IBM Thinkpad 600e resurrected
November 17th, 2008 RustyLou, of OckhamResearch.com, had an old IBM Thinkpad 600e sitting on a shelf elevating some boxes of archived papers. My 5yo son was visiting me at work and wanted to "type on the computer" so I tried to fire it up. It booted to the log in screen but I didn’t have the password. My son proceeded to draw on the white board. When he’s 15, I’ll just be a geek with a dorky job but for now daddy’s office is fun.
Stop Taunting Me You Silly Twit!
The thinkpad sat there, requesting a password, for several weeks. Lou didn’t know the password either so there it sat, taunting me.
Showing My Age
I grew tired of staring at a Windows NT Workstation…
Memory
All alone in the moonlight
I can smile at the old days
I was beautiful then
…prompt so I tried to wipe it and install Windows XP. The machine boasts a mind blowing Pentium II 366mhz processor with 280MB RAM and a 12 Gig Hard Drive.
Crash & Burn
Upon installing XP, I was greeted by the always ever popular Windows BSOD (blue screen of death). I don’t keep a copy of NT lying around so it was off to Linux world for something that might not crash on this barely used, completely not useful little IBM notebook.
p.s. Wouldn’t it be funny if computers got grey hair and wrinkles like we do?
Plan B
I burned a cd of Ubuntu from their website using my Mac…
Friday night and I need a fight
My motorcycle and a switchblade knife
Handful of grease in my hair feels right
But what I need to make me tight are those…
…uh, where was I? I ran the installer, answered several questions about where I am and how I like my stuff displayed, and launched into a fully functional, very useful and pleasing to use Ubuntu desktop. For the uninitiated, it comes pre-installed with the O/S (duh), Open Office (Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Presentation), Firefox Internet Browser, a bunch of games, a sound recorder, Gimp Image Editor, Photo Manager, Open Office Drawing, Ekiga Soft Phone, Pidgin IM, Transmission BitTorrent Client, Movie Player, Rhythmbox Music Player, the list goes on… it comes loaded with useful programs. It does not however have any of the following included with the installation: trials to aol, msn or netzero; dell notifications irritator, Lenovo restore manager; background update managers; heavy device management utilities; alternate network management or power profile sub systems; OEM crapware. Of course, a fresh install of XP doesn’t have that junk either but then you have to spend several hours assembling all that other stuff and it is not, well, free.
Sweeeeeeeeeeeet, psych!
To see if my new Linux dog could hunt, I launched Firefox. Aw, snap! No wireless. Wireless was a luxury in 1999. I can hardly remember such a time. So I looked into the possibilities and found that this old monster used cardbus architecture. Those were little laptop cards we used to have to buy to enable mobility in mobile computers. You kids are too young to remember.
I seem to recognize your face
Haunting, familiar, yet I cant seem to place it
Cannot find the candle of thought to light your name
Lifetimes are catching up with me
Amazon had a 802.11G Wireless Xtreme Cardbus Adapter (D-Link Wireless 108G) for $8 plus shipping. For $15 I was willing to give it a shot. In two business days, my new cardbus adapter and "Programming in Objective C" book arrived (I never order just one thing from Amazon). I opened it up (the card) and hoped to see a Linux install option…
The time is right your perfume fills my head, the stars get red
And oh the night’s so blue
And then I go and spoil it all, by saying something stupid
My heart sank as I realized I have no experience with Linux and I didn’t know how to get, much less install, drivers for Linux. Visions of vi filled my head. In the mean time, I shoved the card in the slot and watched as the green lights began to blink. Then, as I clicked on the network icon near the top of the screen, I found that it had "installed itself". The computer discovered and enabled the card and the networks were listed in the available networks box. I had to provide my password 3 times, resulting in a timeout on the first 2, but since that time it just connects when it boots like a good little computer should.
Wow is all I can say.
So now we have, for the investment of about 30 minutes and $15 for a wireless card, an extra laptop. It works perfectly for browsing the Internets and will be a perfect machine for my son to type on when he visits me at work. Should he spill his chocolate milk slammer down into the keyboard, it will go back on the shelf from whence it came.
I can’t speak to whether it would be a good choice for a student as their teacher is going to be using Windows. I don’t know exactly how interoperable Open Office is with MS Office but I can tell you that its not as sexy or easy to use. MS Office sets the standard there. However, for an extra computer that is constrained on cpu or memory or both, its a perfect way to get a little extra life out of something that was otherwise beyond its functional lifespan. You don’t have to worry about viruses and its inherently secure and stable.