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This is a discussion on OLD laptop in the Open Discussion & Chit-chat forum
ok i need some advice... i have an old laptop: IBM ThinkPad T20 700 MHz Processor 128MB of RAM 15 GB hard drive i would ...

  1. 11-15-2007, 01:32 PM #1
    Daniel_DBS
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    OLD laptop

    ok i need some advice... i have an old laptop:

    IBM ThinkPad T20
    • 700 MHz Processor
    • 128MB of RAM
    • 15 GB hard drive


    i would like to try and resurrect this old machine just for the heck of it... it had windows 2000 on it, until the hard drive went out and i threw in a spare 15 GB one i had... I want to throw a distro of *nix on the old thing but i am not having much luck... i tried centos, extremely slow... i tried debian, also very slow... i also tried suse, which was VERY VERY slow...

    i've heard that FreeBSD will run on virtually anything so i thought it may work but i wasnt sure... anyone got any suggestions?
    -Daniel

    If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce today would cost $100, get a million miles to the gallon, and explode once every few weeks.

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  2. 11-15-2007, 02:22 PM #2
    Ron
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    Have you tried Ubuntu?
    Good luck
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  3. 11-15-2007, 02:26 PM #3
    JPC-Les
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    I was about to suggest the same thing but you'd probably get similar results with ubuntu as debian. However I'd suggest http://www.xubuntu.org/ which has a scaled back version of ubuntu with a lighter window manager and is focused more on reviving old machines.
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  4. 11-15-2007, 02:33 PM #4
    Daniel_DBS
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    Quote Originally Posted by JPC-Les View Post
    I was about to suggest the same thing but you'd probably get similar results with ubuntu as debian. However I'd suggest http://www.xubuntu.org/ which has a scaled back version of ubuntu with a lighter window manager and is focused more on reviving old machines.
    cool ill download the iso and see how it does.. thanks les...

    does anyone else know of any other distros that may work?
    -Daniel

    If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce today would cost $100, get a million miles to the gallon, and explode once every few weeks.

    My scripts never have bugs. They just develop random features.
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  5. 11-15-2007, 02:37 PM #5
    JPC-Les
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    Another thing to try would be using any distro of your choice including the ones you have already tried and install a lite windows manager yourself to see if that makes a signifigant impact to the performance to make it usable for you. I liked IceWM (http://icewm.org/) when I was looking around last time.
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  6. 11-15-2007, 02:42 PM #6
    Daniel_DBS
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    Quote Originally Posted by JPC-Les View Post
    Another thing to try would be using any distro of your choice including the ones you have already tried and install a lite windows manager yourself to see if that makes a signifigant impact to the performance to make it usable for you. I liked IceWM (http://icewm.org/) when I was looking around last time.
    hmm thats a thought... thanks again les! my first choice would probably be centos or fedora, but i have never had much luck with fedora on such limited resources...
    -Daniel

    If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce today would cost $100, get a million miles to the gallon, and explode once every few weeks.

    My scripts never have bugs. They just develop random features.
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  7. 11-15-2007, 02:58 PM #7
    Vin DSL
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    http://tpctl.sourceforge.net/
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  8. 11-15-2007, 03:04 PM #8
    Daniel_DBS
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    Quote Originally Posted by Vin DSL View Post
    http://tpctl.sourceforge.net/
    heh? thanks vin... ill check into that software after i get *nix on the old piece of crap... really this is just one of those things on my list of things to do... followed by other things such as:

    • setup a linux firewall/router for my network
    • learn ruby on rails


    and yada yada yada... the list goes on and on...
    -Daniel

    If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce today would cost $100, get a million miles to the gallon, and explode once every few weeks.

    My scripts never have bugs. They just develop random features.
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  9. 11-15-2007, 03:10 PM #9
    Daniel_DBS
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    ok xubuntu is in the process of downloading... thank god for this lighting fast connection i got! nothing irritates me more than having to sit and wait 2 hours for a 1.5GB DVD ISO to download at dial up speeds!
    -Daniel

    If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce today would cost $100, get a million miles to the gallon, and explode once every few weeks.

