OpenSuSe on TP X60s

[CyberDude]

I would like to install Linux on my X60s and so far like the look of OpenSuse so am considering installing it. Will I be able to completely replace windows on the X60s or will I have trouble with getting Linux drivers for some of the X60s devices? Ideally I would like to ditch windows completely on my TP.

What is Linux's power management like on the X60s? Will I get similar battery performance?
Will the finger print scanner still work?
Will the blue function keys work?
Will my Wifi Intel 3945ABG card work properly?

If Opensuse is not the right choice then what else can you suggest?

[dcast]

openSuSE is a fine distribution. In my experience SuSE always works well with ThinkPads, your battery should be fine, some of the functions will work out of the box, like suspend and hibernate etc, you can always set up the function keys later in KDE (or Gnome) if some of them don't work as desired. The fingerprint scanner should be fine, I believe openSuSE has built in configuration for it in YaST which is SuSE's general purpose configuration tool. I would definitely give openSuSE a go and I think you'll be very happy with it.

Read:
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:X60s

http://en.opensuse.org/Installation

[bajaman61]

I would like to install Linux on my X60s and so far like the look of OpenSuse so am considering installing it.
. . .
If Opensuse is not the right choice then what else can you suggest?

Dcast's suggested readings are a good, direct answer to your question.

But I would rotate the issue somewhat. Ubuntu (probably the odds on favorite in the broader Linux world) has a LiveCD which enables you to test it "live" loaded from CD. You do not make any changes to your underlying operating system to test drive it. Obviously the response time is somewhat slower given that the operating system is not accessed from a hard drive. But you could find out directly and with certainty if the keys, peripherals, etc., of your X60 actually do work on such Linux distributions.

Some Linux flavors enable you to go even more portable than your sleek, svelte, seXy60. Why not also install your linux operating system on a pen drive and boot from any computer's USB anywhere you are? THAT, sir, is OS portability.

I have tried a range of Linux distributions based on the particular machine's RAM/CPU and on the tasks I wish it to perform. The list includes: Puppy Linux, D*mn Small Linux, TinyCore Linux (for around 10 to 100 Mb RAM requirements -- suited to ye olde Thinkpad 570s and T2xs), to Ubuntu (and its "lighter" sibling Xubuntu) and Linux Mint for Thinkpads of more recent vintage.

The surest way to find out if your particular Thinkpad and its peripherals work on a Linux distribution is this route.

You mention you like Suse's look. Every Linux distribution I have tried had the capacity to customize the "look" of the desktop, background, panels, even icons. So if this is what you mean by "look" I would not let that alone sell me on any particular distribution. I would be, and I suspect you are the same, primarily interested in whether the candidate distribution worked with my hardware and peripherals -- and made me irresistible to women.

Enjoy your seXy60.

[GomJabbar]

But I would rotate the issue somewhat. Ubuntu (probably the odds on favorite in the broader Linux world) has a LiveCD which enables you to test it "live" loaded from CD. You do not make any changes to your underlying operating system to test drive it.

This is true of openSUSE, Fedora, Mandriva, as well as many others. Mandriva should be coming out with a new release in a couple of weeks that might be worth a look.

[CyberDude]

Thanks for the replies. I'll give the LiveCds a go and see what works out of the box. I'm glad to read that the finger print reader, function keys, wifi etc all work.

Hopefully, I'll get at least similar battery life on Linux as I do on XP.

I'll also read up on those links posted by dcast.

[archer6]

I chose to install Ubuntu on my X60s as the only OS. The installation took just 30 minutes, and is nearly fully automatic (just enter you user name and follow the prompts). Once installed everything worked just fine. Since it comes with OpenOffice, Firefox, and a host of games, its ready to go from the start. Since it's so popular there is a tremendous amount of customizations that can be done to make it look any way you want it to. Also as mentioned in a prior post here, that's the beauty of most all Linux distributions is their ability to be changed to your taste. Then once you have experience you may find that like a lot of us, you might enjoy trying several of the different distributions. It's what Linux is all about. Especially with a ThinkPad, as they are the best laptop when it comes to Linux compatibility. I would get a live CD of Ubuntu and enjoy!
.
Cheers...
Think Fast... ThinkPad!

[CyberDude]

OK, I chose to install openSuse 11.1 as some Thinkpads came shipped with SLED so I figured that Suse must have ironed out a lot of the problems and should have good driver support for the hardware. I've had it installed for a just over a day now so my findings are based on very limited use.

I chose to install it to dual boot with my existing XP installing and kept the recovery partition intact and the blue Thinkvantage button works on boot up.

The install went very easy and I was pleasantly surprised to find that virtually everything worked straight out of the box. The Thinklight, the blue function keys, volume buttons, fingerprint reader, wifi, ethernet, suspend to ram, suspend to disk, screen brightness control, docking and undocking, browser back and forward buttons, scrolling with the middle button.

I haven't tried Bluetooth but I am assuming that works fine, haven't tried infra red, and the card readers.

There are a few things I need to configure and sort to my liking like inproving the efficiency of the power management under battery power, the resolution of my trackpoint needs improving as it seems to jump 2-3 pixels at a time and doesn't glide smoothly across the screen. I did have trouble getting the wifi to connect to my WPA2/AES router but that turned out to be a quirk with how the GUI network manager works rather than a problem with drivers. In fact I think most of the minor niggle I came across were due to my absolute newbieness and not understanding how it all works.

So overall I'm very happy at how the install went. I was expecting a few problems getting hardware to work but so far everything is good.

[Eudoxus]

What about your fingerpirnt scanner? Does it work or not on openSuSE?

[CyberDude]

Yes finger printer reader works although it only works on some of themed login screens for some reason. The default KDE login them works fine but the openSUSE one doesn't like it.