Thinkpads Forum

I was just given a z50 in mint condition and I am very excited from what I have read on the net what you can do with this thing.

Has anyone ever modified one of these and what what was the result?

I found this guy on the net and he has a great write up and a step by step on how to make this thing a lot faster. He uses Linux and seems to be very pleased with it. I plan to up grade the hard drive, throw a wireless card into it, and then do the software change over.

http://gwyn.tux.org/~bball/

I pretty much want it for surfing, something to do while riding in the car, maybe some music files and taking with me to peoples houses and being able to download drivers to help them repair their pc's.

The big question is should I run linux , 98 , xp pro , or xp performance

Any help or experiences would be most appreciated

> I was just given a z50 in mint condition

Congratulations.

> and I am very excited

I would be too.

> from what I have read on the net what you can do with this thing.

It sounds like you need to read a lot more. The Z50 is not a true ThinkPad. There is a reason it's called a WorkPad like the PDA's.

> He uses Linux and seems to be very pleased with it...The big question is should I run
> linux, 98 , xp pro , or xp performance

It comes with Windows CE in ROM and that's all it can run. The CPU is not intel or intel compatible.

> I plan to up grade the hard drive,

I'd like to see that, since it doesn't have one to upgrade. You can add a CF or a PC-Card hard drive.

It *is* a very nice machine, but it seems like your information is a little incomplete. It may be quite upgradable, but it is NOT an IBM compatible. (Is that weird or what? an IBM that's not IBM compatible! )

So then there mr z50 please tell me what you would do to improve it? any help it welcomed

Hi,

Billy Ball article is probably 10 years old, from the time of kernel 2.4.0.

I tried to install a more modern linux but did not find an updated kernel, so I gave up.

Your best bet is NETBSD, where I think there are people working on z50.

If you google for ibm z50 linux and ibmz50 netbsd you eill find all the info you may want.

Good luck!!!

I must be missing something. Since the Z50 doesn't boot, how are you going to get it to boot Linux?

For that drive upgrade, there are *64* *GIG* CF's on eBay! Who needs an old fashioned mechanical hard drive anyway?

Bookworm wrote:I must be missing something. Since the Z50 doesn't boot, how are you going to get it to boot Linux?

For that drive upgrade, there are *64* *GIG* CF's on eBay! Who needs an old fashioned mechanical hard drive anyway?

It boots just fine and runs well, I just wanted to have a new toy

> It boots just fine and runs well,

If you call starting from ROM "booting". My point is that it is not a disk based computer, so how will you get it to boot from a disk or disk substitute? I want to know because I plan to get one myself and will probably play with Linux on it too.

> I just wanted to have a new toy

It sounds like you've got a good one. My favorite things about the Z50 are the ROM based OS, non disk mass storage, and the size, which is made possible by the first two. All this makes it perfect for what you plan to use it for.

Bookworm wrote: If you call starting from ROM "booting". My point is that it is not a disk based computer, so how will you get it to boot from a disk or disk substitute? I want to know because I plan to get one myself and will probably play with Linux on it too.

Seems like its possible through the CF slot. A search for linux + Z50 on Google has quite a few hits. Such as: http://www.tux.org/~bball/z50/

Hi,

I can send a copy of an email with lot of info and links related to linux-z50 to anybody interested.

send a PM with your email and I will answer ( I am to lazy to try to put everything here)

Cheers!!!

oski wrote:Hi,

I can send a copy of an email with lot of info and links related to linux-z50 to anybody interested.

send a PM with your email and I will answer ( I am to lazy to try to put everything here)

Cheers!!!

I could use some advice, I bought a 4gig compact flash card for this Z50 project and we cant get it to partition and take the operating system. Any advice would be great.

HI,

You hav to do the partitioning, formatting, loading th bootloader and kernel, and the userland in a linux box no in the z50.


Have look at the review of z50 in www.hpcfactor.com.

cheers!!

> You hav to do the partitioning, formatting, loading th bootloader and kernel, and the
> userland in a linux box no in the z50.

Ok, now things are starting to make sense. After you do that, how do you get it to boot Linux?

Hi,

The bootloader will do it.
Have a good reading of the hpcmips section in netbsd.com. All is very well explained.

Happy reading and good luck!!!!