[ltp] X60 - (bad) experience, others?

[Jeffrey Franc-Law]

I have an X60,SUSE 10.2, and I am mostly happy.  It' really small, and 
if you travel lots, you may like that.  The screen can get tricky to 
work with if you work in multiple open windows, so I use a 19" external 
screen at home.

Personally, I needed the extra processing power....core duo 2ghz, 4gb 
ram, 7200rpm hard drive.  The machine runs a mysql/http server for a 
simulation program.  I travel, and when the simulation takes place, i 
need to have 30 or so people logged into the http server.  Working very 
well so far.

I have the 8 cell battery, and I am quite happy with the battery life.

A few issues:

1.  The machine (1706hcu) came with atheros based "thinkpad" wireless 
mini pci card, which did not work.  I switched for apw3945abg (lenovo 
supplied at no charge after I asked), wireless works flawlessly with 
suse linux.  Used a PCMCIA atheros card with MadWiFi until the 3945 
arrived: no problems.

2.  The chipset only "sees" about 3gb of the 4gb installed ram.  I think 
this will not be a problem on the x61 as it uses the Santa Rosa 
chipset(???).

3.  Continue to have problems with the ethernet "pass through" port on 
the ultrabase.  First, i could only use the port on the cpu, and only 
when the ultrabase was detached.  I had the ultrabase replaced, it 
worked well for a while, now the port on the CPU does not work.  Not 
sure if this is a hardware problem....I think it is some software thing 
that switches between the CPU and Ultrabase ports.  Personally, not 
really impressed with the ultrabase.  The cpu has ethernet, vga, 
usb...so unless you need serial port of parallel port, the base is not 
so exciting.  If I did it again, i would not buy the ultrabase, I would 
just get a USB DVD writer.

ciao,
jef




Joakim Lagerqvist wrote:
> Dear all,
> 
> Interesting to follow your discussion since I am thinking of getting a
> new (small) laptop myself. I have used thinkpads for quite some time and
> had good experience with them, especially with Linux. But are they still
> as good or should I look around for something else? I am currently
> thinking about either a x61s or sony vaio TZ or something similar.
> 
> What do you think? Is thinkpad still worth it?
> 
> Thanks in advance!
> 
> best regards,
> Joakim
> 
> On Tue, 2008-01-29 at 17:22 -0500, Theodore Tso wrote:
> * cut the discussion *
> 

-- 
Jeffrey Michael Franc-Law, MD, CCFP.EM, D Sport Med, EMDM
Assistant Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine, University of Alberta
Disaster Plan Coordinator, Dept of Emergency Med, University of Alberta
Email: jfl@disastermed.ca
Phone (Canada): +780-266-9653
Phone (Italy): +39 339 390 13 62
Phone (Netherlands):+31 062 550 53 11
Fax:  +780-437-9673
SMS: jfl-sms@disastermed.ca

PGP key at: 
http://keyserver.veridis.com:11371/search?q=jeffrey+franc-law&searchformsubmit=Search



__________________________________________________
D O T E A S Y - "Join the web hosting revolution!"
             http://www.doteasy.com