Thinkpads Forum

I had openSUSE running on this T21 for some time but after having some major
problems with its updating mechanism I stopped booting into it.
Decided to install my fave distro, Slackware, and everything's fine.

As with openSUSE I had some issue with the sound (playing a wav file from the
command line would loop the file not indefinitely but for a long time).
In KDE there was no sound but oddly after installing Nvidia drivers for X the sound now
works.

Anyone ever trying booting a Solaris CD on a T21?
Not that I would use Solaris on a 512MB system but neither Solaris 10 nor openSolaris
will make it past a blinking dot on the screen. Either it hangs reading the BIOS or
there just isn't enough memory to load the kernel.

Marc

The majority of my ThinkPads are setup as dual boot with XP and Ubuntu 8.04.

That said, I just loaded Ubuntu 9.04 on my T60 [2007-73U] and the experience was as perfect as installing 8.04.

Everything worked exactly as it should after the install. I did not have to do any tweaking or troubleshooting to get it all to work. Just thought I would report this for those of you who may be thinking of trying Linux and Ubuntu in particular. I highly endorse this distro as a good place to start your Linux experience. It will get you up and running in less than an hour, even if you have zero experience loading an OS.

Cheers...

archer6 wrote:I'm currently running Ubuntu 8.04. After "distro hopping" for a few years just for the fun of it and all on one machine, I settled into Ubuntu a year ago. While there are several reasons I like it, the main reason is it runs so well on several of my ThinkPads with a minimum of tuning. With the exception of one "test machine" I like to keep the same dual boot combo of Ubuntu & XP across each of my favorite ThinkPads. This way when I feel like it I can just grab one and go. At the end of each days computing session I back up to a WD Passport drive so the next day its easy to load my most recent work on whatever machine I take. So that's my story and I'm sticking to it ......heh!
.
Cheers...

Hi there,
1 question - What was your video driver of choice for the T40p, the open source or the proprietary one?

I wouid use the propriatary driver with older Linux versions such as Ubuntu 8.04. With the latest Ubuntu version 9.04, this is not possible with the legacy ATI GPU the T40p has, because the new X Server 1.6 is not compatible with the propriatary ATI Catalyst 3 driver. Unfortunately, the ATI Catalyst 4 driver does not support the ATI GPU of the T40p.

GomJabbar wrote:I wouid use the propriatary driver with older Linux versions such as Ubuntu 8.04. With the latest Ubuntu version 9.04, this is not possible with the legacy ATI GPU the T40p has, because the new X Server 1.6 is not compatible with the propriatary ATI Catalyst 3 driver. Unfortunately, the ATI Catalyst 4 driver does not support the ATI GPU of the T40p.

I know about the above mentioned limits, 9.04 works on t40p with the sole limitations of the open source radeon driver which has much improved, but still not up to catalyst performance. I wanted to reassure myself that the best choice, for now, still remains the older X with catalyst 3 - this being the case of ubuntu 8.04

debian

Debian Lenny on my X32.

Been running Linux for a while now, starting with Slackware 3.0. I've been described as a "Distro Whore", but finally settled down with Knoppix in its various forms. . .booted from CD, persistent image, and total install (essentially a form of Debian testing).
Recently I've had a machine modern enough to boot from USB and am currently booting Knoppix 5.3.1 DVD image from an 8 gig pendrive with a 1 gig dedicated persistent home. Boots amazingly fast, and reads and writes equally fast.
Guess I'll have to try this same arrangement with Ubunto 9.04 to get full tablet functionality in a pain free form while I sort out the Debian dependencies for the tablet. . . . .

openSUSE 11.1 for me dual booting with XP pro. Do really use XP any more though.

I am running Fedora Core 11 64 bit on my T61p. The only real issue i had was that the sound was not working. I got it working yesterday, after following a guide that was posted on the Fedora forum. I also have Ubuntu 9.04 on a Dell i9300 and a Gateway ARC200, Debian 5 64 bit on a Dell XPS M1710 and PC-BSD 7.1 64 bit (FreeBSD - I know it is not really a 'Linux' distro, but I found it similar.) I am hoping to be windows-free before win7 goes live, even though it is the first real new OS from MS since win3.1.

I'm presently using Ubuntu 9.04. I've been pleased with this OS. I started out with Ibex out of curiosity and boredom. The only problems I have are the lack of Onscreen Displays and no boot preferences @ startup- I'll figure those out in time.

I'm very curious about Linux Mint, OpenSuse, and Fedora (I downloaded the LiveDisc this past Sat). For some reason the fonts are very bright and clear in Fedora 11. I absolutely love the rendering! The only thing is I don't have much Hard Drive space to install this! I could shrink my XP partition but I like to keep my OS' separate. Won't be too long before I try Arch! I've heard that is intensive and will make you learn linux quick!

