T43p rocks on Lubuntu

[jmudrick]

Wanting to upgrade from XP I really struggled getting everything working under a clean Windows 7 install so decided to give Lubuntu 14.04 a shot. So far this is a killer upgrade. Everything that was mangled on Windows 7 just works. The old wireless adapter, fingerprint reader, audio, UXGA display, everything. And it's fast. Couldn't be happier, highly recommended.

[Dekks]

Not to surprised, you may want to look at the phc ppa to undervolt the CPU. I've got a T43 that's fast with arch/openbox

[jmudrick]

Not much interest as my T43p stays plugged in. But looking at it, this PHC project seems no longer to be supported.

FWIW the 14.10 Lubuntu update did not take. Display not recognized properly. Reverted to 14.04.

[Dekks]

Not much interest as my T43p stays plugged in. But looking at it, this PHC project seems no longer to be supported.

FWIW the 14.10 Lubuntu update did not take. Display not recognized properly. Reverted to 14.04.

On arch PHC still updated, not too surprised about display either. The arch live CD detects the 1440x1050 correctly but once installed it doesn't, so welcome to the world of xorg.conf.

[jmudrick]

No Windows nightmares for this boy. Installed the 128GB KingSpec PATA SSD as boot drive and it was Plug n Play, zero issues (jumper left as delivered). Reinstalled Lubuntu and it's running like a dream, boot time from power on to login 15 seconds total, nine seconds for Lubuntu to load .

Have not tested read times but feels snappy enough for me that I have no desire to boot from the ultrabay using a standard SATA, or start messing around with a solder gun.

If you're hesitant due to the negative characterization of the drive on this forum I suggest you actually read the comments on Amazon, the problems are almost all nothing to do with the drive itself but rather with Windows or an improper install or software setup. Under Lubuntu this is a painless and worthwhile upgrade.

https://youtu.be/KCVTkgopgyw

[Hans Gruber]

I am typing on my T43p right now. I have two, both running on Win XP. If I were to upgrade, what would be the best Linux OS to use? Lubuntu or Linux Mint or another Linux derivative?

[jmudrick]

I am typing on my T43p right now. I have two, both running on Win XP. If I were to upgrade, what would be the best Linux OS to use? Lubuntu or Linux Mint or another Linux derivative?

A fairly broad consensus that you won't go wrong with Lubuntu. Worked for me. The only thing not working on install was the fingerprint reader and install of fprintd took care of that in a minute.

[Hans Gruber]

I will give Lubuntu a shot on my backup T43p. I have original IBM batteries that still hold good charges and are green batteries according to the IBM battery manage.

[hhhd1]

Linux mint XFCE or Xubuntu are also great for computers with 512mb to 1gb of ram

[lukee]

I am running on Debian Jessie 8.1 (with MATE environment, former Gnome 2.x) and everything is perfect and super fast. UXGA display provides really large terminal window and enough of space to work also for graphics apps. Really like it. And you would not recognize it does not have SSD but 8years old 80GB Fujitsu 5400rpm drive - I put original 7K100 to the shelf because while the 7K100 is fast drive, Fujitsu is almost as fast as the 7K100 but produces much lower clicking noise when the heads are operating. Fujitsu is almost silent. I just will need to sort out, how to make the fan more silent.

[Hans Gruber]

I have an extra 60GB 7200rpm drive. I will use that for the Lubuntu and Linus Mint OS test rig on my backup T43p.

[Sudevan]

I have had great success and flawless operation with both Linux Mint 16 and Mint 17 on HDs ( and one SSD ) on various T4x/p machines. Mint 17 has really become my OS of choice on Thinkpads. It has given me no trouble at all. I also have Mint 17 on the X300 and X301.

I have used smaller versions like Crunchbang for the older 600/600E/600X machines, and one can navigate the web on these systems, although rather slowly.

Sudevan

[Hans Gruber]

I have had great success and flawless operation with both Linux Mint 16 and Mint 17 on HDs ( and one SSD ) on various T4x/p machines. Mint 17 has really become my OS of choice on Thinkpads. It has given me no trouble at all. I also have Mint 17 on the X300 and X301.

