Hi guys,

I should probably ask this question on a hardware forum, but i respect you guys opinion more than any other forum on the web.

I'm using this laptop for controlled penetration testing, my main focus is reliabilty and adapability with Linux, after doing some research i'm just about ready to buy this....

IBM thinkpad L520. Was just wondering if anyone had any experience with the thinkpads and linux and how they performed.

This laptop will either run Slackware or Debian.

Thanks in advance, hope all is well.

I don't have experience using Thinkpads, but I used to sell computers. I think they are over priced for what you get. But if you just love IBM, Thinkpads, and/or Lenovo, get one. BUT before you do, you need to put a live CD/DVD of the Linux you are going to run on that laptop. If all the hardware doesn't work/or it won't even boot, you'll want to keep looking. If a live test is not possible because you are ordering from online, then you will have to do some extensive research on what wifi card, etc is in the TP, and see if it is supported by your distro. As a contributing member, I'm guessing you already know this, but maybe someone less Linux educated doesn't, and they might find this post in a search.

IBM has some of the smartest people on the planet working for them. At one time they used to test systems in hot cold chambers for 24 hours even after countless line tests. They had people working on linux, aix and other OS/2 for decades and their products were high quality.

Here is the problem with all systems made. You create a device and test it on a particular OS. IBM learned a very hard lesson with the OS/2 support. They found that even if a very stable system ran MS products, the same system would fail on OS/2. The way an OS uses the internal parts and timings and buffers can only be tested live with the correct OS. Even between versions of MS products they would find that they needed to rma a number of boards to get the next version supported.

Lucky for you many of the IBM products did get limited internal tests on linux but unless you purchase a system that has OEM support like a Red Hat or Suse from a company, you can't determine the quality of the system. Generally the more you pay the better the system. Buying from the business sites tend to offer a bit more stable products.

OS/2. I used to love that OS, but IBM made some terrible mistakes that *helped* kill it.

All I can really say is slack 13.37 runs swimmingly on my (five or six year old) Thinkpad T41. The only thing that didn't work "out of the box" was the little Trackpoint eraserhead, which I use, but getting it working was just a matter of uncommenting the PS/2 mouse line in one of the config files. I did recently have a little hiccup: I had the machine in my backpack in the passenger's seat of my car and had to slam on the brakes. The backpack slid off and the next time I booted my system I couldn't access my user home directory (which is on a separate partition from my root system). It looked like it was just deleted; no idea how the hell that happened but luckily I didn't have much in it, just had to rewrite some config files mostly.

But on the other hand, this laptop has survived a longer fall straight onto asphalt with two textbooks landing on top of it with no discernible damage to hard- or software; so YMMV I guess.

Overall I'd buy one again, I love them. I'm currently waiting for my mom to buy herself a new laptop so I can snag her current one. But the cost thing for me is different as my mom has "connections" and can get good deals on them, so I can't really comment on that.

In the meantime I'll take better care of mine I guess...

I'm typing on a Lenovo 3000 N200 and I've just brought a IBM Thinkpad 600E back to life.

The Thinkpad just feels better built than the non-Thinkpad Lenovo and the keyboard is better to type on. I wasn't aware how much difference in construction there was between the two when I bought it, and, next time, I'd be happy to pay a little extra for the Thinkpad brand. (When I bought it, there was an end-of-line Thinkpad with a slightly slower processor and no webcam available for little more than the N200 - today, in the same position, I'd take the Thinkpad - after all, you'll always get the benefit of the keyboard, irrespective of what upgrades to memory you might ultimately make.)

hey mate, i dont know bout your model, but i bought a new thinkpad x220 about 3 months back. (thinkpads now owned by lenovo) Everything with most distros works out of the box. my main distros are debian squeeze and slackware 13.37. debian is the only distro ive had anything wrong with it, and thats due to older software on to newer laptop, nothing a couple of easy backports couldnt fix. if you buy a new model, watch to make sure it doesn't use nividia optimus graphics.

