UK Linux Users - Linux on a laptop

Author

Linux on a laptop

gary grainger

2004-06-26, 3:05 pm

I'm a linux newbie, but have been wondering how successful Linux is on
laptops. I have been told that due to the hardware compromises sometimes
made by Laptop manufacturers, Linux will not always recognise all of the
components. Any experience, anyone?
Also, what would be a minimum spec for a laptop to run, say, Knoppix or
Mandrake?
cheers
Gary

John

2004-06-26, 3:05 pm

gary grainger wrote:

> Also, what would be a minimum spec for a laptop to run, say, Knoppix
> or Mandrake?

You can easily discover how it will run Knoppix, just take the disk to
the Showroom/Dealer and try it out, perhaps you could try Mandrake
Move, (is that the right name?), at the same time.

--
John

repo

2004-06-26, 3:05 pm

On Sat, 26 Jun 2004 17:44:57 +0100, gary grainger wrote:

> I'm a linux newbie, but have been wondering how successful Linux is on
> laptops. I have been told that due to the hardware compromises sometimes
> made by Laptop manufacturers, Linux will not always recognise all of the
> components. Any experience, anyone?
> Also, what would be a minimum spec for a laptop to run, say, Knoppix or
> Mandrake?
> cheers
> Gary

Take a look at
http://www.linux-laptop.net/
I use Debian unstable with the latest kernel on a acer aspire 1300
Runs like a train

--
Chaos, panic & disorder - my work here is done

http://beginnerslinux.org
http://repo.mine.nu

Richard Lamont

2004-06-26, 3:05 pm

gary grainger gary@featcovers.com wrote:

> I'm a linux newbie, but have been wondering how successful Linux is on
> laptops. I have been told that due to the hardware compromises sometimes
> made by Laptop manufacturers, Linux will not always recognise all of the
> components. Any experience, anyone?

I have Debian sarge on a laptop, using kernel 2.6. Works very well.

--
Richard Lamont
<richard@lamont.me.uk>
OpenPGP Key ID: 2C09F1CB http://www.lamont.me.uk/key.txt
Fingerprint: 907C 63A3 58E8 4870 17A3 8688 586B 204D 2C09 F1CB

Christopher Gavin

2004-06-26, 3:05 pm

There is a wealth of resources on this subject.

http://www.linux-laptop.net/
http://tuxmobil.org/mylaptops.html

The actual neccessity of high specification hardware is a myth.
You will find that anything ~300+ with 128mb of ram will run any modern
binary distribution handsomely.

Memory is the key rather than CPU grunt. The more mb's of ram you have,
the more applications you can run. I should point out that you can forget
gaming and can expect a sluggishness to modern Bloatware desktops such as
Gnome or KDE but projects like Xfce.org and Fluxbox.org are aimed at
adressing the need for less demanding software applications.

Conrad.

On Sat, 26 Jun 2004 18:17:50 +0100, John wrote:

> gary grainger wrote:
>
>
>
> You can easily discover how it will run Knoppix, just take the disk to
> the Showroom/Dealer and try it out, perhaps you could try Mandrake
> Move, (is that the right name?), at the same time.

Phil Britton

2004-06-26, 3:05 pm

gary grainger <gary@featcovers.com> writes:

> I'm a linux newbie, but have been wondering how successful Linux is on
> laptops. I have been told that due to the hardware compromises
> sometimes made by Laptop manufacturers, Linux will not always
> recognise all of the components. Any experience, anyone?
> Also, what would be a minimum spec for a laptop to run, say, Knoppix
> or Mandrake?
> cheers
> Gary

I run Fedora Core 2 on a HP Ominbook 600. everything works fine except
the modem, which is some 3com miniPCI thingy. I had a look at one of
the linux laptop web sites before buying so I knew what I was getting
into. It seems to me that you're better off getting a one a couple of
years old as there's likely to be a lot more information around about
what does and doesn't work and there's more chance of drivers being
available for the various bit's of hardware

cheers

Phil

Christopher Gavin

2004-06-26, 3:05 pm

> I run Fedora Core 2 on a HP Ominbook 600. everything works fine except
> the modem, which is some 3com miniPCI thingy. I had a look at one of
> the linux laptop web sites before buying so I knew what I was getting
> into. It seems to me that you're better off getting a one a couple of
> years old as there's likely to be a lot more information around about
> what does and doesn't work and there's more chance of drivers being
> available for the various bit's of hardware
>
> cheers
>
> Phil

MiniPCI is nasty nasty aye. You could just buy yourself a Megahertz PCMCIA
56k for around a tenner mind you ..

