Which Ubuntu variation for a IBM thinkpad 600

[Dthdealer]

I've recently obtained an old IBM Thinkpad 600 laptop that I wish to install a Linux distro (preferable Ubuntu) on. It's armed with a meaty pentium 2 processor (~250mhz) and a whopping big 5gb harddrive. I'm unsure of its ram content as yet as it currently has a win95 partition that of course has been immobilised thanks to the original owner's lack of anti-virus knowledge, and I don't beleive it has enough RAM to even boot a liveCD. I'm guessing it has either 128 or 256 megabytes, because those are the amount this model has stock.

Which Ubuntu distro should I use? Standard (gnome), Kubuntu (kde) or Xubuntu (xfce)? I'm not going to be playing games on it (cept nethack :), rather just word-processing (probably not OO as it is a ram hog, instead abiword), and I'd rather that I didn't end up with the minimalist Xfce desktop, but as far as I know that is the best option speedwise. Should I even bother with Ubuntu or should I try another distro?

Would it be possible to even run the standard Ubuntu install (gnome) at all on this slug? The reason I haven't tried the three variants is that 8.10 is about to come out, and to waste 1.5 gigs of bandwidth only to re-download the OS again seems wasteful of my 2gb a month allowance.

Finally, I'd like to congratulate the amazing work the Linux teams have done on this amazing operating system. If anyone says Linux sucks, its because they've never used it before and/or they have stared at the subliminal messages in V***a for more than half an hour. Vista was my turning point. Ram-hogging snail-speeding blue-plastic interfaces don't attract me, neither do their anti-freedom features.

EDIT: Install instructions for 7.04 (http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Installing_Ubuntu_7.04_Feisty_Fawn_on_a_ThinkPad_6 00E), are they the same for 8.04 / 8.10?

[snowpine]

Hi there, I would not recommend "regular" Ubuntu for your system specs (I've had the best luck with a pentium 4 and 512mb of ram minimum). Xubuntu could theoretically work if you have 256mb of ram. If you want reasonably speedy performance, however, you might be better off with a non-Ubuntu distro such as Puppy, DSL, SliTaz, or a minimal install of Debian.

Check out the massive Thinkpad owners thread to see what others are using on theirs: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=645208

And good luck!

[Dthdealer]

1 -TP 600x - PIII 500 Mhz / 384 Mb ram / 12Gb hdd

Have had this old friend for what seems like ever and never a problem. Has been running ubuntu since breezy and currently running gutsy beautifully.
My thinkpad doesn't have as much HD space, but from his recommendation I try the full Ubuntu first.
Thanks for the thread link snowpine!

EDIT:

Proud ThinkPad owner since 2006. I bought mine off eBay for about $160, then it cost about $60 for the accessories (car charger, battery, larger HD.)

TP 600 - 300MHz Pentium II - 352MB RAM - 40GB HDD

It used to run Ubuntu Feisty, but when I decided to upgrade to Gutsy, I switched it to Xubuntu in the process. Even with a newer HP also around (a Pavilion ze4300), as well as my desktop (which has the most muscle among my machines), I've been heavily using the Thinkpad. It stands up to everything from kids and falls to hardware faults and STILL chugs along. The only thing that's failed on it is the CDROM drive, and of course, the usual Thinkpad battery problems. It was hell getting the sound working, but worth it. It was my workhorse for almost all of 2007, and even now, it still sees use as a recovery machine.

[snowpine]

If you have 256mb of ram, you can try to install Ubuntu Hardy using the Alternate CD. The Live CD method of installation requires 384mb minimum. If you only have 128mb, I would highly recommend upgrading. :)

[Dthdealer]

If you have 256mb of ram, you can try to install Ubuntu Hardy using the Alternate CD. The Live CD method of installation requires 384mb minimum. If you only have 128mb, I would highly recommend upgrading. :)

As were my plans. I believe you can install from the liveCD using the text-only method anyway, only (i think) the iso for the alternate version is smaller.

[justok]

I've installed xubuntu on an IBM Thinkpad 600x. I tried loading Ubuntu but couldn't get it to work. xubuntu works fine for my needs. I did have to updated the bios.

[Dthdealer]

I've installed xubuntu on an IBM Thinkpad 600x. I tried loading Ubuntu but couldn't get it to work. xubuntu works fine for my needs. I did have to updated the bios.

Thank you for the post, I guess I'll have to leave KDE and GNOME after all.