Thinkpads Forum

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I have two liveCD's: Ubuntu 7.10 & Ubuntu 8.04.

The question is which one should I install on my ThinkPad T60?

2007-73U
2GHz Core Duo
2GB Ram
100GB HDD
ATI Radeon X1400 graphics card
15" 1400 x 1050
Intel 802.11abg

I've done a lot of reading about these two versions and frankly I'm on sensory overload.

As my first try with Linux, I loaded 7.10 on my old R51e Thinkpad (just 10 days before the release of 8.04) and it's terrific. 7.10 is running perfectly on my R51e.

I'm very open minded on 8.04 and only having second thoughts from reading some very negative reports on 8.04.

Thus, I would greatly appreciate hearing from any of you who care to provide your input and suggestions. I am completely open minded about going forward with either version.

Thanks!

archer6:

Since you have the Live CD versions, I would try each one out from the Live CD to see how they support your hardware or if you have a preference for one over the other.

Lacking any definitive answers from your testing then I would go with the newer version. I've had very good luck with almost all of the Kubuntu versions over the past 3 years on my X41T. Each new version brought better compatibility and bug fixes. The only exception was that hibernation did not work with the default kernel version used with 7.10, so I kept using the kernel from 6.06 until 8.04 was released. Now the latest kernel works fine with my hardware again.

In short, try each of them out from the Live CD and then make your decision.

There have been some horror stories about 8.04 installs, but there have been an awful lot of happy endings, too. I also run 7.10 on my T20 and it is quite stable. I have 8.04 and intend to install it one of these days, but I was also put off originally by all the negativity. It probably comes down to attention to detail.

If you do a fresh install, there should be little/no problem. If you do an upgrade, the biggest thing is to be absolutely sure you are up-to-date on all the latest installed software versions.

I too am thinking of installing Linux Ubuntu to one of my former ThinkPad laptop that's laying around in the closet... I don't know how it looks - but I am curious and that's why I'd like to install it.

Can I leave the hidden partition of the factory preinstal untouched and still give it a go with the installation of Ubuntu?

Thanks

I have done both updates and fresh installs of 8.04 on older Thinkpads and the results have been great in both cases. So far, the only problem I have encountered is when upgrading from 7.10 to 8.04 you have to clean a few of the configuration files out to make things work optimally...

That said, there are more help forum postings, etc. for 7.10 at the moment, although that will change as 8.04 is around longer. I also hear that 7.10 is slightly zippier than 8.04.

In your case archer6, I agree with the k0lo's advice to use the live CD to see if 8.04 supports your newer machine and then go for a clean install.

k0lo wrote:archer6:
Since you have the Live CD versions, I would try each one out from the Live CD to see how they support your hardware or if you have a preference for one over the other.

Thanks for this idea, I tried it and found that both worked very well. In fact 8.04 worked perfectly. Simply amazing, all my hardware was recognized! So you can see how I ended up configuring my T60 in my signature line below.

Thanks Again,
archer6

jglen490 wrote:There have been some horror stories about 8.04 installs, but there have been an awful lot of happy endings, too. I also run 7.10 on my T20 and it is quite stable. I have 8.04 and intend to install it one of these days, but I was also put off originally by all the negativity.

I installed 8.04 and it ran perfectly, no problems at all, what a nice surprise. I must say that while I understand that this will not always be the case with everyones ThinkPad, I do believe the people with the "horror stories" may not be the most positive individuals. After all, when one ventures into a new OS, especially open source with so many variables, its to be expected that there usually will be some extra work involved. In my case, with the R51e it took awhile to get the WiFi up and running and yet I enjoyed the learning experience. It's one of the deciding factors in my choice to embrace Linux, and most specifically Ubuntu.

Cheers, and thanks for the tips and feedback.

jamess wrote:Can I leave the hidden partition of the factory preinstal untouched and still give it a go with the installation of Ubuntu?

Yes you can. I've been on a Ubuntu Linux installation Marathon..... as I spent the weekend installing it on three more of my ThinkPads. One of which I did a dual boot setup on a single hard drive. XP Pro, and Ubuntu 8.04. This particular install was on my T42, and it was important that I leave the hidden rescue and recovery partition untouched. Upon installing Ubuntu, once it got to the partitioning choices I chose manual and the rescue partition did indeed appear. It was on the end of the drive, and very easy to avoid. Thus I was able to partition my drive as follows:

Partition Number:
1) 20GB for XP Pro SP3
2) 10GB for Ubuntu 8.04
3) 5GB for Rescue & Recovery
4) 5GB swap file (could have been less but I had plenty of room)
5) 55GB for data storage from both XP & Ubuntu

The T60 configuration that appears in my signature line is my main work computer which I travel with. Therefore I have the best of both worlds, as each OS has it's own hard drive.

Cheers!

I think Hardy has better hardware support especially video driver.

madcow wrote:I think Hardy has better hardware support especially video driver.

I agree, at least that's been my experience. After I installed 8.04 on my T60 two friends decided to do the same & both of theirs also turned out well. No issues to deal with, just boot it up & enjoy.