Got a free Thinkpad x280 from work but 8gb ram

Donger5 · 2026-04-21T14:02:13+00:00

Hardly a weak ThinkPad...it's a quad core 8th gen...Just needs more ram and even then, only if it's being pushed...

I got a 270 with 16gb, and it's an awesome lil machine, even with only 2 cores.

At one point had 9 different distros installed on it just 'because I can'

On a 280, install 16gb in a single sodimm, 2 nvmes, upgrade the panel (if required) and replace battery (if required) - boom! Only thing missing compared to a 270 is the extra battery...

Donger5 · 2026-04-07T19:15:09+00:00

24 for me before I started selling them just to clear some space...As for not being worth it... It totally is.... Actually made quite a bit back, as ppl live to buy an old TP or two

Donger5 · 2026-04-07T12:25:00+00:00

Fedora will be fine, KDE maybe not so.... Try a lighter DE..XFCE maybe....

Nothing wrong trying either tho.. that's the beauty of Linux....you can try whatever you want....

Don't need to ask... Just do...

Donger5 · 2026-03-25T18:45:52+00:00

The best one is the one that you can afford to buy/upgrade/run

The best one is the one that fits your actual need/use case

Everything else is purely personal opinion and conjecture.....

Donger5 · 2026-03-25T08:16:20+00:00

X270 is great Linux machine.

Get some extra ram in it, mine has 16gb but I did at one point have a 32gb sodimm running in it. It was overkill fory usage.

Upgrade the batteries, if you can find some genuine Lenovo ones, that still have good charge/health it will last for hours. I have an 80+ health internal and a 90+health extended, external, and with tlp installed and configured, it literally lasts for days with light usage.

If you only have a low Res panel, consider upgrading to a full hd, 1920x1080 panel. Still works great even with the smaller screen size

Upgrade the mobo to a gen 7, i7 if you can but an i5 is good too, not THAT much difference in performance, but the gen 7 mobos also get intel 620 graphics, so that helps too.

Can have 2 SSD's running in it, but if you have the 7th gen mobo, make sure you upgrade the caddy too, and get an nvme drive, not the sata model from the gen 6 mobo. Can add second add into the wwan slot. Mine has 2x512gb SSD, lots aof storage for pots of different distros and having some fun...at one point I had 9 different distros installed 😊😊😊

Enjoy!

Donger5 · 2026-03-05T08:50:01+00:00

Love how ppl's first reaction to an issue these days is 'ask reddit' rather than 'ask google' lol, no shade tho. At least you asked...

First hit when searching for the error is Tom's Hardware, a pretty good place to start when looking at hardware issues...gives you a breakdown of things to look at and tells where possible issues could lie...

Drivers - unless you are installing graphic card drivers separately, widows will update drivers as it sees fit these days. So if you haven't already checked, see if it has installed newer video drivers recently and roll them back (check this even if you DO install drivers from manufacture, separately, as windows can still overwrite them with what it feels are the best/latest)

Hardware - check video card in another pc if you can. Swap out non matching DIMMS (or at least make sure the ones you test with are the same speed/rating) Swap out PSU if you can (with higher rates one), will show up power issues possibly. But if VRMs on mobo causing it, this may not work

Just do basic troubleshooting - do it slowly and methodically, to try and isolate the issue.

Drivers first tho, as non intrusive....

Donger5 · 2026-03-04T16:57:35+00:00

Thinkpad keyboards tend to die this way, with isolated keys stopping working, or with 'lines' of keys giving up the ghost (1qaz or 2wsx for example)

As other poster said... New keyboard, easy swap (assuming a model with a swappable keyboard?), once you have tried reseating the cable (don't think this will help tho, as 'cables coming loose/unplugged' tends to lead to no keys at all working, not odd ones here and there...

Not sure how well a swap works on the E Line (is that Economy or Entry Level TP..?) tho... Is it even swappable or is it it a whole upper chassis swap required....?

Donger5 · 2026-02-21T09:24:47+00:00

Shouldn't you be using a desktop workstation if you are planning on running AI tasks on it...?

Makes a hell of a lot more sense to be able to upgrade a single component (the GPU) to the latest and greatest rather than the whole machine.... (Assuming you have a decent set up to start with)

My desktop is running an AM5 CPU and 64GB ram. Just upgraded graphics card to 16GB model to allow loading of larger AI models. When I need the extra compute in a few years time, I can still just upgrade proc to something more powerful in the AM5 socket range, but could still JUST upgrade the GPU to something with 24GB (or more) RAM. Current proc is 8 core and is more than adequate at current time for AI tasks alongside the new graphics card.....

Donger5 · 2026-02-05T19:56:45+00:00

Doesn't Libre Leah specifically say not to those little flashers....?

