[ltp] IBM Thinkpad T41 type 2373-7fu; recommendations for auction purchase and *nix type

[Andy Graybeal]

Thank you to everyone who helped me with this auction purchase.

Robert Tomsick, Timothy-Allen Albertson, Ole Irgens, cr, and Jeffrey Taylor.

I ended up getting 6 laptops each for $60 at the auction this past 
Saturday.  I didn't test the USB as Jeffrey said to do so because I 
didn't realize it was an issue until today (Monday) when I read his 
email just a second ago... *cross-fingers* and hopefully everything is okay.

I didn't have time to make Damn Small Linux copies as cr suggested, I 
got his email just before we went to test the machines on Friday 
morning, I had already made knoppix copies.  My girl and I tested about 
20 machines.  And came away with about 9 that were in good condition.
I do look forward to trying out Damn Small Linux in the future.

I do go back and forth in my mind whether this was a good purchase or 
not.  Ole Irgens asked what do I plan on using these machines for... I 
plan on using them in a work environment where my budget is very limited 
and we couldn't afford laptops otherwise.  We are a small but growing 
restaurant business, and some of the managers felt the need for laptops.

I could purchase either one brand new thinkpad or several old ones with 
the $1000 budget they allotted me to spend.   So... I do question myself 
whether this was a good decision or not, but the future will tell. 
Thank you for your suggestion of not using these machines in a 
production environment, Ole, I understand the risks of using these 
laptops; hopefully luck is in my favor....(*more cross-fingers*).

Robert Tomsick, thank you for your response!  It was very helpful.  I'm 
glad that you alerted me to purchase an IBM harddrive and not just any 
PATA harddrive.

Okay, so far I'm running Ubuntu 10.04 on one of them, and it works 
great.  When I do boot it without running applicaitons it eats up 135MB 
w/o running any applications, I've considered running Lubuntu (lite 
ubuntu), but at this time I'm going to run regular Ubuntu.
Wifi works, all the shortcut keys work, everything appears to be in 
order with running Ubuntu 10.04.

I've found this harddrive on amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/160GB-Hard-Drive-ThinkPad-Laptops/dp/B0032GQ1RA

It's 160GB for $77, sold on Amazon by "OptimumSolution".
specs: ATA, Capacity: 160GB, RPM: 5400RPM, Cache: 8MB, Size: 2.5"

Jeffrey recommends against a 5400rpm drive, and I do understand where 
he's coming from.   I welcome any feedback anyone the list has, please.

The machines are going to be used to write documents, spreadsheets, take 
minutes, research information on websites; not development type tasks. 
In some cases, the users will be NX'ing into the central server to do 
their work, or booting onto our network and into an LTSP environment 
(not even requiring a harddrive necessarily when booting off the network).

Also I've found memory from crucial.com:
http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=ThinkPad%20T41%20Series%20%28Type%202373%29
1GB peice for $51.

I know buying from crucial is sometimes more expensive, but I've never 
purchased memory from another place.  It was more or less an unspoken 
requirement in my old job about 6 years ago.

Any thoughts about this memory?

and finally the battery.. Buy.com has them for $50
http://www.buy.com/prod/laptop-battery-for-ibm-thinkpad-t40-t41-t42-t43-r50-r51-r52-series/q/listingid/37834228/loc/101/210732424.html

Any thoughts regarding this battery?

The total cost of the machines with these devices brings me roughly to 
$240.  $77 (HD) + $51 (memory) + $50 (battery) + $60 (cost of machine) = 
$240.

One machine may just stick around for parts, and a couple other machines 
may just boot off the network.
I'm not going to buy the ram or battery until my people say they need 
it.  I will discuss it with them prior though.

Okay, thanks again for all the help and advice, I have been reading 
thinkwiki and have gleaned a great deal of information and I do plan on 
making a "How to not to hold my laptop" handout regarding holding the 
machine one-handed by the corners and breaking the case/planar board 
(I've don't often hear it called planar, so this is unfamiliar to me, 
but a very fun word to use, I will be using it more often in the future).

-Andy