Thinkpads Forum

I'm not in any way technically competent but I've been thinking about trying to install Linux on trusty 600E. Can anyone recommend any particular distribution that runs well on this particular laptop?

I'm currently running Windows 98. I use it only for word processing, web browsing and watching DVD/video. It's my one and only laptop and I've had it for five years now (bought second-hand) and hope to keep it running for as long as I can.

Any ideas?

xubuntu

(1) Which specific 600E is it?
(2) What are your CPU, Ram and HD specs?
(3) How much do you want it to look like windows and which version of windows?
(4) What will you use it for?
The answers will determine which distro you need to start with.

May I point out that Ubuntu is sort of bloated? A default Debian install is much quicker. The problem lies in the fact, however, that Debian blockers are put in place for certain programs so you won't always have the absolute latest from the repositories.

Ubuntu has run much better than Xubuntu in my experience on many machines(XFCE is already bloated anyways, so there isn't much point in moving away from GNOME). I've been able to run Kubuntu just fine with a 366MHz/192MB Ram machine, so don't discount that either if you really want it.

I would recommend PuppyLinux. Nice, small, works on almost everything, and there are dotPups you can install to add the programs you need. Were a smiliar system built on Debian or Fedora, then it would definitely be the choice to beat. The install is pretty self-explanatory, and has the guide built-in.

I don't know about DVD playing in Linux, it's very jittery. I once got the DVD to work on the smallest screen setting, but it was, well, not optimal. I guess there are things you could do to make it work though... I'll be looking into that soon now that I have this Celeron CPU in the Machine.

Thanks everyone for the advice.

Dark Savant0 wrote:I don't know about DVD playing in Linux, it's very jittery. I once got the DVD to work on the smallest screen setting, but it was, well, not optimal.

I'm glad you said this Dark Savant. If the DVD playback in Linux is poor, I think I would probably be better off sticking with Windows, as DVD is one of the main uses of the laptop. At the moment with Windows 98, the DVD playback is pretty much perfect. Has anyone managed good DVD playback in Linux on this machine?

carbon_unit wrote:(1) Which specific 600E is it?
(2) What are your CPU, Ram and HD specs?
(3) How much do you want it to look like windows and which version of windows?
(4) What will you use it for?

(1) 600E 2645
(2) Pentium II (not sure of the exact speed), 64MB, 9GB HD
(3) Not really a priority
(4) Word processing, web browsing, watching DVD/video

The numbers after 2645 will tell what you have.
Most linux distros will want more than 64mb ram but puppy or "[censored] small linux" will be your best bet.

Argoman wrote:Thanks everyone for the advice.

Dark Savant0 wrote:I don't know about DVD playing in Linux, it's very jittery. I once got the DVD to work on the smallest screen setting, but it was, well, not optimal.

I'm glad you said this Dark Savant. If the DVD playback in Linux is poor, I think I would probably be better off sticking with Windows, as DVD is one of the main uses of the laptop. At the moment with Windows 98, the DVD playback is pretty much perfect. Has anyone managed good DVD playback in Linux on this machine?

Does "pretty much perfect" mean that it only skips every couple of frames? If so, that is Linux with a 300MHz Processor.

I can test out some things tomorrow for you (I was going to anyways) in Puppy with a 300 MHz 64MB machine to check for you. I will see what can go down.

I'm a fan of Fedora and CentOS. They work well on ThinkPads and the package management is dead simple (finally). 64MB will not be enough to run either, though, but your machine can take up to 544MB RAM, which is plenty.

Thanks Dark!

On my current Windows 98 setup, there are no missed frames during DVD playback. It’s very smooth with no stuttering at all.

I wonder are those Margi cards compatible with Linux?

Well, I am booting up right now and installing. It is really slow compared to what it could be with more memory (I am emulating as close as possible your machine, only with a celeron processor and not a PII).

The DVD acceleration portion of the margi cards are unsupported in Linux I believe (shame, really) but you may be able to get away with not having it... I will see.

EDIT: I tried to install to a backup drive and it throws an I9990305 error. I will try at a later date as I have my own issues with a custom Puppy, but for now you are on your own. Sorry.

You should be able to mess around with a Trimmed Down Debian Install (especially with more memory). Try doing a Server Install, then installing something like FVWM-Crystal. DVD should be able to play in the framebuffer with some tweaking.

Sorry if this is all very technical. I will try and put together a guide sometime this week or next.

I used on this laptop (description in the signature) Linux Mandrake 10.1 with KDE 3and looks great! with 160MB RAM runs apropriattley, also imagine that with 256 MB runs great, the problems with this distro was the sound and ethernet board (PCMCIA) when configure one the oner disconfigure, and again...
Also used Ubuntu and the problem are the same, is a problem of the engineere oh the bus over work the sound card

How is the DVD playback on your setup, Martin?

Argoman wrote:How is the DVD playback on your setup, Martin?

Well, my thinkpad hasn't dvd drive, just only cdrom, but i played divx movies using mplayer and totem and the playback are good, smooth but time to start the movie was long, and to play-pause-stop.
To view divx you has to discharge from mplayer website the codec pack full.

Mine's currently running Slackware (10.2) with the original 64 MB RAM, just about comparable to Windows 98 on the same machine as far as speed (Ubuntu ran just tolerably, and any peripheral device slowed it down beyond usability). Haven't tried DVDs on it (don't have a drive for the UltraSlimBay), but I can't imagine that it would be that much slower than 98 as long as you keep background processes down to a minimum. I don't know whether or not you have the expertise/time/patience to get Slackware working with DVDs, but I do recommend one of the more minimalist distros (Slackware, Debian, Gentoo, DSL) as they tend to stay out of the way and not slow down your machine unnecessarily. I can't speak for Puppy, but it also has a good reputation for being small and fast. My advice: try one of the above; if you don't like it, try another, and keep switching until you find what you like. There's nothing wrong with Windows either if you find it works best for you, although I wouldn't attach Windows 98 to the Internet any more than I had to.

P.S. DeLi Linux (http://delili.lens.hl-users.com/) is a modern distro for old hardware you might want to try.

For a Pentium II machine I would probably run either Puppy, Vector Standard or [censored] Small Linux (DSL), distros designed with older machines in mind.