Installing 6.06lts on Thinkpad A31

**pixtureskk** · October 26th, 2009

I am not a techie, a Linux newbie so please make your reply easy to follow. I have an IBM Thinkpad A31 2652 j3u, P4 1.6M, 512 PC2700 DDR, ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 laptop running XP Pro SP3. I want to install Ubuntu 6.06lts (I have the cd). Will the Ubuntu installer format my "C" drive before installing 6.06 (I only want Ubuntu on this computer)? Is 6.06 the best version to install for this laptop or can you suggest a better even more compatible version (I want to install Firefox with the Package Manager). Will I have any serious problems installing Ubuntu? Thanks.

**PatrickVogeli** · October 27th, 2009

during the install, you can specifiy what you want. The default is format the entire hard drive and then it sets up the partitions needed for you.

As for the version.. get a newer one. 6.06 i very old (June 2006 version). You could go for the 9.10 beta version. Download here

If you don't want to go with the beta (which is working fine, FYI) you can grab version 9,04. 9.10 shoudl be released the 29th.

**noelvh** · October 27th, 2009

Holy smokes that is an old copy, and i am not sure it is supported any more. I setup my Dad's T30 laptop with 8.10, and that worked well. 8.04 is the min I would put on that machine, and I think it is lts as well. You will not need to install Firefox as that is the default browser in 8.04.

If you want Ubuntu to take ove the hard drive it will, or it will allow you to dual boot. During the install when you are at the partition manager have it take over the hard drive and it will.

So get over to the Ubuntu web site and download 8.04, or 8.10 and give it a try.

Noel

**hansdown** · October 27th, 2009

Yes, 6.06 has reached end of life.

A newer version would be better.

**pixtureskk** · October 27th, 2009

Thanks guys, I will get 8.10. Also, running XP PRO SP3, I am getting numerous Blue Screen errors which is making the XP impossible to use. Will I encounter the same problem using 8.10 either as a live cd, install version. Thanks.

**pixtureskk** · October 27th, 2009

Am I better off just to wait for 9.10, it won't be long? Thanks.

**noelvh** · October 27th, 2009

The one this I would suggest is you pick up a bit more ram for that computer. 512 will work, but with the newer OS 1gb would be much better.

With my Dad's I T30 I found that 9.04 would not support his wifi card, and I tried all the work arounds to get it working but was unable to. That is why I suggest 8.04 or 8.10. I would download and run the live CD to test the hardware support.

Now to the BSOD you are getting in windows!!! You should not have these issues with Ubuntu!!!!! I can count on one hand the number of time I got a full system crash using Ubuntu, and I have been using it for 3 years now. I have had apps crash, but the way Linux works when an app crashes it dose not take the hole system down, only that one app. Now if the BSOD are hardware related you will see some issues. The great thing about Ubuntu amd other distros of Linux is the live CDs. You can run the OS right from the CD with out installing any thing to the hard drive.

Noel.

**pixtureskk** · October 27th, 2009

Thanks Noel. I will give one of the 8 series a try, compare it with 9.04. This will take some time as I am busy with other things, will report back when I can. Thanks, Ken.