Plenty on ebay.co.uk ..

Colin McKinnon

2004-06-26, 5:46 pm

gary grainger spilled the following:

> I'm a linux newbie, but have been wondering how successful Linux is on
> laptops. I have been told that due to the hardware compromises sometimes
> made by Laptop manufacturers, Linux will not always recognise all of the
> components. Any experience, anyone?
> Also, what would be a minimum spec for a laptop to run, say, Knoppix or
> Mandrake?
> cheers
> Gary

Suse 9.0 went onto my HP XE3 - LAN, modem, Wifi, sound, screen....all
working. The only thing which didn't go according to plan was when I tried
to patch the (2.4) kernel to support suspend-to-disk - Suse had released
patches wich overlapped the suspend patches and I chickened out of trying
to compile it. Suspend is built into the 2.6 kernels so this shouldn't be a
problem.

As someone else pointed out, modems are often a problem. Try Google to see
if anyone else has tried it on your hardware.

C.

Martin Gregorie

2004-06-27, 10:46 am

On Sat, 26 Jun 2004 17:44:57 +0100, gary grainger
<gary@featcovers.com> wrote:

>I'm a linux newbie, but have been wondering how successful Linux is on
>laptops. I have been told that due to the hardware compromises sometimes
>made by Laptop manufacturers, Linux will not always recognise all of the
>components. Any experience, anyone?
>Also, what would be a minimum spec for a laptop to run, say, Knoppix or
>Mandrake?
>cheers
>Gary

I have Fedora Core 1 on an IBM Thinkpad 560Z - that's 300 MHz, 6 GB
hard drive. It ran like a three legged dog with its original 64 MB RAM
but since I fitted an extra 128 MB I found on eBay its a changed
beastie.

RedHat quote a P400 + 128 RAM as the practical minimum for using a
graphical desktop with 256 MB preferred, but the P300 + 192MB floats
my boat.

--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Harlow
demon. | UK.
co. |
uk |

Phil Britton

2004-06-28, 8:37 am

Christopher Gavin <big@spl.at> writes:

>
>
> MiniPCI is nasty nasty aye. You could just buy yourself a Megahertz PCMCIA
> 56k for around a tenner mind you ..
>
> Plenty on ebay.co.uk ..

Thanks for the tip but I'm trying the hardcore masochist/geek method
of trying to get a no-name blue tooth USB apdater talking to my Nokia
6310i and dialing up on GPRS with that :-)

At home I'm WiFied so it's not too pressing a matter to get dial-up
working. Getting Wifi working was a lot if fun though !

cheers

Phil

Gav

2004-06-28, 8:37 am

"gary grainger" <gary@featcovers.com> wrote in message
news:40dda7ed_1@mk-nntp-2.news.uk.tiscali.com...
> I'm a linux newbie, but have been wondering how successful Linux is on
> laptops. I have been told that due to the hardware compromises sometimes
> made by Laptop manufacturers, Linux will not always recognise all of the
> components. Any experience, anyone?
> Also, what would be a minimum spec for a laptop to run, say, Knoppix or
> Mandrake?
> cheers
> Gary

I ran SuSE 9.0 on a Toshiba 480CDT. 32mb ram, 233MMX processor, 1.6GB HDD.
Didn't run really fast but it was usable, used it for UML modeling in fvwm2.
Same laptop has had various distros on it, only one that was unusable was
Redhat. Currently has FreeBSD on it and is running a treat.

Gav

Bill Unruh

2004-07-01, 5:46 pm

gary grainger <gary@featcovers.com> writes:

]I'm a linux newbie, but have been wondering how successful Linux is on
]laptops. I have been told that due to the hardware compromises sometimes
]made by Laptop manufacturers, Linux will not always recognise all of the
]components. Any experience, anyone?

modems are almost always a problem. Otherwise, they in general will work.
Yes, lots of experience.

Do you have a laptop? Do you want to buy one to use Linux on?

]Also, what would be a minimum spec for a laptop to run, say, Knoppix or
]Mandrake?
Any recent laptop.

David Cartwright

2004-07-02, 8:52 pm

"gary grainger" <gary@featcovers.com> wrote in message
news:40dda7ed_1@mk-nntp-2.news.uk.tiscali.com...
> I'm a linux newbie, but have been wondering how successful Linux is on
> laptops. I have been told that due to the hardware compromises sometimes
> made by Laptop manufacturers, Linux will not always recognise all of the
> components. Any experience, anyone?