I have used smaller versions like Crunchbang for the older 600/600E/600X machines, and one can navigate the web on these systems, although rather slowly.

Sudevan

I am very impressed with Linux Mint 17.2 (Cinnamon). It's rock solid stable. I also got the fingerprint reader working within a few minutes.

[jmudrick]

I presume any advantage (over Lubuntu) would be in features and prettiness rather than performance?

[Dekks]

Mint/Cinnamon will take up more resources, but you'll have to test to see if it's notable.

[Sudevan]

I am not sure about Mint being attractive simply because it is a prettier or more feature-rich OS. I have had installation problems with almost all of the varieties of Ubuntu (Xubuntu, Lubuntu, etc), and these problems usually intensify as one goes farther back in time with the Thinkpad models, from T42s and T41s back to T23s and the 600 models. Mint 16/17 installs trouble-free and runs on every model I have except the T2xs and the 600s. And I have experimented with a variety of flavours: Debian, Fedora, Arch Linux, Puppy Liinux, Crunchbang (great for the very old machines), etc. Apart from Crunchbang, I have not found anything to be as easy to install and run as Mint 16 and Mint 17. I am planning to try the Mint 17.2 version that Hans Gruber mentioned above.

The one problem I have run into with Mint is that sometimes it will not provide the option of a side-by-side installation with an already-existing Windows OS. And rarely, it will say it is going to install itself alongside Win 7 or Win XP, but then clobber it! There is the Do Something Else option, but that too is not a sure bet, and perhaps that is because I am not sure of my skills at doing the right type of partitioning or using the gparted utility. Wiping out Windows has not been a huge concern for me because I am not very enamoured of Windows OSs - of any flavour. And, in fact, I have several Thinkpads already running Win 7 or Win XP as well as Mint.

Sudevan

[Hans Gruber]

I am not sure about Mint being attractive simply because it is a prettier or more feature-rich OS. I have had installation problems with almost all of the varieties of Ubuntu (Xubuntu, Lubuntu, etc), and these problems usually intensify as one goes farther back in time with the Thinkpad models, from T42s and T41s back to T23s and the 600 models. Mint 16/17 installs trouble-free and runs on every model I have except the T2xs and the 600s. And I have experimented with a variety of flavours: Debian, Fedora, Arch Linux, Puppy Liinux, Crunchbang (great for the very old machines), etc. Apart from Crunchbang, I have not found anything to be as easy to install and run as Mint 16 and Mint 17. I am planning to try the Mint 17.2 version that Hans Gruber mentioned above.

The one problem I have run into with Mint is that sometimes it will not provide the option of a side-by-side installation with an already-existing Windows OS. And rarely, it will say it is going to install itself alongside Win 7 or Win XP, but then clobber it! There is the Do Something Else option, but that too is not a sure bet, and perhaps that is because I am not sure of my skills at doing the right type of partitioning or using the gparted utility. Wiping out Windows has not been a huge concern for me because I am not very enamoured of Windows OSs - of any flavour. And, in fact, I have several Thinkpads already running Win 7 or Win XP as well as Mint.

Sudevan

I have a couple suggestions for Linux Mint 17.2 Cinnamon is the most feature rich of the variants. I suggest 2GB of memory for that version and discrete graphics in T43 and older thinkpads. I think you could get by with 1GB of memory without much trouble.

For you partitioning, try disk management in Windows XP through Windows 10. You want two partitions with both having Master Boot partitions. I am not an expert in setting up multiple OS's on the same drive. The way I see it the bios would recognize both partitions as separate drives. You could label one XP and the other Linux or Mint etc. Then you would have a dedicated OS as a master boot in boot order in your bios. That is the vanilla approach. The other way is switchable boots.

When installing Mint, I ran into this problem. If you leave your laptop unattended, it goes into standby (username/password mode) asking for a user name and password. On original installs the user name is Mint and the password is left blank. I can't remember if Mint is capitalized but I think it is. That is default until you setup a username and password.