Anyone still using their vintage Thinkpad?

[bentobox001]

I could not resist adding to this topic. I'm typing this reply on my 600E which I use to scan and send in my work documentation to the office. I'm currently running Win XP Pro, but I also dual boot Precise Puppy on this laptop. It was the first thinkpad I collected and for a mere $15, it has proven to be a remarkably durable machine. It came with 98SE, no power adapter and a dead battery pack. It also featured a PII running at 266MHZ and a 5.1GB HD. Thanks largely to the contributors on this website, I've been able to improve it to a PIII and 850MHZ (running at 700) with a 160GB HD, "recelled " battery packs etc. While not a speed demon, it has the virtue of instilling patience in its' user. Well, one thing indeed lead to another, so... two mint 770s running 400MHZ PIIs (from Toshiba laptops), a 770X and a 600X with PIII 850MHZ processors and running an assortment of Linux distros, a T41, two T60s (13" and 14" screens) running Mint and Ubuntu and now a 701cs is due. And yes, I rotate through them to keep them operational although, I primarily use the T41 and T60s for websearchs and e-mail. Why not a tablet? Well, I usually answer, I can tear these down to the motherboards and replace or repair just about anything on or in them (Ah, spares). Try that with a iPad. Again, I would like to thank all the contributors who have lent their time and expertise to this repository of thinkpad lore. As addendum and paraphrase, "Live long and prosper, one and all."

[bhtooefr]

Funnily enough, my only remaining ThinkPad is actually a vintage one (clearly), a 365XD.

Unfortunately, I don't use it for anything serious, it's a collection thing. I decided to get one when Lenovo decided to try ruining the ThinkPad (between the TrackPoint buttons on the ??40 series machines, and the keyboard changes on the X1 Carbon), as an example of what ThinkPads used to be. While I do still want a first-gen high-end ThinkPad (the 700/720), I figured a second-gen high-end (or derived) ThinkPad (750/755/360/355/370/365) would be rather more useful while also still demonstrating some of the earliest ThinkPad design (it's worth noting that the 750 launched only 11 months after the 700, and 4 months after the 720). And, the 365XD was the fastest of them, and was also better equipped to be a DOS gaming box (being Mwave-free, unlike things like the 755CX), so I got one.

Mine's a 2625-DEF with a 120 MHz Pentium, 40 MiB RAM (soon to be 72), 6.4 GB HDD, and a 10.4" TFT, with an Orinoco Gold for networking. (Funny thing, I've seen modern entry-level business laptops with worse viewing angles. And this was a premium screen option, yes, but still, literally 20 years ago.) I'm triple-booting Windows 98SE, OS/2 Warp 4.52, and OPENSTEP 4.2 on it. 98SE is the main OS, OS/2 is because it just seems right to run it on an IBM machine, and OPENSTEP... well, it may not be "black hardware" in NeXT parlance, but it is black, it is hardware, and it's one of the few laptops that OPENSTEP had thorough support for (because Steve Jobs personally used ThinkPads with similar hardware).

I've been playing with it in 98SE lately, and 98SE can still run PuTTY, it can run older versions of Opera, and Opera 10.10 with JavaScript disabled is actually fairly responsive on most sites (and I'm writing this post on it). Toss MagnaRAM on there, and even swapping doesn't happen all that often (and when it does happen, it's compressed, which helps a lot with performance on the PIO-only disk system in the 365XD and other laptops of this vintage). And then, the keyboard is quite nice to type on (it's not as nice as a good mechanical, but nicer than a lot of laptops out there), and it has real TrackPoint buttons. MP3 playback is rather taxing on it, but it can be done.

Now, would I use this as my main machine? Noooooooooope. Too slow for a lot of the things I do, and there's not a single OS with acceptable security for main machine duties. (At least it's not XP, though. Windows 98 is actually a far smaller target than XP, both because it doesn't have anything remotely exploitable, and because modern malware makes assumptions that only work on NT-based OSes.) But, it is nice for DOS gaming, and it also acts as a good go-between to other retrocomputers - it can access network resources, it has a 16550-backed serial port, it has PCMCIA for exchanging files with, say, a 200LX, and it has a "real" floppy drive.

What I actually use as my primary machines are a mid-2012 MacBook Pro Retina 15" (I bought it for the screen, my previous ThinkPads were QXGA builds, I wanted something worthy to replace them, it was the only option at the time), and a $60 Windows 8.1 tablet from Micro Center (the WinBook TW700).

As an aside, the interesting thing with Windows Me is that it wasn't actually as bad as people made it out to be... if you had an OEM preload. See, an OEM preload likely had all WDM drivers, and a lot of Me's stability issues were caused by mixing VxD and WDM drivers, as I understand. (I think this is also part of why there were reports that installing 98SE and upgrading to Me was more stable than just installing Me - it was easy to get a mixed VxD/WDM system if you clean-installed Me (which installed some WDM drivers), whereas an upgrade would end up with an all-VxD system.)