The main problem I find with Linux on laptops is when I get a new one whose
hardware isn't yet supported (stuff like XFree86 not knowing your monitor
type, or the particular flavour of modem you have not being recognised).
This said, there are some excellent Web sites out there run by people who've
already had this type of problem - so when I bought my new Dell Latitude
D800 the other month, I was up and running with Red Hat in less than an
hour.

So I'd recommend asking Mr. Google about "+Linux +X", where X is the type of
laptop you're considering buying. Knowing that someone with similar hardware
has addressed many of the issues gets you halfway to where you want to be.

D.

Justin C

2004-07-02, 8:52 pm

In article <cc1rrr$6dn$1@string.physics.ubc.ca>, Bill Unruh wrote:
> gary grainger <gary@featcovers.com> writes:
>
[snip]
>
> ]Also, what would be a minimum spec for a laptop to run, say, Knoppix or
> ]Mandrake?
> Any recent laptop.

<tuppence> My laptop, while not exactly old, wouldn't be considered
recent by some (PIII 800). I found Knoppix ran well, Gnome, KDE, BB and
WMaker were all used at some time and I was never disappointed with the
speed. BTW 256MB RAM installed.</tuppence>

Justin.

--
Justin C, by the sea.

Jim Howes

2004-07-02, 8:52 pm

gary grainger wrote:

> I'm a linux newbie, but have been wondering how successful Linux is on
> laptops. I have been told that due to the hardware compromises sometimes
> made by Laptop manufacturers, Linux will not always recognise all of the
> components. Any experience, anyone?

I bought an IBM Thinkpad R40 (not the R40e). In general IBM laptops
tend to be very well supported (although IBM support won't help you much
with Linux, unless you ask the right people (and I'm just up the road
from the Portsmouth, North Harbour headquarters and know quite a few
people there ;-) )

One or two caveats:
The supplied WinXP Pro is shipped on a FAT32 partition. It is far
easier to resize this partition if you don't allow WinXP to start first
(because the first thing it does it convert the partition to NTFS and
reboot). I used a knoppix CD for that and GNU parted from the command
line. Other distributions may have more automated tools. After the
main install I let windows do it's stuff, although I admit I only go
into windows to play pinball.

The onboard modems tend to not work, or not work fully. They are, in
general, winmodems. At home I use ethernet; on the road I use infrared
to my nokia phone, and I have an old Psion gold card modem which appears
as a real serial port should I want to connect the old-fashioned way.

The supplied WiFi is a MiniPCI card, which apparently is only partially
supported, requiring you to use the windows drivers to set it up. Only
certain cards are supported in the MiniPCI slot.

After making room on the disk, I shoved Fedora Core 1 on it.
Configuration was no problem. Everything (bar built-in modem)
identified and configured correctly.

Overall 8.5/10 (I'd have liked to see a bigger disk in there, and
perhaps a serial port)

Jim

Paul Martin

2004-07-02, 8:52 pm

In article <cbp8hm$am8$1@sparta.btinternet.com>,
Gav wrote:

> Currently has FreeBSD on it and is running a treat.

SPLITTER!

--
Paul Martin <pm@zetnet.net>

Paul Martin

2004-07-02, 8:52 pm

In article <40ddbc55$0$58819$5a6aecb4@news.aaisp.net.uk>,
Richard Lamont wrote:
> gary grainger gary@featcovers.com wrote:

[vbcol=seagreen]
> I have Debian sarge on a laptop, using kernel 2.6. Works very well.

I have Debian sid on a laptop (Vaio PCG-F403) using the stock Debian
2.4.26-1-686 kernel.

Why am I not using 2.6? Well, APM suspend and X don't work too well
together for me in 2.6.

If I use ACPI, the automatic fan control doesn't work, and there
appears to be no way to control it. Also, I lose the suspend-to-memory
facility.

About the only thing that I haven't got working (yet) is the IR port.
The iLink (Firewire) port works fine with my external DVD writer.

--
Paul Martin <pm@zetnet.net>

John Winters

2004-07-03, 6:40 pm

--
Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England
i = (free(NULL), i++);

Nix

2004-07-03, 6:40 pm

On Sat, 3 Jul 2004, John Winters .sigged:
[nothing but]
> Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England
> i = (free(NULL), i++);

Your article seems to have become undefined.

--
`Some people find it difficult to accept that it is not always possible
to explain things which should be explicable.'

