Re: IBM Thinkpad A30p - Opinions, Possible Problems etc?
I have used Tecra's in the past, and they are good machines. A friend
suggests she has heard stories about their technical support slipping,
but I've never had trouble. She's just had a lot of trouble with a new
Dell, and she's using my Tecra780 to get her schoolwork done.
I now have a T21 Thinkpad, running SuSE 7.3 (kernel 2.4.10, XFree86
4.1.0). Sound, video, pointing stick ran out of the box. Floppy, LS
120 drive, DVD/CD, and 2d hard disk are recognized without drama. The
Intel 10/100 ethernet and the built-in modem work fine (the modem is a
Lucent, and an rpm for the kernel is available. I used a null ethernet
cable to transfer my files from the Tecra to the Thinkpad). It suspends
and restores (although I haven't messed with networking while doing
these). It recognizes USB devices (like my Fuji1300 digital camera),
but I haven't tried using any. It recognizes my 3Com Megahertz 10/100
LAN PC Card.
I bought it on eBay, direct from IBM (yup, they've unbuttoned the shirt
- at least the top button), for US $1310, full warranty. I've seen A
series machines as well, but I expect they're selling the last
generation (there's an A22p for sale as I write this, and several T22
series). But then, that might suit for that price.
My backup is a 2d hard disk in the Ultrabay and "dd if=/dev/hda
of=/dev/hdc". I can swap the drives, and lilo runs and I can boot
either linux or the W2000 that came on the system. I bought the hard
disk carrier on eBay from a 3d party, but the 2d disk is also straight
from IBM on eBay - 20G for US $93, the identical disk as the original
(so no warranty problems). I have put a friend's Compaq disk (Toshiba
actually) in to back it up while I restore her system, and that also was
recognized without fanfare.
I haven't tried the IrDA or the video out. I've read on SourceForge
there is a basic driver for the Ultraport camera (clips on the top of
the display for video conferencing), but I haven't gotten that far.
I'll be getting the external floppy cable soon, and I'll try that then.
I'm pleased. It's *light* and feels solid, and it's backed for 3 years
internationally by a 900 pound gorilla - I've dealt with IBM tech
support before (in New Zealand), and they were fine. I don't expect the
recession will slow them down much.
regards,
Bret
aeleblanc@olgc.on.ca wrote:
I was originally looking at a toshiba Tecra 9000 for a new Laptop to
fit my budget of $5000 CAD. I recently came across the IBM Thinkpad
A30p which i can squeeze into the budget as well. I'm favouring this
over the tecra now for a few reasons (133MHz Bus instead of 100, ATI
Radeon 32 MB instead of some other garbage, Video in/out as opposed to
tv-out only etc etc..) Does anyone know of any problems running linux
on this model or have any opinions on IBM's w/ Linux as opposed to
other Laptop Manufacturers?
TIA
Andre
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