[ltp] Second handed T43 issues (already bought): advises for tons of doubts and questions, please

[Richard Neill]

Dear Miguel,

Glad we could all help.  It sounds as though your main issue now is the 
screen, and the fan noise.

I think you can just run tp-fancontrol  without any need to customise it 
- as long as you check that all the temperatures stay sane. Basically, 
monitor the machine carefully for a while. (To force full cpuload, run 
"nice yes" in a terminal; stop it with ctrl-c). The customisation is 
just to let you adjust things to taste -
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_control_fan_speed

As for the display, if you really hate it, you'll have to get a 
replacement.

The way an LCD works is that there is a white-ish light at the back, 
(cold-cathode fluoresecent tube, powered by 1000 V or so, derived from 
an inverter), then this is diffused. In front of that is the LCD, which 
can (for each pixel, and each colour) either transmit the light, or 
block it. Backlights can fail totally, or they go dimmer (and redder) 
with age. You might also want to check your monitor's gamma settings 
[gamma adjusts the brightness of mid-tones] by using one of the GUI 
tools supplied with KDE/Gnome.

Best wishes,

Richard