As chance would have it, I booted my business laptop, a Lenovo R61i Thinkpad, from a Ubuntu 11.10 live CD this afternoon and everything seemed to work okay - GUI, wireless internet, wired internet, regular sound (no MP3 drivers in Ubuntu), hard drive access, including built-in and two USB external drives, 10 port USB hub. This was not a hard test, I've been thinking of dual-booting this Win XP laptop for some time and was just curious what would happen if I tried Linux on it. I did not try printing anything.

Did the same thing later today with a new Windows 7 ASUS K52F laptop with similar results. I had tried the ASUS with Ubuntu 10.10 a week or so ago and never could get the GUI to work. No such problem with 11.10. The GUI came up easily and likewise the internet, disk drives, etc. I plan to try installing Ubuntu on the ASUS sometime next week.

My IBM A22m and T-23 are ancient compared to your IBM thinkpad L520.

Debian Testing runs just fine on them, trackpad and all.

Here's a websight you may like jwkinneyjr,
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Instal..._ThinkPad_R61i

This websight relates to a version of Ubuntu over two years old, so some of this info will most likely be out dated. I looked at the hardware specs and everything looked like it should work great. You can only give it a go and see, can't hurt. Little note though if this is your first time partitioning; if your windows partition takes up all your hard drive space, it will have to be resized, (shrunk). Windows doesn't usually take kindly to this action, and you will have to repair the partition with your windows install disc afterwards. Lastly, make sure you make a backup first, just in case you do something bad; dought it though, everything is pretty straight forward. p.s. if you are new to Linux, remember Linux is all about choice, and i'm just throwing this at you because Ubuntus desktop environment "Unity" isn't what i call the 'usual' desktop environment, and if you don't like it, you can always install a different one, or even a different distrobution for that matter. Good luck, and welcome to the forums.

1 members found this post helpful.

Got Lenovo X220i just a week ago. Every piece of hardware seem to work perfectly with no additional tinkering (ubuntu 11.10). Seems like lenovo is quite linux-friendly.

I would have to agree. I just got one a few weeks ago. I run Slackware on it. I'm very pleased. It even suspends to RAM quickly when I shut the lid. The battery lasts for about 5 hours when I'm doing Java development on it... Netbeans, Tomcat, debug mode, MySQL, etc. That's phenomenal! I packed mine with 8GB of RAM and the fastest processor they had, 2.7 GHz dual core. Also, you should get the better wireless card. I had a laptop with the same, cheap default one that comes with the X220 and it was about 1/4 the speed of the upgraded one. And it's more reliable. UPGRADE the wireless card when you order!

The only piece of hardware I know that doesn't work is the microphone. Although I understand it might be patched in a later kernel than the one that ships with Slackware 13.37:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...ux/+bug/746259

I had a System 76 Serval Pro 6 (no longer available). The battery lasted for about an hour, when it was new. It was the worst laptop I've ever had. Lots of hardware issues. Hard freezes, sent in for repair, yada, yada. I finally couldn't stand it anymore and ordered the X220. I have no regrets.

Meetscott -- which kernel do you use? Mine is 3.0.0-12 (64 bit). 6cell batt gives me only 4hrs with i3 processor. On the sunny side, my mic seem to work (tested just once with skype).

I also have problems with hibernation, it works on command line (but there may be occasional issues with recovery, have to test more), but not with buttons. I guess it is a gnome problem though.

hi otoomet, i also have an x220 and susspend works for me to out of the box. hibernation with mine has issues too. results seem inconsistant, sometimes it will work but usually it will not. this is executed through the gui in kde. i have never tried to execute it in the cli. i use 2.6.39 kernel. slackwares default kernel, 2.6.37 does not work with suspending to ram for me, and that's a relativley new kernel, so that shows you need a farly new kernel at the moment.

I'm using the stock 2.6.37.6 kernel that ships with Slackware 13.37. 4 hours on the 6 cell sounds about right. I am getting 6 hours with the 9 cell... 50% more cells, 50% more battery life. I never use hibernation and I've never tried it. Suspend is good enough for me because the battery lasts so long anyway.

Does your microphone work? I would like to know if that kernel version is enough to make it work. I guess I could build the latest, but I generally don't like to "test" new stuff on a work machine, hence the reason I don't run Slackare "current" on it.