Getting a X41T soon! Need help to choose the right OS

[Tasurinchi]

I'm getting soon a X41T (1866-6SG) with no OS, the XP COA is there but the unit comes with no CDs or any install medium.

Now I'm not feeling like trying to get a set of recovery CDs for XP. It will come with lots of outdated software and I will have to spend a lot of time applying SP3 and patches, so I'm probably going for Linux.

Is any Linux Distro that can be specifically recommended for tablets? Or will any of the popular ones (Ubuntu, Mint, SuSe, Fedora) do the job? I'm not planning to do serious work with the tablet anyway.

Plan B would be to get a new Win7 license, but I'm not sure which versions support tablet functions, my guess is the expensive ones will (Prof. or Ultimate), right?

Thanks in advance!

[Merc]

That system, as is, would not run Windows 7. You need, at minimum, 1GB of memory. The processor is just above mins and the graphics probably would run only the windows 7 starter which I am not sure you can get. In other words, use XP for the best performance. I can't speak for Linux as I am a neophyte with that OS.

[Tasurinchi]

Thanks Merc for the hints. I forgot to add that the unit comes with 1GB and I'm planning to max it out to 1.5GB (the current 512MB stick will go).

[frankiepankie]

Windows 7 will run great on it if you max out RAM i guess.

The only bottleneck that is available then is the slow HDD, you could upgrade it to an SSD to max out your pleasure, but unfortunately an SSD comes at it's price


I also have a X41 Tablet, but i am waiting for my Kingspec 1.8" SSD to arrive, so i can't play with it yet.

I am going to install Windows 7 on it.


You could install a trial of Windows 7 (30 days without activation i thought) and try if it suits your needs

[Tasurinchi]

Windows 7 will run great on it if you max out RAM i guess

I have an x40 "borrowed for life" to a friend and he is using Win7 with no issues at all (no Aero). My guess a tablet version could run decently in the X41T, but I'm also curious about the Linux Distros too...

I will probably update the HDD as well, but I don't want a Kingspec SSD, I will probably try a ZIF drive, depending on the prices I find in Ebay. An SSD is great but it will cost more that what I paid for the tablet

[topmahof]

that tablet will take a 2 gb stick of ddr2 ram. the machine will read 2 gig total including the imbedded ram. i'm running windows 7 on 3 x41 non tablets and they all run fine. on 2 of them i put 7 on a sata hard drive in the x4 base drive and xp on the laptop drive. the 3rd one i just put it on the slow stock 4200 rpm drive. the stock drive is a tad slower but it still boots up in 25 seconds an shuts down in 15 seconds. aero doesn't work, the windows index is a 1 because of the graphics but i don't really miss aero. i have home premium on the one with the stock drive, 7 professional and ultimate on the other 2. i do believe the tablet functionality is on all 3 of those because in system it says there is no pen input for my display. so i think if i had a tablet i would have functionality. as far as lenovo software i only use hotkeys and system update so i only have 52 processes. keep the processes down and that tablet should run fine. windows should find most of your drivers for you and you can run system update for the rest. i had no issues with the install but then again mine aren't tablets. i can't tell the difference between xp and 7 as far as speed goes, but as far as bootup and shutdown 7 has xp beat.

[topmahof]

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Lenovo-60GB-SSD ... _500wt_949

the lenovo branded ssd's are starting to come down a little in price but they're still fairly expensive.

[Tasurinchi]

the lenovo branded ssd's are starting to come down a little in price but they're still fairly expensive.

Slowly going down... with a bit of patience I may get one! I've notice other SSDs (Runcore, Photomonster) are getting slightly cheaper as well.

Unfortunately the prices of ZIF HDs seem also stable The Toshiba MK8025GAL is even more expensive now than end of last year, when I bought mine. Only the Samsung HS06THB looks cheaper than the prices I had in mind.

[topmahof]

i saw somewhere that that lenovo branded ssd was just a samsung zif ssd drive with an adapter cable neatly packaged in that metal case. i had one in an x41 for awhile but i sold the laptop. it ran pretty decent but it exposed the next shortcoming, the graphics. that's a quote from somewhere but it does really make the graphics look bad. i guess i'll just muddle along with those 4200 rpm drives for awhile and hope something gets affordable.

[billp117]

With a 2 gb memory chip Windows 7 will run fine. Win7 was designed for tablets and you will be very surprised how well it runs. My X41t provides lots of fun with no disappointments.

[djscoggins]

I have Ubuntu 10.04 on my X41t and it runs very well out of the box. It runs very fast and is very responsive, infinitely faster then the IBM preload of XP tablet 2005. The only things I had to work on was the tablet buttons, middle mouse scroll, and the screen rotation. I have not configured the fingerprint scanner.

There are some caveats however. The most annoying to me is docking. If you dock the laptop you lose display. It can be reinitialized by simply closing the lid and reopening(activating sleep function). I can also get it back by rotating the display but when I do that I lose my mouse cursor.

I have been very impressed with ubuntu, it is much easier for newbies to get into. Plus it is very customizable.

[Tasurinchi]

The only things I had to work on was the tablet buttons, middle mouse scroll, and the screen rotation. I have not configured the fingerprint scanner.

Thanks for the hint! Do you have a source where you got those working? I've read some instructions in Thinkwiki.org but I did not want to play around with scripts.

There are some caveats however. The most annoying to me is docking. If you dock the laptop you lose display. It can be reinitialized by simply closing the lid and reopening(activating sleep function). I can also get it back by rotating the display but when I do that I lose my mouse cursor.

I have no dock so it won't be a problem for me

[djscoggins]

I got the tablet button and screen rotate info from here:
http://michaels-bms-days.blogspot.com/2 ... ablet.html

The mouse scroll I got from the Ubuntu software center, I believe it was called GPointing devices.

I also had to get a new battery recently. I went cheap and ordered the "8 cell" off of eBay for 32.00$ shipped. I don't know if it is Ubuntu or the cheap battery but the battery monitor jumps around a lot 2-5 hrs. I have noticed approximately 4 hours browsing the internet on wifi. It is larger that the OEM battery and a) will not fit in a dock(which doesn't matter in your particular situation) and b) makes the laptop a little wobbly on flat surfaces(which doesn't bother me because I mostly use a couch armrest or my actual lap.)

[Tasurinchi]

I got the tablet button and screen rotate info from here:
http://michaels-bms-days.blogspot.com/2 ... ablet.html

Thanks for the link, I'll try them soon, got to re-install Ubuntu back first. Hopefully I find some time this year.

My battery is also slowly dying out. Will check what good sources I can find around here.