[ltp] Re: 560 recommendations?

[Chris Schumann]

> From: Richard Neill <rn214@hermes.cam.ac.uk>
> Subject: [ltp] OT: 560 recommendations?

> I'm looking to buy a cheap (on ebay) thinkpad for portable use.
> The spec needn't be amazing (eg 800x600, 250MHz, 4GB, 128MB), but it
> does need to be as light as possible. I'm hoping for less than $100, and
> < 2kg.
>
> I recall seeing what I think was a 560 somewhere, and being amazingly
> impressed by how small it was. Am I recollecting this correctly?  Would
> a 600 be better?  The 560s are currently very cheap on eBay - are they
> just a very good deal, or are they so obsolete as to be unusable?
> Thinkwiki has some useful details, but doesn't mention the weight! Eg:
> http://thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:560Z
>
> Sorry this is a bit offtopic, and also rather vague! It will get Linuxed

Not OT at all!

For information like that, get out TWBOOK.PDF. The basic 560 goes up to
133MHz. The 560E goes to 166. The 560X up to 233, which is close to what
you want. The 560Z gets you a PII at 233 or 300MHz.

560Z at 300MHz, 12.1" 800x600 screen, 192MB RAM max., weighs 4.2lb or
1.92kg with battery.

>   - of course. What I'm wanting is basically a cheap,light, and
> non-valuable machine for remote data access. It needs to cope with WiFi
> (via PCMCIA) or modem or ethernet; it needs to be able to run vncviewer
> and firefox; KDE would be nice, but icewm will do.

I have a 560E with 80MB RAM. (I just installed Slackware 10.1 on it.) It
runs xfce and Firefox OK. A 560Z with more memory should do a good job for
you.

Keep in mind that only the 560X and 560Z support CardBus. My lowly 560E
has to have a 16-bit card. 802.11b cards come in both 16-bit and 32-bit
versions. I've only seen 802.11g in CardBus cards. (But I have a 100mbps
wired 16-bit NIC.)

Chris Schumann