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

[Kang Tin LAI]

MegaBight wrote:
> Hi,
>     I just got a ThinkPad 600 Model 2645-21 with 160 MB RAM and 3 GB 
> Hard Disk, and I'd like to get a nice stable Linux distro up and running 
> on it, but I'd like to get some feedback from the linux thinkpad 
> community before I jump in.
> 
> 1) My BIOS date is 4/98 should I update it?
> 2) What Linux distros do TP600 users recommend? Should I go RH9? 
> Mandrake 9.1? Debian?

Slackware is working well with my 600E.

> 3) Has anyone done a TP600 customized Gentoo install? Was there enough 
> of a speed bump to justify the labor?
> 4) Is TP600 sound supported? Do I go with ALSA or OSS? What about audio in?

ALSA and its OSS emulation, kernel built in OSS driver the sound quality is very 
poor.

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

I have eagletec cardbus 100baseT, IDE, adaptec scsi and CF adaptor, all these 
PCMCIA cards are working very well, no problem found yet.

> 6) Is an accelerated XFree86 server available for the video chip?

Included in XFree86, which is Neomagic.

> 7) Does this wacky eraser-tip-stuck-in-the-keyboard-mouse work in X?
> 8) Is there any reason to do DOS on this thing or can I wipe the whole 
> drive and just do Linux?

I setup my hdd four partitions, 1st is FAT, 2nd is ext2 for boot, 3rd is ext2 
for swap, and 4th is ext2 for my root.

You need to keep a FAT partition and installed a DOS (6.22 is ok) for PS2.EXE 
for setting up hibernation file if hibernation required.

> 9) What is battery life like when running linux? Is any power management 
> supported?

My 600E, approx 1 hour with PM disabled. For brand new battery, I remember it 
was around 1.5 to 2 hours.

> 
> Thanks much in advance, all pointers and info are greatly appreciated
> 
> megabight@electricocean.com
> 

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Kang Tin LAI <ktlai at hk fullstop net>
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