[ltp] Searching for an old IBM warhorse

[Luca Ingianni]

Am Sonntag, 5. Februar 2006 23:44 schrieb Michelle Klein-Hass:
> On Sunday 05 February 2006 02:39 pm, Torsten Wagner wrote:
> > O.K O.K  I now, this is somewhat off-topic. To everyone a big excuse
> > and  virtual beer who feels  harassed ;).
> > Could you tell me which IBM notebook is in your opinion the warhorse
> > until know. I do not mean which one is the fastest or newest.
> > I'm searching for the one which seems to be the most stable and
> > reliable one. Which model still works after years of extensive use for
> > example by your sales representatives (In my opinion the worst
> > scenario for a notebook ;) )?
>
> 600x is the perfect Linux notebook. The only thing you might have to
> fiddle with a little is the XOrg configuration. Also make sure you boot
> with ACPI and local APIC turned off. Debian found everything but the
> configuration of the video. Once you add the information that it's
> capable of 1024 x 768, you're golden.
>
> Yes, I am an owner. Yes, I am biased.

<AOL>Me too!</AOL>

The 600s are cheap and easy to find. They are also very roust,judging from 
their build, and cheap enough to replace should your friend manage to 
break it.

I recently posted a hint regarding the batteries:
If you buy one off ebay, get one with a dead battery. This will lower the 
price. Then buy a new battery (also on ebay), and you'll probably have 
spent about the same but got a battery in known good condition.
If you buy from a preofessional vendor, be careful to thoroughly read the 
description, they will often not include the CD-ROM drive or sell ones 
with foreign keyboard layouts.

I'm running Debian Etch and had no trouble installing it. No fancy boot 
parameters or anything necessary, Xorg was problem-free too IIRC. Sound 
works, I haven't tried the modem but it is reported to work.
KDE in its bloatedness is pushing the old hardware a little, but with a 
little patience it's quite OK, and I like the eye-candy.
Even watching XviD movies works almost without framedrops as long as the 
resolution stays below what videoram I have left for the framebuffer.

So, all in all a nice machine for not much money.

HTH & have fun,
Luca