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The Thinkpad T40 is an excellent machine that will run Linux well with just a bit of tweaking. For best performance and compatibility, use a distro that operates a 2.6 kernel.
Video: ATI Radeon Mobility 7500
Works out of the box with XFree86 4.3. Make sure AGPGART, Intel 440 series AGP chipset support, and the ATI Radeon DRM module. Make sure you add a DRI section to your XFree config, if it wasn't added by default. If 3D still isn't working, try playing with removing and reinserting the modules by hand. *NOTE: Other models may have a Radeon FireGL chipset instead. You're on your own there.
Sound: SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio
That's the name Windows tags it, it's really an Intel audio chipset, also supported by the Linux kernel ALSA drivers. Pick "Intel i8x0/MX440, SiS 7012; Ali 5455; NForce Audio; AMD768/8111" in the kernel configuration. Make sure you compile in the OSS support modules too.
Integrated Ethernet: Intel 8254 Gigabit Ethernet
Works perfectly. Select the Intel PRO/1000 Gigabit Ethernet support in the kernel. *NOTE: Other models may not have the gigabit version, but have the 100Mbit instead. For that select the Intel PRO/100+ support under 100Mbit controllers instead.
Modem: Sorry, I have no idea. It's a software modem. I believe I've heard it said it was an Agere systems chipset, which does have a binary driver, but you'll have to hunt it down. Who uses dialup with Linux anyway? ;)
Wireless: Intel PRO/Wireless LAN 2100 3B
Ah, this is the fun part. Fortunately, there are numerous options to get wireless net support with this chipset. Intel has released a very basic driver for Linux, which can be obtained at ipw2100.sourceforge.net. As of this writing, this driver was missing numerous features, such as WEP or WPA, but it does function, and pretty well. It is prone to being finicky with the firmware, but it usually behaves. Follow the directions in the archive to build it. There are also two driver wrappers that you can get. Both of these programs wrap a Windows driver into a Linux interface. One is LinuxAnt, a commercial product (you're on your own there), or you can get NDISWrapper from ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net. NDISWrapper worked pretty well under my testing, but it loved to bitch and moan in the system logs about driver wierdness, but it still works. As before, just follow the directions in the driver package.
Would you recommend the product? yes | Price you paid? (in USD): $1,680.00 | Rating: 10
Kernel (uname -r):
2.4.26
Distribution:
Slackware v10.0
Very solid laptop, with excellent Linux support. No issues with installation, configuration, or operation. The IBM "T" line is more expensive than competitors, but the quality of the machine itself makes the extra cost worthwhile, IMO.
One amazingly good resource in terms of getting Linux up and running successfully on a T40 can be found at this link:
http://bellet.info/laptop/t40.html
Seriously useful info. Buy with confidence. -- J.W.
Distribution: RedHat 9, Mandrake Move2, Windows XP Pro
Posts: 54
Rep:
Would you recommend the product? yes | Price you paid? (in USD): None indicated | Rating: 7
Kernel (uname -r):
2.6.3
Distribution:
Mandrake Move2
I used a liveCD of Mandrake Move2 before installing Mandrake 10.1 OE. Hence, there was no need to install anything. Move recognised everything except the software modem. My problem was that, I could not mount the NTFS HD win Windows XP in it.
Would you recommend the product? yes | Price you paid? (in USD): $3,000.00 | Rating: 10
Kernel (uname -r):
2.6
Distribution:
Feodra Core 3, Suse 9, Knoppix
though it may seem overpriced this laptop was the top of the line when i got it and is loaded with 1GB of RAM, and is worth every penny. all i can say is that i have never been happier with a laptop or any other computer for that matter.
i have used Fedoar Core 1-3 on this computer and never had any problems with compatibility. Well... the integrated wireless nic is not supported but using a PCMCIA Aironet 350 series card solves the problem of wireless connection. You might run into problems with sound using FC 3 (FC1 and FC2 worked fine) even after the sound test was sucesful but just make sure to have correct mixer settings (by the way this is not specific to this laptop but can be an issue with sound module used). i never had any problems with video card and the resolution which was the case on some other laptops. also, i had never used the modem on this computer but i remeber seeing it under listed devices so it should probably work.
