If you are trying to find T h i n k p a d information, try
[here].
Changed names to contains spaces, so that search machines do not index this page based on names.
The project
1) To build own Linux friendly laptop machine. The machine might even not to be able to run
microsoftian operating system i.e. it might be 100% microsoftian uncompatible.
2) Price is not an issue, quality is.
Why?
I know that the first thing that pops out is question why, so I need to convince by this longish story.
I have had multiple I B M .. T h i n k p a d laptops .. basically no problems ..
but actually not a single T h i n k p a d
has not been Linux compatible i.e. no real
support for Linux by I B M. Linux does not mean Red Hat or
other commercial distributors - I do not like those, because they contain all kinds of bas kludges,
starting with root file system contamination (/etc is used as trash directory for configuring
all kinds of xyz software). There's a good name for this: microsoftianism .. I have seen a system
with C: drive filled with stuff without a single directory. Those were the days, and they seem to
reappear with Linux distributions .. still only missing magical 8+3 cryptic file names.
But to the problems with laptops .. I B M .. T h i n k p a d s have caused so much problems with
Linux I renamed the machine as Stinkpad.
Stinkpad contains nice hardware, but it's totally unusable from Linux. Stinkpad
might contain nice front processor, but it also is unusable from Linux. For updating the machine one
needs to boot with microsoftian disk and do the thing. argh. This means I need to shutdown the machine,
which is "naturally totally natural" in microsoftian world, but for me it isn't .. I do not boot or
have any need for booting (when writing this this laptop has been up for 13 days).
In Stinkpad things that do NOT work
TV out for PAL. I have not figured out why it does not work, but I have played and
modified a software which supposed to do the trick (the software contained bugs).
Front processor.
BIOS update.
Safety features.
Sleep modes (I naturally removed _ALL_ microsoftian stuff, even partitions). Redisafe etc.
should work with Linux directly. If configured with t h i n k p a d utilities for Linux,
it is possible to misconfigure .. it tries to force sleep mode on, and it just
hangs the system (if power is under 5%). Not usable at all. [20030618] suspend accidentally worked, but mouse stucks occasionally. Tried to get
mouse working again by suspending the machine, trying to load modules, etc. after that
needed to reboot because nothing worked (NO NO for reboots). After reboot stinkpad
had the nice not-so-funny feature: front-end/control processor hangs, so needed to
a) take the power off b) go to magazine store to buy some Linux boot cds... aaargh,
forgot my floppy drive + not at home currently.
Ultrabay hot swapping. Tried by having modules and then not. Does not work at all,
when the device is taken out the machine starts to beep, and the worst of all beeping
goes to the audio subsystem .. aarghh .. if I want to watch a movie, I need to
reboot the machine to get rid of that horrible beeping. Total design failure.
I know that the front processor has not been informed about hot swap, but those
I B M designers have not heard about timeouts...
T h i n k p a d special keys. Anyway I do not need those but...
Other hidden hardware which exist but I really do not know it's there..
In Stinkpad was hard to get working
IrDA
Sound system .. took a while to find out the proper ALSA module.
Speed step processor . it is either slow (when booted up without power connected) or
then fast (if booted with power connected).
In Stinkpad other noticeable things
Took a while to notice my T 2 3 has no WLAN .. though this machine was supposed to have one.
Earlier 770Z did not have support, and the poor quality DVD drive it had naturally
did not work after the basic quarantee time and I'm using only public transportation,
so after it did not work I had no DVD drive .. for this T 2 3 I bought 36 month support,
which was good because those I B M guys have been fixing this machine twice
on-site next working day:
changed memory (2 days late, took 3 days because of Finnish holiday middle of the week),
and 48 GB disk drive was changed (within hours, but I needed the data on the broken
disk, and that meant I had to pay for it - it was not possible to keep the drive for
a while to save the data .. I do not give my disk drive for anyone).
On-site support center telephone service is in UK, which means that there are probably
a tape message informing that there are nobody interested about your problem.
Things I do NOT like
Volume control is _inside_ the computer. When the computer is in my bag and listening
something I really do not want to open the bag, open the computer etc. especially
when it's raining.
LCD display for front processor is missing .. it was in 770Z.
technical documentation sucks .. actually does not even exist for common users.
I B M people first contacting opinion when met that the user is total dufus, el stupido.
This means one must always show its knowledge - and I'm really too old for these
childish chichken hierarchy games.
Things I do like
display - the one and only reason for buying Stinkpad.
clito button mouse - naturally the other reason to have a Stinkpad.
mouse has 3 buttons ..
casing is nice, but 770Z was more stabile and robust than T 2 3.
keyboard.
Things I would like to have but almoust impossible to get
multi system television decoder.
radio decoder.
real soon need for gigabit Ethernet.
better connectivity for different disk systems, like connecting to normal ATA disk,
expecially when need to backup the whole disk.
DVD+-R everything burner.
I hope to have convinced why there's need for own laptop design.
What?
modular design - this is naturally really used term. There used to be laptops that were
marketed by upgradeable processor modules, byt actually no upgrade modules were available - so the
users were cheated. I want to have upgradeable processor module, and the only way to have this is
design laptop backplane so that it allows to have processor to be changed.
multitude of modular I/O modules - normally laptops are built with fixed i/o ports.
This T 2 3 has USB 1.0/1.1(?) ports, no FireWire, IrDA, RS232 serial (or RS232ish), parallel, VGA out,
modem, Ethernet 10/100, SVHS (?), and keyboard/mouse. Most of those i/o ports are not in use, or
then usable in my environment. I have CardBus card for USB 2.0 for DVD+R burner .. if this Stinkpad
machine would have modular i/o ports, I could use internal ports. In my case modularity would be
much more inexpensive that the fixed solution, which outdates quite fast.
Need to have modules: FireWire, USB 2.0, Ethernet 10/100/1000.
Currently no need for: Parallel, external mouse/keyboard, external VGA.
Other needed modules: WLAN (11,22,56 Mbit/s), Bluetooth
So the I/O modules should have some nice fast interconnection bus. Intelligent modules would be
preferred (off cpu load), but this means more work for drivers.
In laptop design modules must be possible to shut down to stand by power.
Devices - chipset for common and legacy pc compatibility.
Selection could be done by efficiency (speed,power usage) and programming easyness)
Internal chips like wathcdog, thermo (cpu,in-case)
Memory: fast SO-DIMM
CPU - should be fast and not power hungry. Either AMD or Intel .. VIA is a possibility,
but currently 1 GHz is not enough.
Power - battery should be Li-ion
Power adapter should handle directly all common input voltages, like 230V/50Hz, 110V/60Hz,
car and airline power sources.
Casing - Should be titanium based
Titanium is one of the best material for cases, it is really durable, quite light, and it
is possible to build cases with less material.
But titanium metallurgy is hard and might be costly.
