Thinkpads Forum

Hi forum, I have a thinkpad 600e with a wireless broadband connection and a new blank 40gb harddrive and 255mb memory. I would like to install linux as the operating system. Is there a basic but easy to install version of linux for the thinkpad? I will only be using it for email and websurfing

I like Xandros, some like ubuntu. You may be able to download an ISO from a torrent site, takes a while but it's free.

Are you looking to download something or buy a cd?
If you want to download something try this: http://www.puppyos.com/index.html it will run the fastest but may be a little clunky.
This: http://www.ubuntu.com/products/WhatIsUbuntu/xubuntu may be a bit cleaner but will run slower and is a bigger download.
I don't think you will be happy with the big distro's (Ubuntu, suse, fedora, mandriva) as they require more hardware than you have. They will run but fairly slowly.
I like Xandros too but they don't have a free edition right now, they do have a 30 day trial available: http://www.xandros.com/about/downloads.html
Maybe you can foind a torrent of the Version 3 OCE (Open Circulation Edition=Free).

You can also give Peanut Linux a try. Its a very well polished mini-distro for older equipment with almost all modern applications or at least their less resource hungry alternatives.

carbon unit wrote:I like Xandros too but they don't have a free edition right now, they do have a 30 day trial available

Ahhhhh no more free lunch for Xandros? Major bummer.

frewman wrote: I will only be using it for email and websurfing

Check Freespire, it looks and feels like Windows and most of all is perfect for rookies.

PC Linux OS, despite it's unoriginal name, is another good Linux for people who like full GUI, although it only has 32-bit releases right now. Also, at the time of this post, the web site appears to be down. Like (k)Ubuntu, the installation media is also a live demo CD. The site, when it goes back up, had some good wiki instructions for new users on setting up things such as proprietary ATI drivers.

Xandros is working on a new release of the free version but it is not available yet.
While Freespire and PC LinuxOS are fine distros they will not run well on a 600e as it does not or just barely meets the system requirements.

Hi

Being that l have the 600x (650) can l run Linux and should l buy a cd on ebay for under $10. All that l need it for is surfing and Aol?

Thanks

Alan

Any Thinkpad can run Linux. Which distro you can run depends on your CPU speed and amount of ram. There are different distros with different hardware requirements.

kingman99 wrote:Hi

Being that l have the 600x (650) can l run Linux and should l buy a cd on ebay for under $10. All that l need it for is surfing and Aol?
Alan

You can buy the CD on ebay, or in most cases you can download it and burn it directly. If you are on dialup you may find it easier to buy it online.

I always recommend one of the Ubuntu Distros for people that are new to Linux as I feel they are the easiest to use. I would give Xubuntu a try if you are really worried about speed as it is a variant of Ubuntu that is supposed to run on lighter hardware. Although this is really just a matter of personal preference.

I find that 850Mhz is more than enough for Ubuntu, I've never used less so I'm not sure at what point it would be good to switch over to Xubuntu.

The 256 ram is the main limiting point.

There are a lot of so called mini-distros that will run on machines similar to this laptop. These distros don't use resource hungry graphical desktop managers (KDE, GNOME and XFCE) but instead use either blackbox, fluxbox or etc. Even the web browsers, email clients, office productivity applications included in these distros are also lean and thin.

I am personally familiar with Peanut Linux, [censored] Small Linux (my favorite) and Vector Linux. Take a look at http://www.linuxlinks.com/Distributions ... ributions/ for yourself.

I am not sure what kind of support AOL provides for Linux since they rely on their own closed source proprietary client. Other dial-up ISPs (mostly through phone companies) are compatible with Linux dial-in PPP clients.

Thanks everyone for your advice, think I will give puppy linux a go. I have just been on their homepage and they have good assist for beginners.