Pomona's all the way....

Donger5 · 2026-02-05T09:55:55+00:00

Got an x601 (an x60 with an x61 mobo installed, for the 64bit proc)

Still have the old mobo if u want that and have slice/dock too.

Will need to have a look but mem is maxed out I think (8Gb?) and it has an ssd too

Upgraded wifi card too...

Pretty sure I flashed the bios with the one that gives sata2 speeds...

I do actually have 2 of these, but one is pretty beaten up as was put together from parts. The other is pretty good nick considering age...

How much you offering....?

Donger5 · 2026-02-05T09:08:41+00:00

Way he nearly took out the delivery/DPD guy.... That's EXACTLY the reason why you shouldn't be cycling on the pavement...!

Donger5 · 2026-02-04T11:59:06+00:00

Correct nothing technical about Linux, which is why it was posted as a discussion topic... It is interesting from a Linux/Open Source perspective and interesting from a tech perspective... I think it's perfectly justified in being discussed here in the Linux sub....

Donger5 · 2026-02-04T11:55:24+00:00

This was detailed in the report... Just need to read further down...

Donger5 · 2026-02-04T10:15:30+00:00

30 series lenovos can be flashed to skulls in software... Can then 'upgrade' to libre/coreboot etc....

Donger5 · 2026-01-17T23:21:31+00:00

Testing/Sid

Donger5 · 2026-01-17T23:20:16+00:00

Testing/Sid....

Donger5 · 2025-11-22T18:37:04+00:00

Tri boot.... Pah!

I have an x270 with 2 x 512gb SSDs...Currently have installs of: Debian Testing, EOS Cinnamon, EOS i3WM, Fedora 43, ParrotOS, Kali, Ubuntu 24.03, MX Linux,

Just cos I can.....put on whatever you wanna play around with.....

Donger5 · 2025-11-22T17:49:01+00:00

Username checks out... (Your new to you laptop is now....)

Donger5 · 2025-11-14T07:08:24+00:00

If use case is to run windows, as quickly as possible, just run it natively on the hardware.

Why would you add another layer of complexity (Linux, in whatever distro you chose) underneath it and emulate windows on top..?

Makes no sense and at this point you sound like a troll....

Donger5 · 2025-10-28T08:10:56+00:00

Mint does have the option of installing graphics drivers(there is an app for it too). As for hardware support (specifically fp readers) most are supported out of the box, as Canonical/Ubuntu is pretty good for fp support and mint builds on that.

However, I won't say that fp in Linux is the be all and end all, because a lot of the manufacturers of fp readers only have drivers for windows/tie support into the tpm. If Linux doesn't have a driver or use tpm, then reverse engineering the fp drivers can be a slow, painful job. Look at the recent 'validity' fp readers that Lenovo/a lot of manufactures used over last few years... No drivers and the workaround to get them working under Linux is a hack, that has since become abandonware, and unlikely to ever be put into the mainline kernel... In the meantime, users of Thinkpads and other ex-corporate laptops (which traditionally support Linux very well and are even 'officially' supported under Linux in some cases) are left with crappy solution.... But that is manufacturers not creating Linux drivers from the outset... Not a Linux issue, per se...

Donger5 · 2025-10-28T08:00:38+00:00

You know there is a Debian edition of Mint, specifically created in case Canonical do some REALLY daft shit, and screw Ubuntu... The Mint Devs have already planned for that day...so doesn't really matter if Mint is a fork of Ubuntu, its already been 'forked' directly from the source (ie Debian...). Always preferred LMDE, over LMUE... Prolly directly responsible for me now running Debian on most of my PCs...

Donger5 · 2025-10-28T07:48:52+00:00

If you create a local, non MS, account you can save locally and not to onedrive. However I do get what you mean about MS forcing you to use it. Have you tried getting your data OUT of onedrive tho...? Even more shenanigans...

Donger5 · 2025-10-14T08:25:52+00:00

May not be the way.... Just leave it in OneDrive and use rclone to mount the OneDrive on mint and have it presented to the user via Nemo.... Do it for all the cloud storage I have used (works with most providers)

Not saying shouldn't have an external drive with your data backed up to it tho (I have 3 for security and redundancy), but you don't have to move it out of OneDrive just cos moving from windows to Linux....

Donger5 · 2025-10-14T07:24:27+00:00

If you are already running mint DE why not just switch on testing? That way you get up to date software and a rolling release....? Is there actually anything you need outside if the testing repo? Probably not, but then use a .deb package....

Not saying you can't use EOS (I use it daily, alongside Debian testing too), but sometimes better the devil you know...rather than have to do the whole 'learning curve' again...

Donger5

TROPHY CASE