[svlug] My laptop just died

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Larry Colen (lrc at red4est.com):

> I was hoping to wait a bit longer, but my schedule seems to have been
> bumped up. I need something that'll run linux, compile kernels and the
> like. 
> 
> I found two on craigslist that seem interesting, any feedback on
> either of them?
> http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/sys/431581073.html
> IBM Thinkpad T61 labtop notebook computer NEW - $889 

(That would be actually a Lenovo ThinkPad T61.  All ThinkPad models after the 
T42/T42p (and simultaneous ones in other model series) are Lenovo-branded.)

I've done some testing on a T61p, which has an Nvidia video chip.  I'm
guessing that the T61 differs in using onboard Intel video.  The
Thinkwiki will tell you for sure.  On the T61p:

Everything was supported by RHEL4U5 (and by 2007.03 versions of Sidux).
There were some problems in earlier releases, in that their
2.6.9-whatever vendor kernels didn't include a recent enough e1000
driver for the Intel 82566MM ethernet chip.  Full hardware details:

1 x Intel Core 2 Duo model T6600 @ 2.40 GHz CPU
2041932 kBDDR2 SDRAM
Intel 965M Express northbridge
Intel 82801H (ICH8M-family) south bridge (use: "ahci" SATA driver)
HL-DT-ST mdoel GSA-U10N DVD-RAM/ROM and CD/CDR drive, ATAPI-type
Synaptics PS/2 touchpad
Seagate ST910021AS 100 GB SATA HD
Intel 82566MM (PRO/1000-family) ethernet 
Ricoh R5C832 Firewire chip
Ricoh R5C822 DS/MMC/MS/XD flash memory controller
Nvidia FX 470 video (probably not present on T61)
Intel ICH8-class sound

> http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/sys/436698880.html
> IBM Thinkpad T41 - $400

Old enough that I don't have a full write-up on it, but also old enough
that drivers are really no problem at all, these days.  Again, details 
in Thinkwiki.