Nick Leverton

2004-07-03, 6:40 pm

In article <87y8m0ao0x.fsf@amaterasu.srvr.nix>,
Nix <$}xinix{$@esperi.org.uk> wrote:
>On Sat, 3 Jul 2004, John Winters .sigged:
>[nothing but]
>
>Your article seems to have become undefined.
>
>--
>`Some people find it difficult to accept that it is not always possible
> to explain things which should be explicable.'

Very good

Nick
--
"My objective at this stage was to work about 3 days per week"
-- Richard Parker in http://web.ukonline.co.uk/richard/cv78.html

Justin C

2004-07-05, 7:46 am

In article <slrncebp03.g4v.pm@laptop.nowster.org.uk>, Paul Martin wrote:
>
> Why am I not using 2.6? Well, APM suspend and X don't work too well
> together for me in 2.6.
>
> If I use ACPI, the automatic fan control doesn't work, and there
> appears to be no way to control it. Also, I lose the suspend-to-memory
> facility.

Ah! That could be a clue as to why my laptop keeps shutting itself down
when it gets hot; the fan doesn't spin up to full speed and therefore
it's overheating... time to try a late 2.4 kernel then.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention, I was about to contact IBM and
have it sent back for repair.

Justin.

--
Justin C, by the sea.

Richard Adams

2004-07-05, 5:46 pm

On Mon, 05 Jul 2004 10:47:01 +0000, Justin C wrote:

> In article <slrncebp03.g4v.pm@laptop.nowster.org.uk>, Paul Martin wrote:
>
> Ah! That could be a clue as to why my laptop keeps shutting itself down
> when it gets hot; the fan doesn't spin up to full speed and therefore
> it's overheating... time to try a late 2.4 kernel then.

Why not use the following in your boot loader. If your presant kernel
plays tricks on you.
append="acpi=off"

You could also try and "force" ACPI at boottime, it does work for some or
so they say.
append="acpi=force"

As to 2.6 kernels, 2.6.6 is reported to be working fine when
acpi is "forced".
I found several referances about this in google.com/linux .

> Thanks for bringing this to my attention, I was about to
contact IBM and
> have it sent back for repair.
>
> Justin.

--
If the Linux community is a bunch of thieves because they
try to imitate windows programs, then the Windows community
is built on organized crime.

Regards Richard
pa3gcu@zeelandnet.nl
http://people.zeelandnet.nl/pa3gcu/

Justin C

2004-07-05, 5:46 pm

In article <pan.2004.07.05.15.23.14.706105@spam.com>, Richard Adams wrote:
> On Mon, 05 Jul 2004 10:47:01 +0000, Justin C wrote:
>
>
> Why not use the following in your boot loader. If your presant kernel
> plays tricks on you.
> append="acpi=off"
>
[snip]

Thanks for that, I've forwarded it to myself at home and shall
investigate when I get there. I don't know which 2.6 I've got installed
so it could be an apt-get update first... whichever way I go I'm not
that bothered, I just want it to stop shutting down when I least want it
to.

Thanks again.

Justin.

--
Justin C, by the sea.

Matthew Garrett

2004-07-05, 5:46 pm

In article <slrnceiueq.bvt.justin.0405@eddie.masonline.demon.co.uk>,
Justin C wrote:

> Thanks for that, I've forwarded it to myself at home and shall
> investigate when I get there. I don't know which 2.6 I've got installed
> so it could be an apt-get update first... whichever way I go I'm not
> that bothered, I just want it to stop shutting down when I least want it
> to.

If you're running a 2.6 kernel on a Debian laptop, then you *need* to have
acpid installed or the fan module won't get loaded. apt-get install acpid.
The 2.6 kernel packages should probably depend on it on x86 - I'll file a
bug.

--
Matthew Garrett | mjg59-uk.comp.os.linux@srcf.ucam.org
I am currently angry about :
Half arsed character set conversions
http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/angry/6.html

Justin C

2004-07-09, 4:03 pm

In article <slrncej0ob.tki.mjg59@kern.srcf.societies.cam.ac.uk>, Matthew Garrett wrote:
> In article <slrnceiueq.bvt.justin.0405@eddie.masonline.demon.co.uk>,
> Justin C wrote:
>
>
> If you're running a 2.6 kernel on a Debian laptop, then you *need* to have
> acpid installed or the fan module won't get loaded. apt-get install acpid.
> The 2.6 kernel packages should probably depend on it on x86 - I'll file a
> bug.

