T400 and T500 on Linux

[kblackwell]

Hi
I found this post searching for Linux....
I'm about to get a second hard drive and caddy, to do exactly what you did; put Linux on it and have it as another boot option.
Slackware is my favorite, but I was thinking of trying Ubuntu (8.10, I've already dl'd and burnt the iso). But I have 2 concerns.
1. Will the wireless work without hours of fiddling?
2. Does Ubuntu have goofy "don't run as root" protections that will make doing stuff a royal pain in the rear? I always run as root and have NEVER had a problem, have never done anything regretable as root, and absolutely HATE it when distros try to prevent me from running as root. I've been using Linux since about 96 or 97.
This is on a T61 btw.
Thanks!

[Marin85]

As of Ubuntu: root is disabled by default in Ubuntu, so you will have to work on that if you really need that enabled. Alternatively, you will have to sudo things (once started terminal as root you can accomplish everything without having to type password every time and without having to tweak the login).

Hope this helps

Marin

[kblackwell]

Thanks.
It looks like it would be easy to override the "sudo" silliness. That's good.
I'm still torn though.
On the one hand, I like being in total control with slackware, and I'm comfortable using tgz's, etc.
On the other hand, now that I'm older I don't have a lot of free time to fritter away trying to get stuff to work under slackware, like wireless, printing, audio, etc. So Ubuntu might just be easier in that regard.
Hmph.
I'll probably give Ubuntu a shot. Hopefully the wireless will work without too much hassle.

[Marin85]

Well, Ubuntu is not the only one "friendly" distro out there

[Jimbro727]

Running as root all of the time is simply not a good idea, but I'm sure you've heard that alot by now

Sounds like you'd be a perfect candidate for Gentoo. Although, depending on your experience level, it may take a little while to set up. It definitely won't be as easy as Ubuntu. With a newish kernel, you shouldn't have any wireless problems. I'm running 2.6.27 from kernel.org with no problems.

[archer6]

I'll probably give Ubuntu a shot. Hopefully the wireless will work without too much hassle.

I'm running Ubuntu 8.04.01 and it works perfectly on my T60 / X60s / X301 / T400 ThinkPads. While I have used several other distros, I really like Ubuntu as you just do the install and it just works. Wi-Fi, and all. Obviously as I'm sure you know ThinkPads tend to be very Linux friendly anyway, but in the case of Ubuntu I've yet to have an issue. Even with the earlier 7.10. I also enjoy all the customizations that can be done, and while that can also be said for other distros, Ubuntu is very smooth, stable, fast and trouble free.