I am wondering which distro will "gel" excellently with my T30 and give it new life???

Tried and used Ubuntu 7.xx, 8.xx, 9.04. Liked them except for no on-screen displays under 9.04 and the Python upgrade which affected Gdesklets. Workaround was to install the previous version of Python. Now using Fedora Core 11-KDE. Really still like Gnome. Using KDE just for something different.

I tried PLD but could not make it work at all (kernel panics over and over again). Now i have Arch installed on second drive with XFce as my desktop enviroment.

Another vote for BSD here. In my case, FreeBSD 7.2-release. I was running it on my thinkpad R32 before switching to Kubuntu a while back (wife insisted I get flash working). Then Kubuntu was ku-broken when I upgraded to 9.04 due to the graphics card problems.

So back to FreeBSD I went. And as a bonus Flash 9 works pretty well in the 7.2-release.

lparsons wrote:Another vote for BSD here. In my case, FreeBSD 7.2-release. I was running it on my thinkpad R32 before switching to Kubuntu a while back (wife insisted I get flash working). Then Kubuntu was ku-broken when I upgraded to 9.04 due to the graphics card problems.

So back to FreeBSD I went. And as a bonus Flash 9 works pretty well in the 7.2-release.

Flash... I can't wait until it's obsolete.

I am giving Fedora 11 a spin right now. Installed it to one of my hard drives from the install DVD. Installation was flawless. A lot of things I like, and a number of things I don't.

Internet Connectivity is better than Mandriva. Cellular broadband works out of the box. However, I don't like the Add/Remove Software application at all. Mandriva does it much better.

Mandriva has MCC (Mandriva Linux Control Center) for configuring many major aspects of the system, but I don't see anything similar in Fedora 11. MCC is a great unique application of Mandriva.

I have been using KDE 4 in Mandriva, but Fedora 11 defaults to Gnome. I haven't used Gnome hardly at all, but it seems OK. Nevertheless I am used to having the menu bar at the bottom of the display as it is in Mandriva and Windows.

I am able to suspend and hibernate successfully using the ThinkPad hotkeys in Mandriva without a problem. In Fedora, suspend or hibernate with the hotkeys has to be resumed twice before you can use the desktop again. Not sure how to fix this yet. I can turn the display backlight off in Mandriva using radeontool and the hotkey combo Fn+F3. In Fedora, Fn+F3 blanks the display, but does not turn the backlight off even with radeontool installed. I can turn the backlight off and on in Fedora by typing radeontool commands from terminal, but I am typing blindly to turn the backlight back on. I believe the primary problem here is that Fedora is using thinkpad-acpi (which I don't know how to configure), while Mandriva has ibm-acpi available for configuring the ThinkPad hotkeys.

I am using Fedora11 on my X301 and it runs very fast. All devices are recognized, standby/hibernation works quite well with a 2GB swap partition.
Was really keen on using KDE 4.2 as it looks awesome but wasn't stable enough for me and so I switched to Gnome where most Fn keys work as well.

I'm using Mint7 right now, but have tried [censored] Small Linux and Pud. [censored] Small was just to [censored] small!

Mint is great.

Look my signature

I've also tried several Fedora Core versions, but on my desktop PC, never on a TP

I use Ubuntu mostly, and I'm training myself on Slackware in a VM (for when Ubuntu makes the switch to GNOME 3.0).

Ubuntu, various versions.

tried Mint and other dialects of ubuntu, but just the straight thing, now.

When you try a distro or switch to one and install it, do you try 3D desktop effects? I guess the question is especially targeted at those who are using and trying the latest releases of the distro.

I have had the following experiences with my T41 after trying some of the latest releases:

Regarding 3D Desktop Effects:
OpenSUSE 11.2 - cannot enable XRender - receive a message that it can't be enabled and to check my configuration file; enabling OpenGL results in the screen going black and a white cursor showing - laptop is totally locked up and requires a hard restart i.e. power off/on
Mandriva 2010 - XRender can be enabled and so can OpenGL - very pleasant experience - impressed
Fedora 12 - XRender and OpenGL can be enabled - I think one of them had a bit of screen corruption when painting the screen after moving windows - not bad at all overall, impressed again
Ubuntu 9.10 - cannot use an application such as Firefox after booting up; clicking 'Firefox' app and shortly thereafter, the system totally locks up. The desktop is displayed but the cursor 'wheel' freezes and so does the entire laptop - keys and mouse are unresponsive
Kubuntu 9.10 - I think XRender cannot be enabled; I forget what happens when OpenGL is tried but it's not a positive experience - probably similar to Ubuntu

I just find it interesting how some of these are totally different experiences from the other. But, you can probably tell that I favor Mandriva and Fedora.

