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Thorough Guide: Installing Ubuntu 7.04 on a ThinkPad T40

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 5:22 pm
by lilserenity
Hello,

As promised here it is :)

It doesn't cover the actual installation (put in the CD, boot from it, double click the Install icon on the desktop when it appears and follow the installation wizard... tricky huh ;))

This explains some of the more confusing aspects, or things that Ubuntu doesn't set up 'fully' or at all on your T40.

It covers matters like dual screen setup, mirroring display, WINE, TV output and a load more in plain English (I hope!) explaining some of the assumed knowledge that appears in so many other documents.

It's 32 pages, and it's here: http://cadencepress.wordpress.com/2007/ ... nkpad-t40/

I hope it's of use, bear in mind I have checked it but not thoroughly so there may be the odd bit of grammar that is skwiffy or the likes, but the the technical aspect should be spot on!

Hope you like, feedback always appreciated even if you think it's crap :)

Vicky

Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 7:11 pm
by Melvyn
Good!

I downloaded and installed Ubuntu last friday. Very happy, but got in trouble: after ubuntu install, delete my last opensuse and ubuntu don't want to boot.

At the retry ubuntu don't recognize my partition tables, everything as "unallocated". I enter in vista and XP, but ubuntu don't see my partitions:(

I'll read your manual and take care of it. Hope to find something usefull.

Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 6:15 am
by The Spirit of X21
Thanks for the guide. If you haven't yet, you should try upgrading the RAM in your T40 to 2GB. It really helps when running Compiz effects.

Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 6:32 am
by lilserenity
The Spirit of X21 wrote:Thanks for the guide. If you haven't yet, you should try upgrading the RAM in your T40 to 2GB. It really helps when running Compiz effects.
In time I'm sure I'll look into it but with having two 512MB sticks, it would be a little costly to get it up to 2GB.

I tried out Beryl on the T40; and whilst it is very pretty and looks very snazzy, and ran surprisingly well on the Radeon 7500, I found it became a little tiring after a while and I just wanted a plain bog standard, boring looking uncomposited desktop :)

I found however with Feisty and the T40 that Beryl Window Manager crashed on first load and would only kick in when started for a second time, which also killed it for me.

My next 'upgrade' is a new 6 or 9 cell battery (undecided as of yet) and a gorgeous pink leather laptop case I have seen... but when one is rather skint, kinda prohibits doing that!!

I'm sure to include new stuff in the guide as time goes by, although some of it is not directly related to just the T40.

Vicky

Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 6:39 am
by dorronto
Nice work Vicky. :D
I've installed Ubuntu 7.04 on my ex T40, and it seemed to run fine. Maybe now, I'll be able, the next time I install Ubuntu to tweak it a little.........

Thanks,
Ron

Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 2:27 am
by lilserenity
dorronto wrote:Nice work Vicky. :D
I've installed Ubuntu 7.04 on my ex T40, and it seemed to run fine. Maybe now, I'll be able, the next time I install Ubuntu to tweak it a little.........
Ron,

Yeah, it took me a few goes to get it working. I think the 'hardest' (a better would is trickiest) thing to get my head around was how it 'hangs together', which when you have come predominantly from operating systems that classify media as separate entities (MS-DOS & CP/M, Windows, Classic MacOS to an extent and even AmigaDOS way back when) it can be a bit strange.

When I realised that I could actually fix this xorg.conf file when I screwed up; that's when I started making progress and I felt I really had to over elaborate on the process as so much assumed knowledge in other guides is just put in as is; and it's something the user needs to learn.

Either way, I'm sure I'll collate a lot of tips in the meantime :)

Vicky