    My scripts never have bugs. They just develop random features.
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  10. 11-15-2007, 03:12 PM #10
    EuroNut
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    Quote Originally Posted by dbstephens View Post
    • 700 MHz Processor
    • 128MB of RAM
    • 15 GB hard drive

    Heh! That's almost the same spec as Jag's cheapest Discovery VPS, but without the burst or raid, and mucho tweaking

    Think about it .... RAM? Slow drive?
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  11. 11-15-2007, 03:13 PM #11
    Daniel_DBS
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    Quote Originally Posted by EuroNut View Post
    Heh! That's almost the same spec as Jag's cheapest Discovery VPS, but without the burst or raid, and mucho tweaking

    Think about it .... RAM? Slow drive?
    hahahaha... slow hard drive most likely... not to mention this things got a celeron in it (benchmarks WAY below a p3 at the same speed)
    -Daniel

    If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce today would cost $100, get a million miles to the gallon, and explode once every few weeks.

    My scripts never have bugs. They just develop random features.
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  12. 11-15-2007, 03:16 PM #12
    Daniel_DBS
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    what i dont get is the processor in this thing is temperamental.. it is actually rated at 700MHz, but then for some ODD reason, it decides to gear down and only show as being 500MHz on some days... its a pain in the @$$ but its been sitting on the shelf of my closet forever so why not make it useful? the things got an almost brand new battery in it!
    -Daniel

    If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce today would cost $100, get a million miles to the gallon, and explode once every few weeks.

    My scripts never have bugs. They just develop random features.
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  13. 11-15-2007, 03:28 PM #13
    EuroNut
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    Then sell the battery for at least $19.97 and get a Discovery VPS to play with for a month (complete with burst, raid and tech support!!)
    EuroNut (The mad Brit)
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  14. 11-15-2007, 03:40 PM #14
    Vin DSL
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    Quote Originally Posted by EuroNut View Post
    Heh! That's almost the same spec as Jag's cheapest Discovery VPS, but without the burst or raid, and mucho tweaking

    Think about it .... RAM? Slow drive?
    I've been thinking about lappies a LOT lately and come to the conclusion that they're a totally different animal than desktops and servers.

    Take HDs... Platter density is actually more important than rotational speed. Often, a large 5400RPM drive will out perform a small-ish 7200RPM drive.

    Memory... I've never noticed any difference adding RAM to a desktop machine. Most of my machines are running 1GB sticks, or less, but I'm running 4GB on my lappy and it made a huge difference.

    RAID... Works great on desktops and servers, but don't do it on a lappy! I was talking to a Tech at PC Club, and he said RAID on lappies causes no end of grief for customers...

    Screen size... Small is actually preferable to large! The smaller the better, actually, unless you're using it as a desktop replacement - which defeats the whole purpose!

    Anyway, those OLD ThinkPads were nice machines! Since Lenovo bought IBM, they suck!

    If it was me, I'd install Win98SE, and call it a day...
    DISCLAIMER Any resemblance between the views expressed above and those of the owners and operators of this system is purely coincidental. Any resemblance between these views and my own are non-deterministic. The existence of Vin DSL is questionable. The existence of views in the absence of anyone to hold them is problematic. The existence of the reader is left as an exercise in the second-order coefficient.

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  15. 11-15-2007, 03:51 PM #15
    Vin DSL
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    Quote Originally Posted by dbstephens View Post
    what i dont get is the processor in this thing is temperamental.. it is actually rated at 700MHz, but then for some ODD reason, it decides to gear down and only show as being 500MHz on some days...
    That's probably part/most of your problem with Linux...

    If you're booting in low speed mode, Linux probably *thinks* it's a got 133MHz processor, or whatever.

    I don't know what kind of trickery they're using on your lappy, but my 1.8GHz lappy is constantly shifting up 'n down from 1.6GHz to 800MHz. It does this to save the battery and run cooler...

    Yours is probably doing something similar...

    Apples n' oranges, I'm telling you!!!
    DISCLAIMER Any resemblance between the views expressed above and those of the owners and operators of this system is purely coincidental. Any resemblance between these views and my own are non-deterministic. The existence of Vin DSL is questionable. The existence of views in the absence of anyone to hold them is problematic. The existence of the reader is left as an exercise in the second-order coefficient.

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