Re: IBM Thinkpad 600 X (SOLVED)

[alan41]

Hi
First I have to say I love my xubuntu installation on my old PC.

So I thought I would install a version of Linux on an old but very good IBM Thinkpad 600E and I thought it would be easy !!!

It only has a CD drive so I was limited to what fits on a CD 700MB. I does have a USB but it cannot be booted from this I have researched.

After several attempts with several different distributions non of which completed installation I decided to wipe the HDD using DBan and try again. The same result..... crashed installs or installs that never completed.

I tried:
Ubuntu mini.iso
Lubuntu

I have now used the IBM Product Recovery disk and installed WIN 98 in the hope that this would better prepare the machine for an install but no luck.

Can anyone help as I have run out of ideas. Any Ubuntu distribution on this machine would make me happy as the sole os.

thanks in anticipation

[coffeecat]

According to one link I found, the IBM ThinkPad 600E comes with a maximum of 64MB RAM. Which would be insufficient even for Lubuntu, the lightest of the Ubuntu flavours. And that is possibly why the Lubuntu installer crashed. And you'll never get Ubuntu itself to work in such a tiny amount of RAM.

I suggest you post the full specifications of your ThinkPad and confirm the amount of RAM you have on it. Then members can advise what your best option would be. In the meantime, you might find the Old hardware brought back to life sticky thread useful reading:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2130640

By the way, you don't need to do any "better preparation" of the machine prior to installing. The installer will write a new MBR if necessary and create the partitions for you. Windows 98 would simply get overwritten. The reason for the installer crash is most likely the lack of RAM.

[sudodus]

Please specify your computer

- Brand name and model (we know already, but the other details are important)
- CPU
- RAM (size)
- graphics chip/card
- wifi chip/card

It makes it easier to help. Before knowing more, I would suggest an ultra-light linux distro, Wary Puppy, TahrPup or Tiny Core.

See also this link: Old hardware brought back to life

[Bucky Ball]

Thread moved to Ubuntu, Linux and OS Chat.

[stalkingwolf]

according to the specs here http://www.engadget.com/products/ibm...pad/600/specs/ it only has a 6gb hdd. if so that will
drastically limit choices.

[ArgentWarrior]

according to the specs here http://www.engadget.com/products/ibm...pad/600/specs/ it only has a 6gb hdd. if so that will
drastically limit choices.

Maybe the OP should consider Arch with a tiling WM.

[alan41]

Many thanks for the help and suggestions.

for those that need extra information to help me I have gleaned the following info:
IBM Thinkpad 600x
WIN 98
576MB RAM
Available on drive C 698 MB of 2044 MB FAT
Available on drive D 9448 of 9448 MB FAT32
windows manager swap file on drive C 698 MB free
(I presume these are partitions as I recall putting a 10GB HDD in it many years ago.)
intel pentium [r] II processor Intel MMX [tm]
standard PCI Graphics Adapter
the wifi is a plug in KLS 611 802.11g wireless notebook network card.

[sudodus]

With 576 MB RAM and a 10 GB HDD and a Pentium II CPU it should be possible to run Puppy and Tiny Core. You cannot expect that it will work well to browse the internet to modern web-sites with a lot of bells and whistles

Maybe Wary Puppy is better than TahrPup for such an old computer, but you should try both of them.

A current version of Lubuntu did not work for you. I guess you tried 14.04 LTS. An alternative is a community re-spin based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS with older hardware drivers. The graphics driver might be critical. Maybe you can try LXLE or ToriOS.

Summary: I think that Wary Puppy and Tiny Core are the best alternatives. And I think this computer will be more for playing with linux than for daily use.

[grahammechanical]

Here is a thought. When you install do not tick the box "Install third party software." That will give you not only some proprietary video and audio codecs but also a proprietary video driver. And the driver will be the latest one for that version of Ubuntu. Which in turn will not have support for such an old video adapter. And that means failure on restart.

If the live session runs then it is running on an open source video driver. And that is what you will get for the installed OS by not ticking the box "install third party software." This is the same for all flavours of Ubuntu.

Regards.

[alan41]

With 576 MB RAM and a 10 GB HDD and a Pentium II CPU it should be possible to run Puppy and Tiny Core. You cannot expect that it will work well to browse the internet to modern web-sites with a lot of bells and whistles

Maybe Wary Puppy is better than TahrPup for such an old computer, but you should try both of them.

A current version of Lubuntu did not work for you. I guess you tried 14.04 LTS. An alternative is a community re-spin based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS with older hardware drivers. The graphics driver might be critical. Maybe you can try LXLE or ToriOS.

Summary: I think that Wary Puppy and Tiny Core are the best alternatives. And I think this computer will be more for playing with linux than for daily use.

Following your suggestion I have now just downloaded Puppy wary-5.5.iso and burnt to a CD

it all started well with a 'puppy screen logo etc' then I got:
puupy-wary-5.5.sfs not found !
i do not understand why this file would not be included in the download, I do recall my installation on Ubuntu on my other machine installing seamlessly so why is this happening?