No small task? [LWN.net]

No small task?

Posted Feb 19, 2008 18:08 UTC (Tue) by rfunk (subscriber, #4054)
Parent article: Lenovo Launches Linux Laptop and Leaves Lots of Questions (eWeek)

Thinkpads have long been considered good with Linux.  I thought that 
historically the only thing that Linux had trouble with on 
Thinkpads was the modem.

(Log in to post comments)

No small task?

Posted Feb 19, 2008 18:23 UTC (Tue) by mgb (subscriber, #3226) [Link]

The T61's audio wasn't supported until 2.6.23.  If using the non-free NVidia drivers you'll
also need a recent Xorg.  In the Debian world, only Unstable/Sid meets these requirements.
It's possible to work with mostly Testing/Lenny mixed with some packages from Unstable/Sid but
it's a bit of a pain.

Kudos to SLED for supporting the T61 out of the box, and for now making it possible to avoid
the Microsoft tax on Linux thinkpads.

No small task?

Posted Feb 19, 2008 19:04 UTC (Tue) by jebba (subscriber, #4439) [Link]

I have a T61 and my version has Intel video:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics
Controller (rev 0c)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics
Controller (rev 0c)

http://thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:T61

It's the best laptop I've had.

-Jeff

No small task?

Posted Feb 20, 2008 11:06 UTC (Wed) by maks (subscriber, #32426) [Link]

> Kudos to SLED for supporting the T61 out of the box, and for now making it 
> possible to avoid the Microsoft tax on Linux thinkpads.

Lenovo refunds you 30 euro if you certify not to use Windows and send them back the license
sticker. Very much straightforward. Just needs a support call to open the issue.

Just got mine back from an August X61s buy (I asked in late December for refund).

Lenovo's business practices

Posted Feb 21, 2008 4:51 UTC (Thu) by jaa (subscriber, #14170) [Link]

I tried the same here in Colorado (USA), and basically Lenovo said that I can return my OS
license, but to do so, I have to return the whole laptop and they are going to charge %15
restocking fee ($163) if I do so.

In my opinion, they were financially extorting me to accept the license terms which I found
unacceptable. The only way to proceed further would have been by litigation, which I haven't
done. 

Based on this experience, and the way Lenovo handled my case, I can not recommend them.

Lenovo's business practices

Posted Feb 21, 2008 10:23 UTC (Thu) by maks (subscriber, #32426) [Link]

> I tried the same here in Colorado (USA), [..]

Sorry to hear that. Thinkpads are much fun to work on and Linux support is very decent (even
modem works nowadays). Refund procdure in Europe is best described here (german):
http://www.heise.de/open/news/foren/S-Lenovo-nimmt-Window...

The guy was saying that you have to insist and ring them several times until you reach a guy
capable of understanding the case. In my case it seems i was lucky as one telephon call to
support worked out.

No small task?

Posted Feb 20, 2008 7:37 UTC (Wed) by BackSeat (subscriber, #1886) [Link]

Thinkpads have long been considered good with Linux. I thought that historically the only thing that Linux had trouble with on Thinkpads was the modem.

I bought a Z60t for precisely that reason, and spent a long time trying to get the wifi card working with no good, consistent results. In the end, I used ndiswrapper because I need the laptop to work. Incidentally, there are multiple wifi cards available for the Z60t, and some of the others seem to work well with OS drivers.