C[omp]ute

From: "andrew cooke" <andrew@...>

Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2007 11:48:17 -0400 (CLT)

Last week I received an X60 (thank-you MuleSource!) and installed OpenSUSE
10.2.  Here are the details for anyone else contemplating this.

Basically, everything works out of the box.  The only issues are wifi
(which takes a little extra config) and the UltraBase (which will not
hot-unplug).

WiFi installs OK, but doesn't work (!).  To enable it, add the non-oss
package source and load the ipw3945 related packages (search for "intel").
 Then reboot.

Note that I have not been able to get wifi to work with a user compiled
kernel (I don't know if this is related to binary drivers or my
incompetence).

The ultrabase (which is just a glorified CD reader and probably not worth
the money in retrospect) will not release the computer when I ask it to. 
I haven't forced the issue (there's a button to request release, but the
lights never go green - starting to pull the lever makes it beep angrily).

It's a nice machine - perhaps not as well built as the old X30, but
certainly faster (certainly runs hotter!).  The screen is further forwards
than the X30, which means that there's nowhere to put your thumb while
carrying it one-handed while on.  Am I the only person who really misses
this "feature"?

Curiously, it also triggered an error in the my server's NIC when
connected to the net.  That and a faulty replacement NIC (which I thought
was a software error for half a wasted and very frustrating day) have made
the last 24 hours less rewarding than they should really have been.

Andrew

PS This is with a 1.8 Core 2 Duo, 2GB memory, 100GB 7200 drive, SUSE linux
64bit.