Thinkpads Forum

Hello, right now I have Windows XP SP3 on my IBM ThinkPad T40. People are saying that I should switch to Ubuntu 10.04. Should I? Or should I just stay with Windows XP?

If you're happy with XP, then stick with it. If you want to try something new, switch. Linux won't get the battery life of XP out of the box if you care.

Dose Ubuntu go good on an IBM ThinkPad T40?

Yes. Thinkpads, in general, run Linux quite welll, and an older model like your T40 should be able to use all of the Thinkpad features under Ubuntu. Some of the newer models with exotic hardware run but don't take advantage of some features (e.g. switchable graphics) . Things like fingerprint reader, hdaps, acpi will all work. The only caveat would be with your battery. With the T40 you can't set battery charge thresholds in Linux. Other than that there shouldn't be any issues.

Just my opinion, but I think there are better Linux distros than Ubuntu. Linux Mint is built on Ubuntu with a nicer GUI and some extra codecs. PCLinuxOS with LXDE is probably my personal favorite for older Thinkpads. I'm using it on my T23 and finding I like it much better than XP. The 600X I'm using right now, runs CrunchBang and I'm very happy with it too.

One thing is certain. Linux is much easier/faster to install than Windows. And it's much easier to keep all your application up to date as well. I say go for it! You can even dual boot for a while if you feel you cannot do without Windows.

Ok, I which one of these works better on an IBM ThinkPad T40: Xubuntu, Ubuntu, or Kubuntu? I only have 20 GB of free space on my hard drive, so which one will use less space?

Well...of those choices, Xubuntu is supposed to use less disk space, and other resources as well.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Insta ... quirements

Maybe you should check out Lubuntu also. Xfce is not very light as implemented in Xubuntu, as there are other distos that do Xfce better. But, my preference is LXDE over Xfce. But the choice is yours. Best thing is burn a CD of each, and try them out before you install anything. Once you get a feel for what you like best, or which works best with your hardware, then install that one.

What about Linux Mint 9?

Mint 9 is not light weight, but it's an excellent distro. As long as you have 512MB+ RAM you'll be fine. Burn a disk and try it out. That's one of the really cool things about Linux, try before you install and change your current set-up.

cookie wrote:Ok, I which one of these works better on an IBM ThinkPad T40: Xubuntu, Ubuntu, or Kubuntu? I only have 20 GB of free space on my hard drive, so which one will use less space?

Big differences between Ubuntu and Kubuntu. I'm not too familiar with Xubuntu.

Ubuntu uses the Gnome desktop and Kubuntu uses KDE. Two very different setups. Alot of users say making the switch from Windows is easier with Kubuntu than Ubuntu. I use Kubuntu on self-built desktop as well as my T40.

They both take up very little space. The entire OS will fit on one CD, not DVD. As many pointed out, both versions will play very nicely with your T40's tried and true hardware.