IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads

[dkeg]

Oh, and the ESC is in an awkward spot, it's offset,above, from the top row. As a Vim user, it sucks. So I have re-mapped caps lock key to escape. Yay!

[dkeg]

Been getting some blue screens on my work T440. Just got a replacement - X250 w/ an SSD.

[vic]

Have laid my eyes on a X220 with i5, 160gb ssd and 8gb ram from 2012. The seller wants ca $270, is that reasnoble? It seems ok to me, but thought I would like to hear the opinion from some of you guys. :)

[GekkoP]

Well, sounds reasonable to me.

[ivanovnegro]

It does not sound bad.

On a side note. We are very happy with our new family member, the X200. It is a great and very portable machine.

[franksinistra]

Dial it down to 250 Vic, that's the normal price (at least in my region)

[schmickel]

I got my x220 with 320gb hd and 4gb RAM and the dock for $199. That's not too bad

[simgin]

^ So not SSD?

[noo_b_nomnoms]

I have a T531 waiting for me at home. Are there going to be any issues installing Violator or my Break! with the full Mate with the light dm? It came with no OS, so I will be putting bbq straight into my box, and hoping for the best. Heck, I've run nothing but bbq for a while now (mainly Violator because using this CRT monitor it is a serious bitch to get the grub screen- but I count to 3 then hit the down screen 20 times, up 1 and I can access Break!) so I'm nothing but positive about this.
Who knows, maybe ReactOS will get up to speed, and that will be my W goto, but for now just grillin', folks!

[machinebacon]

I think IBM in general and the T series especially are the most suitable for Debian-based installations. If you want BREAK! to be on top of the GRUB list, there's an easy way (provided you have sda as main drive -- use "sudo fdisk -l" [ that is an L, not a one ] to check):

1) boot into the OS you want to have as Main OS (Break, probably)
2) open a terminal
3) sudo grub-install /dev/sda # sda is the location of your main drive
3b) be patient
4) if you want to play safe: sudo update-grub
4b) be patient
5) reboot

You should now have the GRUB starting with BREAK, then the other OSes, so you just have to wait a few seconds after power on and you will be brought to BREAK directly.

If you are curious about what is where in the GRUB list, check

/boot/grub/grub.cfg

but better don't play with it.
To change things like the GRUB timeout, you can edit

/etc/default/grub

[vic]

Thanks for the feedback guys, appreciate it. Will think it over. If that means I will be too late...there always comes a new opportunity later. :)

Edit; mucho later, in fact too late. Someone else beat me to it. :)

[noo_b_nomnoms]

Thanks, machinebacon! I had thought about doing just Break! with Mate, and installing straight i3wm from the repos. Then I could choose from the login screen, but I don't know...I was just making sure that there weren't going to be any hardware/keyboard surprises in store for me (with my daughter's wedding I am going to have a limited amount of time). I got the links from this thread, and thanks to all for those!

[franksinistra]

Just now, i acquired a thinkpad T410s (i5, 4 GiB RAM, 128 GB ssd) for $110 from an ignorant state employee, minus the adapter and battery (i can always buy both of the latter for $30). Yay!

[wuxmedia]

fuuuck. thats USD right?
you've got PM :)

[franksinistra]

Yep that's USD ( 1,580,000 in Rupiahs )

[bones]

The power jack on the T61 is cheesed, so I'm replacing it with a NEW one for $10. There's lots of used ones available for cheaper, but wtf, I'll splurge. :)

[machinebacon]

<insert>
FEEL LIKE A SIR
</insert>

[schmickel]

Just got an R400 for $21 without a hard drive. This makes my third thinkpad, along with my modified x220 and my t41, which is pretty much only useful for noX bbq. I've fallen in love with the x220 now that I've upgraded it to the fullest extent I'm able at the moment. Upgraded with modded bios to remove the whitelist and installed an Atheros wifi card so it plays nicely with the stock and libre kernels, and 16gb of ram. I'm eventually putting coreboot on it, because why the hell not, and I've also developed a distaste for all things proprietary. I also like challenges.

[machinebacon]

^ let us know how it goes! sounds like an interesting project.

[schmickel]

It might be a while before I do it because I don't have the clip thingy that attaches to the bios chip. I'm putting libreboot on the R400 first because the processes are pretty similar and I don't have nearly as much money invested in the R400. I'll definitely post updates whenever I get around to it.