Thinkpads Forum

hello guys,

My dad gave me his old IBM Thinkpad 760 XL after getting another notebook (i'm 34 years old, but my dad gave me his old one since I don't have the money, or line of credit, to purchase a laptop of my own)
I have this zero credit score, whatever that means, so I can't get a decient laptop

anyway, I know its got
32 mb RAM
2.1 GB HDD (12.5 mm I think)

I can't find any 6 GB 12.5 mm drives anywhere, and the memory is only capible of up to 104mb it says. I looked into prices for all this stuff,
I can't find a 6 GB 12.5 mm drive anywhere, and memory will cost me almost $100 to upgrade, which is a bit pricey for memory.

I want to put LInux on it is the thing,

I have a pcmcia CD-ROM drive
and a linksys pcmcia 802.11b wireless nic card for it,
but i can't use both devices at the same time..

if I could possibly replace the floppy drive with a CD-ROM drive I "could" install Linux, but can I do that in the 760 XL? or are the IDE ports different?

when I took out the 2.1 GB drive, I didn't see any 'screws' in it. They say its got a housing with screws around it, I don't see any screws

what are my options with this thing? other then using it as scrap LOL
I'd like to get a useful laptop out of this.
least something I can surf the web on.
I can't put windows on it because it doesn't have the RAM to run the device drivers for the linksys nic card, and I can't put LInux on it because they won't detect the pcmcia card, and the only one that does requires a 2 GB free partition. so I'm kinda up a greek here as to what to do with this thing. I would really like to put Linux on it, I just don't know where I am going to find the hardware, since I definitely don't have $200+ for a new laptop I wish I did, but I just don't.
and because I have this darn, 0 credit score, I can't get one on credit anywhere... I have a pretty good job, but without credit, I might as well have nothing, ya know what I mean??.... Its just that I've never had a loan or line of credit before, not bad credit just no credit, know what I mean? and I can't get anyone to cosign for me, so I really don't know what I am going to do.... I just want a workng laptop

I had a 760XL, i believe it's a P1-166 with MMX. Memory wise you have to get edo memory for it. I suggest maybe a local computer memory dealer, or I can PM you the name of a good memory person who i deal with.
You can get a CD-Rom for it off ebay. They make an external holder for the floppy disc too. I have a docking station for the 760 series. I'm willing to part with it cheap since the shipping would be pretty high (it's heavy)
Harddisk wise, IBM used a special "carrier" in the 760 series. You can put a bigger drive in (8 gig i believe is the limit) after that you have to do something to the connector in the "carrier" to get to all this good stuff you can squeeze the tabs that release the LCD, then squeeze them farther and they'll release the keyboard. fold it up and you have access to the drives and battery. Any other ?'s feel free to pm me.

Memory appears from time to time on Ebay. At this stage you may want to buy "760 memory", but it is 66MHz EDO 144-pin. You can put up to 1 64MB and 1 32MB module in the two slots. There is a switch you have to throw to use the 64MB module and you can only use it in one of the slots.

There is a special 760 CD-ROM. It came as 4X, 6X, and 8-20X. None of them are bootable, so you will need a floppy to install things.

The drive "caddy" (housing) has a label on the top that folds over the sides. You have to remove the label from the sides to open the caddy. And remove the two screws near the connector. The standard IBM caddy does not anchor the drive, so if you remove the 12mm drive and put in a 9.5mm drive, you should bulk out the rest of the caddy when you reassemble. Or you can just put the drive in on its connector; just don't move the thing around too much

If your new drive is not recognized, you need to either:
1. bend the cluster of 4 pins so that they don't plug into the connector (and don't touch each other).
2. Carefully cut the flex circuit so that the wires coming from the cluster of 4 pins are disconnected. Make sure you don't damage any of the other wires!!!

Hope this helps.