Suse 9.0 worked with no problems either. in fact it worked even better than Fedora because there was no need to play with mixer settings.
Knoppix was used as a live version so no installation involved but once the system booted there were no problems at all.
Would you recommend the product? yes | Price you paid? (in USD): None indicated | Rating: 10
Kernel (uname -r):
2.6.13
Distribution:
SuSE 10
Ok, my work paid for this, but if you give me Administrator rights on the machine... It still has the supplied XP install, but dual-boots with SuSE 10. I originally installed SuSE 9.0 which worked well but didn't fully support the hardware, (vesa driver for video & no wireless support). I later updated to SuSE 9.2, then 9.3, and just recently updated to SuSE 10. Hardware support has only gotten better. ATI Raideon driver works fine, full 3D OpenGL support. Wireless and on-board G-bit nic work fine. Sound has always worked. I've not used any third party drivers since SuSE 9.3, everything worked fine with drivers with the distribution. I've never tried the modem, but it seems to be properly detected. This makes an Excellent Linux laptop, highly recommended, I'll have to keep this job so I don't have to give it up ;^)
Would you recommend the product? yes | Price you paid? (in USD): None indicated | Rating: 10
Kernel (uname -r):
2.6.20-16-generic
Distribution:
Ubuntu 7.04
All devices fully recognized.
Wireless is very powerfull for a internal minipci card.
1GBps LAN card
Volume and mute buttons full detected by ubuntu, and pretty big icon for this.
Beryl Manager work great after installing (see beryl-project.org) no need extra drivers.
99% satisfied.
Would you recommend the product? yes | Price you paid? (in USD): None indicated | Rating: 9
Kernel (uname -r):
2.6.24.5-smp (generic)
Distribution:
Slackware 12.1
I decided to buy IBM ThinkPad T series laptop because of two reasons: it has additional TrackPoint (I don't like popular TouchPads, which are less precise); it has logical keyboard's layout (similar to standard keyboards and without unwanted Windows keys). I write a lot, so keyboard's look and feel is very important for me.
I use IBM ThinkPad T41 for four years. I bought it new. I use also secondary T40 for two years. I bought it used.
When I started with T41 I found some help on http://tuxmobile.org/. Now I think that better source of help is http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:T40 or http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:T41.
T41 and T40 are similar machines, so I install and configure the system once on the first machine and then clone it on the second. I'm Slacker, so I use Slackware. I'm power user, so I use Window Maker and Midnight Commander.
With T series models some configuration settings are tricky but it is possible to configure virtually all services. I used in the past or I use now internal modem, serial port emulation, DSL connection, PPPoE connection, various USB devices, various PCMCIA cards, and IrDA port.
For a few years I kept Windows XP on the first partition only for update BIOS from time to time. IBM's BIOS update application didn't work in Linux and I didn't want to use some tricky but potentially insecure methods of updating BIOS. With the help of Linux I cloned Windows XP on the second machine -- for the same reason.
I use both my machines first of all for writing texts (OpenOffice.org), manage digital photographies (GIMP, GQview), watching movies (MPlayer), and listen music (moc, Audaciuos). I use of course also network applications (Firefox, Thunderbird).
Perfect laptop deserves the rate of 10. ThinkPads from T series aren't perfect. I subtracted one point because of some incompatibilities involving long learning curve when I try to configure some new services. So the final rating is 9/10.
I recommend T series laptops. Both my ThinkPads (made in China) aren't so solid as my previous Toshiba Satellite 4030CDT (made in Germany) but both are better than good machines -- ideal for a writer.
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