Thinkpads Forum

Garage sale; TP600e, no HD, no cord, dead battery, mint condition except previous owner wore bangles while typing leaving scars on the deck below the keys. Otherwise the rig looks new.

So...it refuses to take bootup Linux Mint 8, and Puppy 5.1 although I have put Mint on my TP 600 and TP 600x. And Puppy boots up on both. In the case of Mint, I get the error code that there is nothing in the holder, in the case of Puppy, it starts loading two lines appear and then goes back to starting loading and then goes back=a closed loop.

There something about the TP 600e, I don't know?

BTW, cost was $2.00 (Two dollars)

Admin note: Added TINY PICS warning. Thanks for keeping them small .

I have trouble with almost anything with a new kernel. IIRC the newest Puppy that would work on my wife's 600e is the 4.2 version she is using right now. Look for a Puppy derivative with a "retro" kernel. Never used Mint on anyting but my 600X, and that was Mint 5.

But, most important is to boot with acpi=force and disabling quickboot in bios is usually necessary also. Maybe that will help.

I beat the bushes on GOOGLE and after considerable search came up with something similar to your advice. Try Puppy 4.x

Odd that is works on my 600 and 600x so it did not occur to me that this disc was too 'advanced' for the 600e. I thought it was a 600e problem.

Thanks for your advice.

Given the age of the system and the assumption that you are using CD-R/CD-RW boot disks, then I would try swapping the 600E's Ultrabay optical drive with one from your other 600 systems. It's possible that the drive in the 600E can't read CD-R or CD-RW disks.

re: optical discs.

Tried that first thing. No different results.

It's amazing that we're discussing how to get a 12 year old laptop to boot Linux. It's a testament to Thinkpad durability.

Yeah, got my first TP600 about 10 yrs ago (used) still using it daily for inhouse stuff (writing and home accounts), use the 600x to surf the net for what interests me when the 'mainframe' is not available.

600e was $2.00 in almost mint condition, it followed me home so my wife let me keep it.

They are built solid, alright. Have had no trouble even though the ID's on the keys of the 600 are starting to look a little faint.

Harryc wrote:It's amazing that we're discussing how to get a 12 year old laptop to boot Linux. It's a testament to Thinkpad durability.

My 600E and 600X are still running great on Linux for general purpose (browsing web, handling documents, etc.) It is not as fast as my new laptop but it is good for what I use it for. I particularly like the coating of 600, which feels like skin. And also the keyboard beats anything I can find on new laptops. I also like the slider that controls the screen brightness.

BTW, on my 600E, I use an adapter to put a 5GB compact flash card (microdrive?) as hard drive, so the noise, heat, and weight has improved dramatically. I use 600E for reading ebooks and write in bed or sitting in couch. Ubuntu 8.04 LTS has been on this machine for 2 years, beats Windows 2000 in any way I can think of. It never slows down when booting or powering off no matther how

As to the 600X, I use an adapter to put a 30GB 1.8" micro hard drive in. Runs Linux Mint 9 LXDE wonderfully well. Even good enough for online video, not hi-def though.

I have to say for all the vintage Laptops I have collected, Thinkpads are way ahead of the game. Except for a close competitor: Compaq M700, which I think it is a classic for PIII machine. If I compare a TP600 to an M700, I can't tell which one is an absolute winner.

microdrive adapter?

Olde Man: A microdrive is actually a TINY 1 inch hard drive with spinning platters and moving heads... it is however pin compatible with CF Flash cards http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microdrive

I use em as either PCMCIA drives or as main hard disks (see reply to banyanleaf)...

(full size images: http://conradshome.com/ibm_microdrive/img1l.jpg & http://conradshome.com/ibm_microdrive/img2l.jpg )

banyanleaf: I been doing the same in my 760's...

(full size image: http://conradshome.com/ibm_microdrive/img3l.jpg )
that adapter is from: DealExtreme for $2.33

I use Transcend 4GB 133X cards... and get a sustained transfer of around 5MB/s read & write... in slightly newer machines i use 266X and get arounf 25MB/s sustained read & write speeds. In the 760's it is VERY comparable to the original 2.1GB drives... seems at least as fast if not faster because of the almost nil seek times.

As far as linux goes... Debian netinst.iso is what i use on ALL my older laptops... install only a base system, then minimal X with some lightweight window manager (JWM is great if you like to tinker). If it works on a P166 760... should have no worries on a 600

Thanks. I had not heard of such before.

Uh...what is a 'TINY PIC'?

Heh,,, the thumbnails i posted in my reply... they are tiny in size... i.e. very modem safe... kinda like these...