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I maintain a 17 year old ThinkPad

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Re: I maintain a 17 year old ThinkPad

#461

Post by srik »

mikae1 wrote: post #51
cosmic_cheese wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Framework’s offerings are interesting, but after having gotten used to the solid rigidity of M-series MacBooks and X1 series Thinkpads, the level of flex in the Framework 13 is a major issue for me. It’s difficult to justify for the price, plus PCBs and repeated flex stress don’t mix nicely. I think it’s time for either Framework or a third party partner to sell a new chassis that’s compatible with the FW13’s mainboa…

As I see it, an aluminum slab MNT Reform Next[1] would be a better Thinkpad replacement than a Framework (from a build and reparability standpoint). [1] https://www.crowdsupply.com/mnt/mnt-reform-next

MNT reforms get more and more appealing by the day as I’ve become increasingly disillusioned by the state of current hardware offerings.

Re: I maintain a 17 year old ThinkPad

#462

Post by moffkalast »

jamesdhutton wrote: post #362
fadedsignal wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sucks. I remember buying my XPS when the new version released and tried to install Linux (Fedora). Nvidia driver issues, CPU E/P core issues, and many more. It literally took 2 years to get stable. Recently, Nvidia released a new version of the driver. Guess what happened? PC doesn't wake up from sleep anymore. I'm not even mentioning the so-called 8-hour battery life.

Yeah Nvidia and Linux don’t play together nicely. I discovered that the hard way too. I switched to AMD and it’s been smooth sailing ever since.

It's real pity that is the only upside of an AMD GPU.

Re: I maintain a 17 year old ThinkPad

#463

Post by 2b3a51 »

firefax wrote: post #396

So if I was looking for an older Thinkpad to throw something XFCE flavored onto, what are some model numbers to look for? I'm basically just looking to do word processing/browsing, but I assume I'll have to jack up the ram, maybe replace the main drive with an SSD...

Depends on what screen size/resolution you favour, and the type of keyboard.

I like the older keyboards and I'm ok with 1366x768 so I'm happy with an X220 with 8Gb RAM and a 256Gb ssd (sata). I know many people would find that unacceptable.

Re: I maintain a 17 year old ThinkPad

#464

Post by Saris »

piuantiderp wrote: post #431
Saris wrote: post #408

Having used old thinkpads I just don't really understand the appeal, especially with how poor old LCDs look. The trackpads are tiny, the battery life is abysmal, they're heavy and like an inch thick.

One does not use the trackpad in a thinkpad. If anything they should be removed. The old keyboards are a dream to type on... Only computer that came close (that I had was HP DV1000)

Yeah I've tried the little track nub things but they don't work well for me, a good track pad is much quicker.

Re: I maintain a 17 year old ThinkPad

#465

Post by johnisgood »

jmclnx wrote: post #319
johnisgood wrote: post #169

I have an IBM T42, but I have the supervisor password set that I have long forgotten. I know about ways to clear the password (if they indeed work) but I have not gotten around it. If anyone knows a solution that does work, feel free to share. It is in a mint condition, not a single scratch, and I don't want to throw it out for sure. I have an old OpenBSD on it, it is perfect for some light C coding using mg. :)

From my corrupted memory, but I think what you need to do is unplug, pull out the battery, open it up and remove the cmos battery. There should be instructions on the WEB for that. At work, people alawys returned their Thinkpads with that PW set, so I know there is a fix. But if the password is a harddisk password, you are SOL :( You will need to get a new HD.

If I remember correctly that is not enough, because the supervisor password is stored on the EEPROM chip, so I supposedly have to short some pins.

I found this: http://asknotes.com/2018/09/04/removing-supervisor-password-...

I am not certain, however! We will see.

