[ltp] IBM Thinkpad T41 type 2373-7fu; recommendations for auction purchase and *nix type

[Andy Graybeal]

Greetings,
I just signed on to this list.

I have the opportunity to hopefully purchase several IBM Thinkpad T41 
type 2373-7fu machines at an auction.

I'm wondering if anyone has any luck running Ubuntu 10.04 on these 
machines?  Or can recommend a *nix for these machines?

The machines have the Centrino 1.6gHz, 512MB memory, WIFI, the harddrive 
has been removed for security purposes.

As well, each one has a very nice carrying case, ibm mouse, extra 
trackpoint nubbins, powersupply, phone cord, and other small misc items.

I'm allowed to test them before I bid, is there anything specific I 
should be looking for?

I took a Ubuntu 10.04 bootable CD and jump drive to test with, but it 
took an enormous amount of time to boot these machines from the media. 
I'm thinking about taking a Knoppix or Dyne:Bolic boot disks instead.. 
hopefully these will boot much faster.  If anyone can recommend a 
bootable linux to test with that would be good.

What approximate maximum bid should I go to on these? Remember no 
harddrive and only 512MB of RAM, and I'm in the United States.  I expect 
to get 5 machines if I can afford it; though I'd like to get all of them :)

I've looked at IBM Thinkpad T41's on Ebay, buy-it-now foes for about 
$130-$150.

One machine looks like it was dropped and has a small hunk of plastic 
missing from it's left corner and the lid seems a bit flimsy.  I didn't 
bother to turn this one on.

Several of the machine have their bios passwords set.  I need to find 
out the details, but if I remember correctly it is the password to get 
into the BIOS, not the password to boot the machine up.  I read in the 
manual that if the supervisor password is set, a board replacement is in 
order to get around this.  If there are enough machines without 
passwords, I won't be bidding on the ones with passwords.

Where can I expect to purchase replacement harddrives and possibly 
upgrade the memory?  And how much do you think I'll be looking at as far 
as price for this?

I would be grateful with any other information you can pass along. 
SpeedEvil from Freenode's ##ibmthinkpad says that I should get screw 
packages from ebay and loctite / threadlock because they will be my 
friends.  SpeedEvil was very helpful in the channel.

Just so everyone is aware, I have owned a T42 and just recently 
purchased a T410.  The T42 has expired into parts.
Ubuntu 10.04 runs great on the T410.  I hope Lenovo can extend the 
legacy into the future.  I'm happy to find this mail list.

-Andy