It may be too late

tried booting last night and it's locked in a
cycle: floppy seek - reset - floppy seek - reset - floppy seek - etc.

I had to remove the battery to power it off. My concern is that the heat
has damaged something. I'm going to start by disconnecting the FD and
seeing where it goes from there.

Anyone any experience in pulling apart^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H
dismantling a ThinkPad? Some of the screws have a 'V' pointing at them,
others have 'vv' pointing at them and other screws have no marker/symbol
at all. I *believe* the ones marked 'V' are the case screws, others are
perhaps for things bolted to the chassis. If anyone knows differently I'd
be grateful for input.... before I unscrew the guts of my machine while
failing to open it!

Justin.

--
Justin C, by the sea.

Paul Martin

2004-07-09, 4:03 pm

In article <slrncej0ob.tki.mjg59@kern.srcf.societies.cam.ac.uk>,
Matthew Garrett wrote:
> In article <slrnceiueq.bvt.justin.0405@eddie.masonline.demon.co.uk>,
> Justin C wrote:

[vbcol=seagreen]
> If you're running a 2.6 kernel on a Debian laptop, then you *need* to have
> acpid installed or the fan module won't get loaded. apt-get install acpid.
> The 2.6 kernel packages should probably depend on it on x86 - I'll file a
> bug.

I've done all these things. It's still better with APM: apm=on
acpi=off.

--
Paul Martin <pm@zetnet.net>

Charles

2004-07-09, 4:03 pm

Justin C wrote:

> In article <slrncej0ob.tkcentre9@kern.srcf.societies.cam.ac.uk>, Matthew
> Garrett wrote:
>
> It may be too late

tried booting last night and it's locked in a
> cycle: floppy seek - reset - floppy seek - reset - floppy seek - etc.
>
> I had to remove the battery to power it off. My concern is that the heat
> has damaged something. I'm going to start by disconnecting the FD and
> seeing where it goes from there.
>
> Anyone any experience in pulling apart^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H
> dismantling a ThinkPad? Some of the screws have a 'V' pointing at them,
> others have 'vv' pointing at them and other screws have no marker/symbol
> at all. I *believe* the ones marked 'V' are the case screws, others are
> perhaps for things bolted to the chassis. If anyone knows differently I'd
> be grateful for input.... before I unscrew the guts of my machine while
> failing to open it!
>
> Justin.
>
With most flaptops:
1/ lay the screen all the way back
2/ between where the screen is hinged there will be a small cover that
should pop off
3/ There might be another small cover that will slide towards where the
first was, if so remove
4/ lift the keypad out from the back in the middle
5/ You may now have access to all the internals

This may or maynot help...
--
Charles Fryett
www.discover-england.co.uk/
Now Playing:
The Doobie Brothers - Cotton Mouth

Matthew Garrett

2004-07-09, 4:03 pm

In article <slrncektaa.bvt.justin.0405@eddie.masonline.demon.co.uk>,
Justin C wrote:

> Anyone any experience in pulling apart^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H
> dismantling a ThinkPad? Some of the screws have a 'V' pointing at them,
> others have 'vv' pointing at them and other screws have no marker/symbol
> at all. I *believe* the ones marked 'V' are the case screws, others are
> perhaps for things bolted to the chassis. If anyone knows differently I'd
> be grateful for input.... before I unscrew the guts of my machine while
> failing to open it!

Check IBM's website - the maintenance manuals for most Thinkpads are
available there.

--
Matthew Garrett | mjg59-uk.comp.os.linux@srcf.ucam.org
I am currently angry about :
Half arsed character set conversions
http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/angry/6.html

Matthew Garrett

2004-07-09, 4:03 pm

In article <slrncekb2a.36e.pm@laptop.nowster.org.uk>, Paul Martin wrote:
> In article <slrncej0ob.tki.mjg59@kern.srcf.societies.cam.ac.uk>,
> Matthew Garrett wrote:
>
> I've done all these things. It's still better with APM: apm=on
> acpi=off.

If you want to be able to suspend and resume, then acpi currently requires
large quantities of hacking even on the machines that it works well on. On
the other hand, acpi gives better battery life and vastly more information
about system state.