Re: I maintain a 17 year old ThinkPad

#466

Post by kwanbix »

zokier wrote: post #405

Personally I think beyond T450 generation, i.e. over 10 years old systems, you are starting to make pretty severe compromises. T440 generation had really bad Trackpoint setup, and older hardware starts to lose features. Random stuff that T450 has that T400 doesn't * USB3 * Up to 32 GB of RAM (vs max 8 GB for T400) * M.2 slot (for SSD), 6 Gb/s SATA (vs 1.5 Gb/s on T400) * x86-64-v3 (AVX2 etc) and OpenGL 4.6 * Dual-ban…

My two T460s work just fine. They are not as expandable as my T420 but I can change the M.2 SSD and the RAM. That is enough for me at this point. RAM and STORAGE has to be upgradeable.

Re: I maintain a 17 year old ThinkPad

#467

Post by anon6362 »

T480 (non-s)

- Love the dual batteries (one swappable) unavailable on Apple-design infested T490

- Retrofitted with magnesium top case and bezel mod

- 5 extended 72 Whr batteries with a third-party external charger from some dude in the UK

- Upgraded to fastest processor and discrete GPU (slow on its own but I use a Razer Core X eGPU with an Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti, and can run basically any game on Steam.)

- 32 GiB of RAM

- WiFi 6e Intel AX210 (looking at WiFi 7 using the AMD-compatible Broadcom FastConnect 7800 / QCNCM865 that I run on my AMD 7900 Asrock DeskMini X600 electronic lab Windows-only things box that I'm typing on right now).

- Bought OE replacement most likely to fail: keyboards, pointing stick (and tips), trackpad assembly, and fans (I think I bought 6). Any loose USB, etc. connectors I can resolder myself.

- I might have a slight mainboard problem because I'm constantly running ThrottleStop to get higher, sustained Tdp with SpeedFan sending fans manually to full blast or otherwise the max freq randomly drops to painfully-slow 900 MHz max non-deterministically.

Re: I maintain a 17 year old ThinkPad

#469

Post by firefax »

2b3a51 wrote: post #463
firefax wrote: post #396

So if I was looking for an older Thinkpad to throw something XFCE flavored onto, what are some model numbers to look for? I'm basically just looking to do word processing/browsing, but I assume I'll have to jack up the ram, maybe replace the main drive with an SSD...

Depends on what screen size/resolution you favour, and the type of keyboard. I like the older keyboards and I'm ok with 1366x768 so I'm happy with an X220 with 8Gb RAM and a 256Gb ssd (sata). I know many people would find that unacceptable.

I can get a monitor if needed, it's more meant to be a luggable. I'm not a keyboard purist -- I hunt and peck :-)

Re: I maintain a 17 year old ThinkPad

#470

Post by p_greendale »

Hm, I find that comparison a bit off. As a lover of both, Thinkpads (original IBM and Lenovo followups) AND macbooks, I would like to say that it IS possible to maintain macbooks, at least the older ones. My 2012'er MacBook Pro is holding up, parts like the sata-cable and worn out fan were replaced and the ram was upgraded. My Powerbook 530 hat replacable parts, even the G3 Pismo(?) one and an white ibook g3 is also serviceable if you're patient. Same happend for the thinkpads 360, 570, 600, X41t, X61s, T60, T61... hell. We even had chinese colleagues ordering for motherboards for us from china with changed firmware to run 201'er boards in X200 tablets. I became frustrated on thinkpads when Lenovo tried to mimick Apples lightweight AIO design and their first chicklet keyboard frustrated me. I changed all to apple then, because if both do weird things, why not using the more power efficent M1 (imho, maybe that has changed.)

Do you remember the old thinkpad bios? Where the pointer was a flying duck? Do you remember opening a thinkpad and everything was labelled with colors and had small handles to change components quickly? Do remember changing ram on a powerbook? And do you remember how hard it was to find a new scsi disc drive for them?

Recently, I got an nearly mint T420 at work as I needed something for a mobile job and I just felt my love for the black boxes again. Damn, I miss those days but I also would miss my retina (apple) or 4k screen (Lenovo) if I had to decide between either an old machine or a new one. Luckily, I can keep a few

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