[ltp] What to do if I suspect I've got a lemon T60? ( + small rant)

[Bert Haskins]

SOTL wrote:

> Whil Hentzen wrote:
>
>> Hi folks,
>>
>> I bought a T60 from PC Connection about a month ago. (Been buying 
>> from them since 1982, never been unhappy with anything.) First thing 
>> I did, natch, was blow away Windows and install FC5. Well, I tried 
>> to, that is.
>
>
> Difficult to install on a laptop.


>
> Sorry, I've got to disagree with this.

I have installed FC5 on at least twenty thinkpads ( this year ) and the 
only thing that I have had
 significant problems with is wireless G WPA and that is only with 
certain cards.

I average less than five minutes (my time... not computer time) on a 
complete install and update.

For comparison, my average WXP install (my time ) is always over five 
hours counting service packs,
 fifty or so ~!@#$ reboots, drivers, and all the other necessary crap.

As much as I dislike the BSOS, I value our family friends more and so I 
do ( legal ) reinstalls and keep my anger bottled up inside.

The only real reason why many of these people can not be switched over 
is that they need to run support programs
 for high-level sewing machines and these are not available for Linux.
In several cases I have set up boxes to dual-boot so that the only thing 
that they run under ~!@#$ is their sewing programs.
Sadly (very) I have not been able to get these programs to run  ( 
without major problems )  under Wine.

////////////////// Start Rant
Please notice that out of about fifty Linux installs this year, none of 
these will
make a marketing blip anywhere.
I get very POed when I read about the socalled  Linux 1.5 to 2 %  
penetration on the desktop
that is reported by journalists  who should stick to writing about 
something that they understand
that is, nothing.
I am certain that there are many others like myself that set up several 
machines each year that
don't get counted by any bean counters and therefore do not even exist 
in the eyes of the
marketing wimps.
Now just consider how many bucks are spent on items that end up running 
under Linux
without that fact getting back to the vendor of the item.
The vendors are a lot like those three monkeys only it is "see no Linux, 
hear no Linux, speak no Linux"

We really need a way to make our presence known.

/// End Rant

Bert