctkarchlive/index-en.html

[ajkula66]

PC Linux OS, 2005 version worked well for me on ThinkPads of that era. YMMV.

Good luck.