[vic485]

I guess I should give my input into this topic

I have a 600E that gets mostly used for old vintage DOS and some Windows games. The hardware is pretty limited on it, but for running Windows 98 and playing mainly DOS games, I have no complaints in that department. I do enjoy at least having a slightly managable laptop I can carry around and slap some floppy disks or CDs into and just game retro style while I'm waiting at the mall or something

Of course I do use my Thinkpad for business too. Every now and then the software development company I work at will get a client needing to upgrade something that's been running on an old 386 or Pentium machine from the 90s or so, and it's easy to have something mobile I can take to check the programs against their modern counterparts we develop.

I guess I do like the fact of having a DOS based OS so that I am safe from any malware exploits, and the NSA probably has few back doors if any in something made in 1998

[Thinklux]

I am also using my 600X almost every day for surfing / emails / chat (and of curse typing this reply) running Lubuntu.
Unfortunately I'm running out of usable batteries and reproduction batteries are hard to find in germany...

[Led_Nudd]

I've been lurking here on occasion for a few years. I've even contributed funds, but this thread prompted me to actually register and reply.

It's refreshing to find I'm not the only "idiot Luddite" who still regularly uses an antique.

YES! This 600 (PII@300mhz) is still my daily driver, and has been since 2004 (IIRC). It's on it's second screen, third keyboard (trackpoints die), 4th HD, and currently running winME, though I have a SSD for it loaded with Wary Puppy that will boot fine, I just need to make time to figure out drivers to access my PCMCIA (or alternately USB) wireless card for wifi (hotspot) internet.

Obviously it's winduhs software days are expiring, but because it has proven itself to be tactilely a joy with keyboard and trackpoint, I don't frequent the "Hot New" places on the web that require the latest browsers, enjoy not having flash loading on every other page and eating data off my plan, and it's just about bombproof otherwise, I keep using it. Oh, and it has a few old games that I still partake of in moments of distraction.

I picked up a couple of it's sisters, 600E's (366mhz) over the years, but both have developed issues, and both are on the bench for test and repair. Later. These Legacy ThinkPads are indeed a legacy worth holding on to for as long as possible.

[bravo3]

Yes I have a working 600X running off Ubuntu with funky keyboard (navpoint stick not working and one key not working. Otherwise its my back up internet machine and glorified typewriter. Although the screen has a blotch grey spot that discolors the display. Still usable though. Finished a licensure exam series with it 2 years ago. Use it lately for back internet if my other PC's busy updating and such

[n2ri]

depends what you call vintage? how old? I still got a 701 butterfly keyboard laptop that works but extremely slow for web use. I done extensive upgrades inluding motherboard to 133mhz CPU 3gb HDD, 40mb ram and better modem PCMCIA to fastest dialup also an Ethernet card so finaly replaced it for daily couple years back with a T61 and used a desktop handmedown a bit b4 that. now got a standby W500 too. may get a W520 later but W500 has a few more features just not quite the speed available. and grafics/sound can be boosted with an Advance dock and cards from my old PC which my sons modified b4 giving to me. I like to carry all addons with me including Canon BJC85 with scanner head. so I have a fully stocked portable office when traveling. cant get a desktop like that and many PCs dont have near the features.

[RealBlackStuff]

Is that Canon BJC85 better than the HP Officejet 100 Mobile?
The Canon BJC8 is quite a bit smaller than the HP Officejet 100 Mobile.
But is it better, does it have wireless (BT)?
There also seem to be no W7 drivers for that Canon ...
A friend of mine is looking for such a portable/mobile printer.

[bhtooefr]

The BJC-85 is an ancient printer - it's literally a BJC-80 from 1998 with USB 1.1 added. It's got infrared, but no bluetooth.

There is a driver in Windows Update, though, for it - even on Windows 10 64-bit.

[DK6400Brian]

My old 770Z ran a souped-up Pentium III 850 Mhz running at 700 Mhz

I sold my 770Z with DEVA-card and a 770 to someone in France, including a lot of extras. If you bought it from a guy in Denmark some years ago, that is me
The 770Z was indeed equipped with a P-III 850@700 MHz

Once in a while I fire up my 365XD, because I love it.

[aptivaboy]

Yes, my new to me A30 is being used as a file transfer and conversion machine using its ultrabays. I"ll also use it as a word processing machine only as soon as I get a new copy of Windoze.

I also have an I-Series pad that will also be used for typing as soon as the screen can be made to work; its probably in need of a new inverter.

[hjanzen]

Yes, my 600X. Just for the fun of it.

[danikayser84]

Not quite considered vintage (or is it?), but the main use of my A31 is to act as a bridge between the classic machines and the modern machines (cloning/reading vintage hard drives, writing images to floppies, reading ZIP/LS120 disks, etc.); also has a serial and parallel port which come in handy for file transfers (I added an Adaptec SCSI PCMCIA and USB 2.0 PCMCIA as well)

[stragulus]

I have a 340CSE with a 8MB ram, 320MB HD, and a 3com pcmcia ethernet adapter running linux-2.2. I used it as a text terminal until a couple of years ago. It can telnet into my home server (ssh is really too slow for a 486-SLC-50) and from there read mail/news/chat clients. Of course, it was more of a 'because I can' than a practical approach. Though I could in theory do significant parts of my job on it as I generally code using vim.

The best thing about this laptop is that it has the best keyboard I've ever used anywhere. I now use a W530 which also has an excellent keyboard (and is an all-around awesome laptop), but not quite *as* good. Though very maybe that is nostalgia speaking