Thinkpads Forum

Is T42 possible to install ubuntu 12 , As T42 cpu is non PAE , how can I install ubuntu 12 on T42

Best Regards

I'm still pretty new to Linux but I can tell you on my observations that Ubuntu 12.04 on my T61 was dog slow after a few tabs of a browser were open or two or more programs to become unusable. It has 2gb of Ram.
Conversely, when running Linux Mint on the same system it runs like a champ. When I upgrade to 4gb of Ram is when Ubuntu 12.04 became pleasant to use.

I only was successful installing Ubuntu 12.04 along side Windows using the Ubuntu .exe installer.

I hope this helps a bit.

Edit: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2028476

thinkpader911 wrote:Is T42 possible to install ubuntu 12 , As T42 cpu is non PAE , how can I install ubuntu 12 on T42

Best Regards

Welcome to the forum!

You could possibly get around it by using a CPU from T43/R52, something with a 533MHz, but they will run sloooooow...since the T42 board is 400MHz...

In my book - and I run Linux on my machines for recreational purposes - not worth it.

There are many other distros that will run just fine on T42, the "latest and greatest" is not necessarily required IMO...

I could not install 12.04 on my T40, du to the PAE thing. Maybe you could upgrade from a previous edition without going to the latest kernels. I simply went with Lubuntu 12.04.

On my T43 ubuntu 12.10 runs just fine, with 2gb memory. If its really slow youre not doing it right.

Elchund

I had Ubuntu 11.10 in my T42p, AFAIR it was working fine with no issues. I've just installed some Mint 13 (based on Ubuntu 12.04) and everything seems to work fine. I'm installing the updates now (over 400 ). When it's ready I will try browsing several tabs and report back here...

So, I have Firefox open with three forums tabs, a news site tab, and following the new Apple products in another tab and everything works smoothly. This T42p has 2GB, UXGA screen and a "fairly old" 120GB Fujitsu hard drive. I'm happy with Mint 13

I would suggest Mageia Gnome. Once installed then install "task LXDE" and use a kernel which is non PAE,I believe these are for units of 4gb or less memory but to be honest the one it ships with has been fine,i586 32bit download.

On boot my LXDE is idling at 323mb,with Conky,Compiz and Cairo dock running. My hardware is T43P 2gb ram but was running on my old T43 for ages,just swopped out the hard drive.

Screen shot available here http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=106231,firefox with 26 open tabs and thunderbird running etc

hope this helps

thinkpader911 wrote:As T42 cpu is non PAE , how can I install ubuntu 12 on T42

It has been long since the last time I used it, but IIRC my T42 (no P) has Mint 11 and never had a problem with it. So I guess it should be no problem with Ubuntu 12.04 on your T42, how much RAM do you have? Maxing it out maybe a good idea

Why not try Lubuntu (Ubuntu with LXDE)-- I am running it on a t43p, which could barely handle Windows XP, but runs very well with Lubuntu 12.10.

I'vebeen struggling with this as well. Found this: http://people.canonical.com/~diwic/12.04-nonpae/

Haven't installed yet (burning atm) but from the response on various forums, it seems to work. Also, with a workaround, you can upgrade to 13.04. which is much faster than 12.04 and 12.10, even if its still in beta.

The newer Ubuntu and Ubuntu derivatives don't play nice with non-pae CPUs which is unfortunate. Got a T40 with 755 CPU that I would like to install Linux but have not found a good distro yet. I guess I could always go back to Mint 14 instead of 13. Ironically Win 7 runs great on this machine while the latest Ubuntu won't even install.

Xubuntu comes without the pae kernel. You can install with Xubuntu 12.04 and then run the following this will install all the packages for the unity desktop
http://packages.ubuntu.com/precise/ubuntu-desktop
I run Xubuntu on my T60. For T4x I tend to like something a little more lightweight.

^^^ Thanks!

i'll give it a shot. Mind me asking what you've tried like/dislike on the T4x?

Cigarguy wrote:The newer Ubuntu and Ubuntu derivatives don't play nice with non-pae CPUs

Lubuntu will. I have 12.04 running in a X31 & A31 and it runs very well.

So the non-PAE build didn't work. But the upgrading did. Install 10.04.4LTS and do a distro upgrade. Works splendidly. I'm having some trouble with my wifi, but broadcom chips isn't known to play nice with Linux anyway.

So, I just tried what I suggested on an R40 running Xubuntu 12.04 It worked nicely. I still had the Xubuntu splash and login screen, but was able to select Ubuntu and Ubuntu 2d desktops along with Xubuntu desktop. I have 1GB of ram in this machine. Unity desktop was noticably less responsive compared to XFCE. I would probably stick with Regular Xubuntu on these era machines.
http://xubuntu.org/getxubuntu/
I used the 32bit alternate iso to make a bootable usb drive for installing. I have used it on several non-pae machines without any issues.

If this were your main machine, I would just do a Debian base install and make a custom setup to your liking. I also have installed crunchbang-metapackage on top of a debian base on older machines. this works very nice as a "not too complicated" seup for an older machine.