(FWIW, my Thinkpad X40 works perfectly with acpi now I've engaged in some
moderately heavy bugfixing of the kernel)

--
Matthew Garrett | mjg59-uk.comp.os.linux@srcf.ucam.org
I am currently angry about :
Half arsed character set conversions
http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~mjg59/angry/6.html

Justin C

2004-07-09, 4:03 pm

In article <tVwGc.55$OU1.22@newsfe2-gui.ntli.net>, Charles wrote:
> With most flaptops:
> 1/ lay the screen all the way back
> 2/ between where the screen is hinged there will be a small cover that
> should pop off
> 3/ There might be another small cover that will slide towards where the
> first was, if so remove
> 4/ lift the keypad out from the back in the middle
> 5/ You may now have access to all the internals

>
> This may or maynot help...

Never seen this on a ThinkPad before. It's definitely not there on the
one I have, I've had it over three years and use it daily, I'd have
noticed it by now.

Justin.

--
Justin C, by the sea.

Roger Hamlett

2004-07-09, 4:03 pm

"Justin C" <justin.0405@purestblue.com> wrote in message
news:slrncel5mr.bvt.justin.0405@eddie.masonline.demon.co.uk...
> In article <tVwGc.55$OU1.22@newsfe2-gui.ntli.net>, Charles wrote:
the[vbcol=seagreen]
>
> Never seen this on a ThinkPad before. It's definitely not there on the
> one I have, I've had it over three years and use it daily, I'd have
> noticed it by now.
On Acer machines, the cover goes over the hinges, and is held by screws on
the rear face of the computer. The same is true on some older Dell
machines (newer machines have the cover reaching the whole width of the
laptop, and it snaps over the hinges on the outside edge of the machine).
It is usually designed to not be obvious, with the joint 'line', often
concealed by trim. An old IBM here, does have such a cover.

Best Wishes

Martin Gregorie

2004-07-09, 4:03 pm

On Tue, 06 Jul 2004 13:50:43 GMT, "Roger Hamlett"
<rogerspamignored@ttelmah.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>
>"Justin C" <justin.0405@purestblue.com> wrote in message
>news:slrncel5mr.bvt.justin.0405@eddie.masonline.demon.co.uk...
>the
>On Acer machines, the cover goes over the hinges, and is held by screws on
>the rear face of the computer. The same is true on some older Dell
>machines (newer machines have the cover reaching the whole width of the
>laptop, and it snaps over the hinges on the outside edge of the machine).
>It is usually designed to not be obvious, with the joint 'line', often
>concealed by trim. An old IBM here, does have such a cover.
>

I have an old IBM Thinkpad - 650Z. This has three screen hinges. I
haven't taken it apart but the middle one hides the ribbon cable and
its connectors. The end hinges are plastic mouldings that fit over the
end pivots. They are held in with screws hidden behind 4mm diam
circular covers at either side of the backplate.

I'd strongly suggest you search the laptop documentation section of
the IBM website. I was able to find and download all of the following,
mainly in PDF format, for the 560Z:

Hardware manual
Online Users Guide. This document is normally pre-installed on disk
Set-up instructions
Technical reference
User Guide
User Guide supplement
Reference
FRU codes: common parts and options
FRU codes: system parts
Thinkpad 380 390 560 hardware compatibility matrix
Quick Reference and Service Information
RAM installation instructions
RAM options

so I'd suggest you do likewise and file 'em for future reference.

The hardware manual is the one you want: it tells you how to get
*anything* out of the laptop including keyboard and mobo. Look in the
"FRU removals and replacements" section. BTW the 560Z HDD can be
replaced without opening the case..

--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Harlow
demon. | UK.
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Justin C

2004-07-09, 4:03 pm

In article <8eele0hpfkhbgkvvdljr33atshnpcvb7mn@4ax.com>, Martin Gregorie wrote:
>
> I have an old IBM Thinkpad - 650Z. This has three screen hinges. I
> haven't taken it apart but the middle one hides the ribbon cable and
> its connectors. The end hinges are plastic mouldings that fit over the
> end pivots. They are held in with screws hidden behind 4mm diam
> circular covers at either side of the backplate.
>
> I'd strongly suggest you search the laptop documentation section of
> the IBM website. I was able to find and download all of the following,
> mainly in PDF format, for the 560Z:
>
> hardware manual

[snip]

Blimey! That's some list. I wish I'd taken a look before pulling it
apart. Still, after removing all the screws I soon found that once the
battery is removed and the three screws maked with little 'vv' symbols
you can just push the keyboard our and get access to *some* of the
innards - particularly the bit I wanted... didn't help though, still
goes power-on - reset - power-on - reset

Time to contact IBM and see
about getting it back to them.

Justin.

--
Justin C, by the sea.