[ltp] Questions/Pointers for ThinkPad 600 Model 2645-21u

[Ross Patterson]

On Tuesday 10 June 2003 01:53 pm, MegaBight wrote:
> 1) My BIOS date is 4/98 should I update it?

Dunno.  We have a pair of 600X's bought in April 2000 running Linux, the BIOS 
on one is original, no problems.

> 2) What Linux distros do TP600 users recommend? 

Red Hat 7.2, and 7.3 have worked fine for us.

> 5) Do we have stable PCMCIA support for the TP600? What's needed to get
> it to run?

That would vary by Linux release, I'm sure.  The systems I mentioned above 
have worked fine from the get-go.

> 7) Does this wacky eraser-tip-stuck-in-the-keyboard-mouse work in X?

IBM call's it a "TrackPoint", users have other names for it, occasionally 
referring to female anatomy.

> 8) Is there any reason to do DOS on this thing or can I wipe the whole
> drive and just do Linux?

Many of the ThinkPad system facilities are controlled by a program running on 
the laptop instead of by user-changeable BIOS settings.  The DOS version of 
this program, PS2.EXE, can do things that the Linux equivalent (tpctl) can't.

Extra credit:  The 600Xs we use had X problems until we found a note on this 
list 
(http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/pipermail/linux-thinkpad/2001-October/006046.html) 
and followed its advice.  Life has been perfect since.
-- 
Ross A. Patterson
Chief Technology Officer
CatchFIRE Systems, Inc.
5885 Trinity Parkway, Suite 220
Centreville, VA  20120
(703) 563-4164