Win7 and T23?

[skou]

Has anyone else been crazy enough to attempt win7 on a T23?

I'm on it right now, typing this. Only thing I've found, no drivers for my Actiontec wireless card. (802MIP)

Another funny thing, I've only got 2, 256MB memory cards in.

But, it's WORKING!

steve

[Thinkpad Lover]

Haven't tried a T23 yet but I've successfully loaded Win 7 on an A30, A31. It works as long as you have at least 512mb (despite the minimum specs quoted on the Microsoft website). A nice thing about Windows 7 is that it will automatically install drivers for many wireless cards by itself. I've also found that any XP wireless card drivers usually work fine under Windows 7.

[Neil]

But neither of you guys have any graphics acceleration, right? You can us 7, but you are very limited in what you can do with it.

[Majestic]

I started playing around with Windows 7 Pro on one of my T23s with 1 gig of RAM. So far I've noticed no AERO of course as well as no option to use the Windows 7 screen savers. Apparently the T23 graphics chip lacks the ability for OpenGL which the screen savers use. I haven't done much more looking into the graphic capabilities as I have been installing other applications on it. Flash, Shockwave and Java are working good though.

As for my wireless, I'm using an older wireless g card in it and it worked right after 7 was installed although the idiot lights on the card aren't functioning. When I updated Windows there was a newer driver available for the card, but that didn't resolve the idiot light problem.

Using a Side Bar Memory and CPU app I found when starting applications the CPU will peg out with 100% usage, but eventually settles down in the 3 to 10% range. Memory usage stays in the 37 to 43% range.

Overall the T23 doesn't run too bad with 7. The system starts to get a little hestitation when you first open an second or third window on screen, but after the CPU settles down it's hardly noticeable. I've noticed Avast scanning when I open additional applications so that is more than likely adding to the machine dogging.

Next week I will be doing a little traveling and plan on taking this T23 along to see how it performs on a daily basis. I kept my original XP install on a separate hard drive and can swap it back in the event I'm not happy with 7.

[Thinkpad Lover]

Pretty cool. Keep us posted. Aero features are one thing but more important is having the option to update an older machine to the newest Windows operating system, thereby keeping it relevant to new software releases just in case Microsoft stops supporting XP one day soon

[Majestic]

Pretty cool. Keep us posted. Aero features are one thing but more important is having the option to update an older machine to the newest Windows operating system, thereby keeping it relevant to new software releases just in case Microsoft stops supporting XP one day soon

2014 will be here sooner than you think. By then Windows 7 will already have been replaced by 8.

I've also played around with several Linux versions and some of them are beginning to get the look and feel of Windows. That OS maybe a good alternative as well for Windows users.

[automobus]

2014 will be here sooner than you think.

Perhaps even more important, IPv6 will be here soon (better late than never). Windows 6 (and 6.1 "seven") are better prepared for IPv6 than Windows 5.1 (XP).

[Majestic]

Here is a little report of my experience with Windows 7 this past week.......

System: IBM Thinkpad T23, 1.13 GHz Processor, 1 gig Memory, 40 gig Hard Drive @ 5400 RPM w/16 meg buffer.

OS: Windows 7 Professional SP1

Additional software installed: Avast AV, Google Chrome, Flash Player, Shockwave, Java, CCleaner, MalwareBytes & Windows Live Mail 2011.

Side Bar Gadgets: CPU Meter and Clock.

Total Hard Drive Space Used: 8.5 gigs.

Drivers: During the installation Window 7 had the necessary drivers for most of the Thinkpad's hardware. There
was no driver available for the PCI Serial Port which I don't use and I had to manually install the
driver for my Intel LAN card which Windows 7 didn't detect automatically.

Graphics: Aero and the Windows 7 Screen Savers are not support by the T23's graphics chip so those features
of Windows 7 are unavailable. The Snap feature of Windows 7 did work though.

Thinkpad Buttons: Volume control and LCD dimming and brightening are functional, but there is no On Screen Display.

Disabled Features: I disabled hard drive indexing to eliminate the constant hard drive activity. I also disabled
the first 8 options in the Visual Effects section of Device Manager. By disabling those features made a noticable
improvement in performance.

Windows Experience Rating: 1.0 Overall
Processor: 1.7, Graphics Performance Aero: 1.0, Graphics Gaming: 1.0, Memory: 1.7, Hard Drive: 4.3

CPU Meter Gadget Showed: CPU: 3.5 to 4.5% at Idle, Memory: 23.8% at Idle.

I installed Google Chrome as Internet Explorer 9 was a little laggy in accessing websites. Google
Chrome made a noticable difference. I also tried Windows Live Mail 2011, but that was a real dog
in performance and wouldn't recommend it for use on a full time basis.

Here are some times in accessing websites with Chrome on the 1.5/.350 DSL connection I was using with a wireless G card:
(All times are based on a clean cache and timed from the point of clicking on the Favorite to when the page fully loads.)

Microsoft: 5 seconds, MSNBC: 12 seconds, eBay: 4 seconds, Thinkpad forum: 3 seconds.

Overall using Windows 7 on a T23 is quite doable. At first you will notice it is not quite as
fast as Windows XP, but after a couple of uses you get comfortable with the performance. During
my testing I did not use a flash drive with my USB2 card to try out the ReadyBoost feature due to
space restrictions of using my wireless card.

[123434]

Majestic
I need that PCI-Serial Port = aka COM-port !
Is it true that Windows 7 has no drivers for it. Therefore it won't work... ?
(I bought Thinkpad T23 and would like to use Win7 on it)

I use it for datatransfer on old 90s factorymachines...really important that COM-port !

[RealBlackStuff]

If you don't need/want to go online with that T23, stay with XP/SP3 with indexing switched off, and no AntiVirus pgm installed.
The T23 that I use for specific purposes, which involve intensive use of the COM port, hasn't been online in nearly 3 years.
I use it at least 1 or 2 times a week, never a problem.

[Majestic]

Majestic
I need that PCI-Serial Port = aka COM-port !
Is it true that Windows 7 has no drivers for it. Therefore it won't work... ?
(I bought Thinkpad T23 and would like to use Win7 on it)

I use it for datatransfer on old 90s factorymachines...really important that COM-port !

I didn't try it, but you could try using a Windows XP Serial Port driver in Windows 7 Compatibility.

Otherwise as RBS suggested, if you don't plan on going on-line then stick with XP.

[ajkula66]

Majestic
I need that PCI-Serial Port = aka COM-port !
Is it true that Windows 7 has no drivers for it. Therefore it won't work... ?

It's NOT true. My work-issued CF-31 runs W7 and serial port works. Protocols are a little different though when compared to XP.

(I bought Thinkpad T23 and would like to use Win7 on it)

Once you actually install W7 on it you'll see that you DO NOT want to use it. It will be as slow as a three-legged dog

I use it for datatransfer on old 90s factorymachines...really important that COM-port !

Install W2K or WXP and stay offline. Or install a light Linux and go online.