Thinkpads Forum

Hey, howdy, shalom!

I just bought a new battery for my 600E system, which means it will be seeing a little more use now that it is not tethered to a wall outlet 24/7.

Given the specs, what is the optimal operating system for this laptop, striking a balance between performance, and functionality (I use it for web surfing, email, media streaming (MP3's and some low res video mostly), and some basic light programming. I'm comfortable in Windows (all versions... though I'd prefer not to dip below 2000) as well as Linux.

Presently I have Windows 2000 Pro installed, which works great, if not a bit laggy (expected on older hardware). I'm happy with it, just wondering if there is something more suitable to this hardware out there.

Specs: The 600E listed in my signature

Well, you've basically answered your own question...Windows 2000 or Linux. What else would there be 'out there'?

"Linux" Is a rather broad term these days. Any distros in particular come to mind? I'm a fan of the new Ubuntu release, but I doubt it would run very well on this old hardware.

I would agree with the top (4) choices in this poll.

agreed, with the emphasis on either Debian or Ubuntu server. In either case eschew both KDE and GNOME in
favor of a command-line oriented interface, not necessarily text-only. I use an FVWM-based setup, with
6 virtual consoles (emacs,firefox,3 xterms,plus misc eyecandy on screen 1)

works very well on even slower machines (e.g. 150mHz 760e:-) The nice thing about Ubuntu versus Debian is,
the more frequent library updates: "ypops" in particular, goes better w/ Ubuntu.

Windows 2000 is what I've got now-- but I had XP installed on mine at one time. It didn't seem too slow back then, but that was before I'd used a 1Ghz+ computer as reference.

Linux hates my 600e.

I've had PC Linux OS version 2006 on some of my past 600E/X and 570/E, and was very pleased with it, ran a lot better than I expected.

I have Puppy Linux 4.1.1retro running on one 600E.
I haven't bothered with the modem since I no longer have dialup, although, I recall reading another member's unfruitful attempt to get it working. And, I also can't test out the sound since I broke the cable to the speakers.

I have Windows 2000 running on another 600E.

RAM is maxed out to 288MB on both.