[mdlug] Lenovo T61 Opensuse 10.3 VMWare Workstation 5 w/3D Enabled Review

[Peter Bart]

*IMPORTANT NOTE*
	Lenovo no longer ships the OS on a separate disk. Prior to doing
anything else make your own set of rescue disks! The factory install
contains a rescue and recovery utility that is Windows specific.
<http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Rescue_and_Recovery> If you choose to
delete this utility please follow the following directions kindly
supplied by Lenovo:

> To remove the service partition from T61.  First, boot the machine
> into Safe Mode Command prompt. 
> 
> To do this, hold the F8 key after the Thinkpad splash screen. Once at
> the safe mode command prompt, enter cd\program files\common files
> \lenovo\bmgr . 
> 
> Then, enter "bmgr32 /us".   When the command prompt returns, reboot
> and allow  system to boot normally into O/S.  This unhides and removes
> protection from the service partition.   
> 
> To delete the partition form Disk Management: 
> 
> To get to Disk Management in O/S: 
> 
> - Go to the Control Panel 
> - Switch to "Classic View" 
> - open Administrative Tools 
> - double-click Computer Management 
> - in the left window pane, click on Disk Management (under the Storage
> heading) 
> - select the service partition, then right-click it and select delete 
> 
> If this process doesn't work you can download the Secure Data Disposal
> program create FDD then scrub drive. Search on Lenovo website
>  MIGR-56394. 
> 
> OR 
> 
> Download PC Dr for Dos boot cd then use the Utility called Full Erase
> Disk. Search on Lenovo website MIGR-56222. 
> 
> Basicly any low level format of the drive will get rid of the service
> partiton. 
> 
> Then use normal Linux Utilities to load your boot loaders with LILO or
> Grub. 

	If you don't you'll end up with a hidden partition
<http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-46088>.

What follows are my experiences removing XP Pro and installing openSUSE
10.3 as well as VMWare Workstation 5 and then reinstalling XP Pro in a
virtual machine. Of course I didn't read any of the non existent
documentation regarding the newer version of rescue and recovery and
ended up with said hidden partition. Since I didn't have any intention
of keeping Windows I used PartedMagic
<http://partedmagic.com/wiki/PartedMagic.php?n=Main.PartedMagic> to
reformat my hard drive. Interestingly enough Lenovo says I now voided my
warranty?!? Oh well. You can use the links above to retain the
rescue/recovery partition and still boot Linux as well.The basic specs
of the machine are as follows:

Processor 
Intel Core Duo processor
      * T7300(2GHz)
Memory 
2GB 
Hard drive
100GB
Display 
15.4" TFT widescreen
Graphics 
      * Intel GM965 graphics
CD and DVD drive 
Ultrabay CDRW/DVDR Multi-Burner drives
Networking 
      * Intel 802.11agn wireless
      * Sierra wireless WAN
Security 
Fingerprint reader and Security chip
Battery 
Lithium Ion 6 cell

	Detailed specs can be found here
<http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-67883>.

	Once I got past the so called rescue and recovery the installation of
openSUSE 10.3 was quick and uneventful. The Linux install is partitioned
with /root, /boot, /usr, /swap, /var, /tmp, /opt, /home. All went very
nice.  Once the base installation was done I referred to
<http://www.softwareinreview.com/linux_optimizations/hacking_opensuse_10.3.html> to complete the installation. Ygl was enabled and works. Very cool. VMWare Workstation 5 was installed using the guide here <http://en.opensuse.org/Setting_up_VMware_on_SUSE_Linux> for installing it on a unsupported distribution. Prior to installation of XP the directions here <http://www.vmware.com/support/ws5/doc/ws_vidsound_d3d_enabling_vm.html> were followed to enable the guest operating system for accelerated 3-D which will then allow for the installation of DirectX. I set the size of the virtual disk to 15GB. Installation of XP was long and uneventful as was the upgrade process. When starting XP in either player or workstation it still warns of not supporting 3D, but there it is!
	For the details. The audio works and is controlled via software. The
volume up/down buttons make a pretty graphic appear but have no effect
on the volume. I didn't think I would like the touchpad, but I do! I'm
still learning the intricacies of it and installing gsynaptics is a
must! I can scroll both vertically and horizontally with it!
Suspend/resume works either with a lid close, Fn+F4, or via software.
Follow the directions here <http://en.opensuse.org/S2ram> and here
<http://en.opensuse.org/Pm-utils> to get it working. Basically add the
line S2RAM_OPTS="-f -a3" in /etc/pm/config.d/defaults. The fingerprint
reader works in many instances. I can log in, authenticate the updater
applet, log in as root in a terminal window, but I can't use it from the
screensaver if it's locked. Wifi works out of the box, although I have
trouble wit 802.11b networks. This wifi card apparently only supports
a/g/n. I have a Verizon wan card which is the Sierra as close as I can
tell, I don't know if it works. Bluetooth is also installed but I
haven't gotten around to that. I don't know if the express card slots
work, I don't have anything that uses those. Ditto for the IEEE1394
port. The 4-1 card reader works out of the box,  a very nice thing
indeed.  Pop in a media card and either Nautilus opens or I'm asked
whether I would like to import the pictures. Depending on what's on the
media card. The cd/dvd burner works out of the box as would be expected.
The 15.4" display is a very nice size and still extremely portable.
Battery life with a six cell is slightly more than two hours. 
	Some of the sticking points yet to be resolved. When dropping a
sleeping notebook into the docking station it wakes up. When I have the
notebook set to sleep after a certain number of minutes of idle time, it
hibernates immediately upon resume.
	All in all a very nice, refined machine. Thinkpad is still my favorite.
Does that make me a fan boy, gawd I hope not!

Best Regards,
	
-- 
Peter Bart <peter at petertheplumber.net>
http://petertheplumber.net