However, I am primarily a Debian user and I've also had more experience using the *buntus than the ones I like now.

i would like to know why there are such differences. I thought most of these distros are at the same stages regarding programs/applications and kernel / xorg versions. How come there's such a difference, then? 'So confused!

thinkpad1 wrote:When you try a distro or switch to one and install it, do you try 3D desktop effects? I guess the question is especially targeted at those who are using and trying the latest releases of the distro.

I have had the following experiences with my T41 after trying some of the latest releases:

Regarding 3D Desktop Effects:
OpenSUSE 11.2 - cannot enable XRender - receive a message that it can't be enabled and to check my configuration file; enabling OpenGL results in the screen going black and a white cursor showing - laptop is totally locked up and requires a hard restart i.e. power off/on
Mandriva 2010 - XRender can be enabled and so can OpenGL - very pleasant experience - impressed
Fedora 12 - XRender and OpenGL can be enabled - I think one of them had a bit of screen corruption when painting the screen after moving windows - not bad at all overall, impressed again
Ubuntu 9.10 - cannot use an application such as Firefox after booting up; clicking 'Firefox' app and shortly thereafter, the system totally locks up. The desktop is displayed but the cursor 'wheel' freezes and so does the entire laptop - keys and mouse are unresponsive
Kubuntu 9.10 - I think XRender cannot be enabled; I forget what happens when OpenGL is tried but it's not a positive experience - probably similar to Ubuntu

I just find it interesting how some of these are totally different experiences from the other. But, you can probably tell that I favor Mandriva and Fedora.

However, I am primarily a Debian user and I've also had more experience using the *buntus than the ones I like now.

i would like to know why there are such differences. I thought most of these distros are at the same stages regarding programs/applications and kernel / xorg versions. How come there's such a difference, then? 'So confused!

Well if you are a Debian user (using Stable) then are used to everything working without any serious bugs.

That is not true for most distributions who have a shorter release cycle like Ubuntu - some bugs may be shipped either knowingly or not and then fixed afterwards.

Of course the drawback is that Debian stable becomes outdated shortly after its release. It really depends on what is your priority - old, tested, safe or new, bleeding edge, updated software.

Although hardly that big of leap from Ubuntu, I'm a dedicated Crunchbang user. Runs great on the new (first Thinkpad) x31, none of the heavier visualizes of compiz etc.

Not to mention the out-of-the-box aesthetics of #! match the thinkpad brilliantly.

I'm a hard core K/Ubuntu user since 4 years back but when I get my T400 I'm gonna give Arch a shot. Main reasons that I'm gonna move is because I want to learn more about Linux and I don't have to upgrade every 6 month to get the latest packages.

PizzaandWine wrote:Although hardly that big of leap from Ubuntu, I'm a dedicated Crunchbang user. Runs great on the new (first Thinkpad) x31, none of the heavier visualizes of compiz etc.

Not to mention the out-of-the-box aesthetics of #! match the thinkpad brilliantly.

My Crunchbox

I loves #!

I started using Red Hat 9 years ago and after that - Fedora Core. A few months ago I moved to Ubuntu, after a computer upgrade. I use (only) Linux on my work desktop computer, the laptop being powered by Windows (XP).

I was trying Mint 7, loaded Mint 8 and found it very slow on my old X21.

Jolicloud was advertised on the X board, meant for netbooks really but works great on my very old X21. I'm enjoying exploring it and adding software easily!

Give it a try if you use a small laptop or a netbook for surfing!!!

Kilowatt wrote:I was trying Mint 7, loaded Mint 8 and found it very slow on my old X21.

Jolicloud was advertised on the X board, meant for netbooks really but works great on my very old X21. I'm enjoying exploring it and adding software easily!

Give it a try if you use a small laptop or a netbook for surfing!!!

I was looking at that OS. I've been jumping through hoops trying to get a fast linux OS going for my Dads 600X. Crunchbang works fantastic on a LiveCD run but my dad is a total NOOB at the computer world. Ubuntu and DSL works but Ubuntu is a little slow and DSL is too ugly! I've tried Macpup, Masonux, and Puppy Linux but can only get so far before it just won't enter the LiveCD run.

Very frustrating

There's no strange appearance of Jolicloud? I'm guessing they have a Thinkpad compatible resolution setting? I'm asking b/c it seems to be geared towards netbooks and those seem to have widescreen resolutions. How much RAM does this hoard?

You could try:
Anti-X
http://antix.mepis.org/index.php/Main_Page

Also, these debian-based distros come with LXDE:
Debian
Ubuntu
sidux

Fedora 12 can also be used with LXDE

http://wiki.lxde.org/en/Category:Linux_Distributions