Thinkpads Forum

I have a problem with the Intel graphics drivers with 9.04 Jaunty. Compared to how well my R51e is running with Karmic I just don't like using Ubuntu on my R52 anymore. I'm almost tempted to take Gparted and delete that partition and overwrite it with Karmic.

Problem is I don't know how well that would run after the install. I hear sometimes the results are different from a LiveCD run and a for real install.

I'm also going to be getting a 600X as an early Christmas miracle (thanks to "you know who" ) So after reviewing some lite distros such as Crunchbang, Puppy Linux, and D*mn Small Linux I'm tempted to throw one of these on my R52. I actually prefer to install Crunchbang b/c it just looks so darn futuristic and eye-pleasing

So any R52 or 600X owners try any of these distros I've mentioned???

As sweet as 600X may be, it's ten years old and is likely to have issues running more recent distros...

Having said that, I've never used crunchbang so I'm clueless on how it will work on any machine, but...

I've ran SuSE (retail 9.1 at the time) and PC Linux OS (version 2006 at the time) on 600X machines with great joy. Also, try Mint on your R52 and you may fall in love with it all over again...it runs great on my T43 with integrated graphics.

My $0.02 only...

I did download Puppy Linux today and was pleased that it was a tiny file (104mb). I made a LiveCD of it and out of curiosity ran it on my R52. I was able to use wireless OOB with it. I also used Seamonkey on it and it had my number one Firefox app on it- Adblock

For those of you who don't know Seamonkey is a Mozilla app.

It seems fine so far. I won't get that 600X until sometimes next month so I'm getting D*mn Small Linux and Crunchbang downloaded next.

Sheesh! Guys I have a collection of Linux Distros for sure now! Oh and the Puppy emits a bark when doing certain tasks that brought a smile to my face

I'm sure it's something that can be disabled but it's the cuteness factor that "Awww'd me."

I took the plunge partly b/c I was bored and had to get that Conky with B/W logo on my background. I deleted my Ubuntu 9.04 partition on my R52 and installed Crunchbang. Wireless worked out of the box and the distro comes with preinstalled AV codecs like Linux Mint

There is also programs for audio and video editing included. This distro is based off of Jaunty FYI. I really like the pre-installed programs b/c I lean toward video and audio editing features anyway. So this is a nice little distro for ppl who like such things

Oh and there's a cool computer sound on log in prompt... made this techy-girl smile

PS as far as a program for older legacy hardware I think Puppy Linux will suffice. I also need to check up on DSL also.

Been watching this thread ever since you posted (Oh!, it's only been up for one day), and I'm a little disappointed in the lack of response you've received. I don't have much to add because I don't have much experience. I guess we'll see how it goes during the coming week.

Anyway, I tried Crunchbang live CD a while back and could not go above 800x600 resolution so decided I didn't like it, and never went so far as installing.

We have Puppy 4.2 installed on the wife's 600E, and it performs just fine. A little faster, and with more functionality than W2K that we were using before. And works fine with her wireless adapter and WPA.

But, the reason I've been watching this thread is that I want a distro for my 600X, and I'm at a loss as to what I want to install. I've run Puppy before, but the lack of power management, is kind of a put off for a laptop (though it doesn't seem to bother the wife, she just closes the lid and leaves the thing running, where I like it to suspend when I close the lid). And I would like to have wireless networks work something like the WinXP Zero Configuration Utility, because I carry it around with me on the job, and need to connect to half a dozen different access points during the day.

So, I threw in a Linux Mint 5 CD this afternoon, and it looked good. I know it's kind of an old version, but I already had a CD burned and am concerned that the latest release may not work well with a 10 year old 600X anyway, so I went with what I had on hand. Well, my wireless adapter worked fine, even with WPA encryption (Puppy never would connect to my WPA access point with my adapter), so I'm installing it right now. We'll see how it works out.

Hi Neil! Thanks for the info on the Puppy w/ 600X. I guess the only way to find out is to try. Have you tried some digging to find a solution for power management? 600X is going to be a totally different experience so I appreciate the input.

I know for sure that Crunchbang is running right now on 215mb of RAM. I have Firefox (should be less with a different browser but have enough RAM to spare with my R52) open and turned off Compositing. So in regards to performance it's been okay for the moment. I do like the Conky built right in from the get-go so I can view system performances. It's different but I like a different flavor every now and then

I know this is an old thread, but...

You should definitely be able to get Ubuntu/Crunchbang down to less than 215MB with a bit of tweaking.

Disabling exim4, bluetooth, etc. and all the other services that you don't strictly need will save you some RAM, as will killing off conky, the tray mixer, etc. If you don't need NetworkManager (i.e. if you're comfortable managing your network manually, or with something else) you can also save some RAM by ditching it.

ThinkRob wrote:I know this is an old thread, but...

You should definitely be able to get Ubuntu/Crunchbang down to less than 215MB with a bit of tweaking.

Disabling exim4, bluetooth, etc. and all the other services that you don't strictly need will save you some RAM, as will killing off conky, the tray mixer, etc. If you don't need NetworkManager (i.e. if you're comfortable managing your network manually, or with something else) you can also save some RAM by ditching it.

Hi Rob. I have Masonux on it. I haven't been doing anything with it lately but feel that the stripped down LXDE distro would be nice on it. It runs nice but power management with APM is a pain! The laptop won't shutdown properly it just hangs. It won't go to sleep when I want it to. Do you know of a distro that would work with legacy Thinkpads APM?

emeraldgirl08 wrote: Hi Rob. I have Masonux on it. I haven't been doing anything with it lately but feel that the stripped down LXDE distro would be nice on it. It runs nice but power management with APM is a pain! The laptop won't shutdown properly it just hangs. It won't go to sleep when I want it to. Do you know of a distro that would work with legacy Thinkpads APM?

Hmm... that's tough. APM is *old*, so it's not surprising that some distros aren't really maintaining it that well.

I'd give Debian a shot, since they seem to be pretty big on stable, reliable operation (and since they ship older packages). You might have to be prepared to do some manual tweaking or maybe even build your own kernel if you can narrow it down to a kernel config/version issue.

I'm afraid I don't have any sure-fire suggestions though. The last time I used a laptop that needed APM support was in 2003: I had an old Dell Latitude with a borked ACPI implementation, and Mandrake (my distro of choice at the time) would only suspend it correctly if I ditched ACPI and went with APM. I stopped using that machine in 2004 IIRC, and I haven't had 'cause to use APM since. Wish I could be of more help!