From: Julian (jmw_at_ptolserv.com)
Date: Wed Apr 03 2002 - 11:47:52 EST
As another new-ish list member who has been lurking for the last few
months, I thought it was about time I introduced myself.
From about 1993 until recently I had a TP750 (mono, with 12Mb and a
340Mb hard disk). Of course for the last 6 or so years it probably
felt a little neglected as I switched to mainly using the (faster)
desktops ;) It didn't help that I had also half-forgotten the
supervisor password. At the end of last year, I (a) remembered the
password, and (b) found that a relative was able to make use of the
750 for his field research, so I sold it and went looking for a new
laptop. Apparently my old 750 is now doing useful work in the wilds of
Wales ;)
At the end of January I found my current machine - a new 600X,
PIII/500, 320Mb ram, 12Gb hard disk. This machine currently runs as a
dual-boot NT4 and OpenBSD, and I mostly very pleased with it. The
screen is very clear (and doesn't seem to have any bad pixels, I'm
pleased to say). Unfortunately under OpenBSD I havent't worked out yet
how to get it to suspend when the 3Com 575 NIC is installed, but I'm
sure I can eventually fix that ;)
As both left-handed and colour blind, my biggest complaints are:
- I get a huge draft of cold air when the fan turns up if I am using
an external trackerball ;) Of course, this will be nice in the summer
(assuming it isn't hot air then ;) )
- IBM should really choose something other than a green/orange LED to
indicate charging. This _does_ irritate me, I must confess. How much
would it have cost them to provide *two* separate LEDs instead of the
two colour one?
Anyway, some queries, I'm afraid: I'm debating getting a bigger hard
disk, and I've seen Hitachi, IBM, Toshiba and Fujitsu 9.5mm hard disks
of ~30Gb capacity available. What are the general experiences - is it
worth getting an IBM, or would any of the others do? I have to say
that with IBM now stating a "recommended" 8 hours/day usage limit (or
is it 333 hours/month), I'm not so sure about them as I was.
The 600X has a Toshiba DVD drive, and I was wondering if anyone knew
if a firmware update is available for this (it isn't listed in my
customized IBM page) that might solve a few disk compatibilty problems
I've experienced. Fortunately, the drive is perfectly ok with most of
the DVD data disks (such as the Java ones from Sun) I have tried.
I'm also assuming from what I've read here that my 600X (2645-9EG)
will accept 30G and up drives (is ~60Gb the limit?). Is this correct?
After a few months of the 600X, I can say it is a good replacement for
the old 750 ;)
-- Julian Wald
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