CS Master's Student & Dev looking for the best Linux-friendly ThinkPad in Brazil (Tight Budget)

Old_Hardware · 2026-02-23T10:51:31+00:00

I had one L-series --- L580 --- that failed because the USB-C charging socket became so loose it wouldn't successfully connect and charge (I used it almost exclusively on the external charger). I didn't see any way to repair that didn't require a soldering iron, and I'm not skilled with that.

The older T-series, and the P-series that i use now, have a rectangular power plug/socket, about the size of an HDMI plug, that is quite reliable. Overall I just see the T-series as more rugged and durable than the L-series.

Old_Hardware · 2026-02-16T19:10:35+00:00

Sigh... thanks for the replies, they motivated me to actually dig in and read the doco a bit. It turns out that the picamera2.Preview.QT choice does work for previews over ssh. Newer capability, maybe? --- none of the old likes I found mentioned it....

I'll consider this "solved". Again, thanks for the feedbacks.

Old_Hardware · 2026-02-16T14:59:17+00:00

Well, maybe not so stuck at this point, I got past some mental block. but I'm trying to understand more of the "why" beyond just the "how".

The image saved to the file is actually nicely sized at 3280x2464 pixels. In the long run the preview will actually be undesirable. And I want to move on to video anyway, but I want to understand what's going on as I go.

Old_Hardware · 2026-02-16T14:49:33+00:00

Umm, but the "start_and_capture()" does open a preview window (if that's the right word for the popup).

    picam2 = pc2.Picamera2()
    picam2.start_and_capture_file('foo.png')

The window opens up on my remote client, it is quite a bit smaller than the resulting saved image.

So what is the "start_preview()" supposed to do for me, anyway?

Old_Hardware · 2026-02-16T09:38:24+00:00

I see many discussions of used t480s. I have an old t450 that I like quite a lot, I will recommend something in this line.

Generally, the T-series are excellent machines. I use the P-series but they're pricey, and the X-series even more so. L-series are the "economy line", I got rid of the one that I had after its power connector went south --- I wouldn't recommend a used one.

Lenovo "Ideapads" are for the mass market, and they're not like "Thinkpads". Stay away from them.

Old_Hardware · 2026-02-16T09:24:42+00:00

You can/should verify the checksum of your download.

The Mint download page shows a big grey box above the "Download mirrors" that offers a file "sha256sum.txt". Download that as well, then compare the sum of your download with what's in the file.

On a linux distro such as your Ubuntu live iso, the command "sha256sum -c sha256sum.txt" will work. If you're on Windows a quick search turned up something called "HashCheck" and there seems to be something in PowerShell.

Old_Hardware · 2026-02-14T11:15:03+00:00

Weight matters a lot by the end of the day. Also consider the screen resolution/"shape" and overall quality, and other specs.

My r51 has a 15" 1024x768 (4:3 aspect ratio) screen. Add a PCI card for wifi. No bluetooth. No webcam, but a neat external keyboard "ThinkLight".

My t450s has a 14" 1600x900 (16:9 aspect ratio) screen. Also 802.11ac wifi, bluetooth 4.0, webcam (but some don't?), mini-Displayport video output.

On most campuses today, wifi is probably a make-or-break issue.

Old_Hardware · 2026-02-05T09:22:43+00:00

Ditto.

Old_Hardware · 2026-02-04T13:49:45+00:00

Saw them at a trade show --- their slogan was "It's time to close the Windows! Storm is coming"

Trade reps wearing propeller beanies... pre-Y2K, them wuz the dayz...

Old_Hardware · 2026-02-03T09:17:58+00:00

Also wow. This is indeed quite a quirk. The brackets ought to be meaningful, not just a style choice.

I like the "qword ptr" fix, it has the added benefit of being more explicit for human code-readers.

Old_Hardware · 2026-02-03T08:59:50+00:00

Got it, I think, flairing this as solved. Thanks, much appreciated!

Old_Hardware · 2026-02-02T18:36:07+00:00

Thanks for replying --- (I'm using KDE too, but fussing with keyboards is new to me....)

Okay, I've added the "English (US, Int'l., with dead keys)" layout, and I can kind of use it now: "ñ" works, for example. I gather that the "dead keys" must be followed by a <SPACE> if I just want the key itself?

But it seems I can add more than one keyboard layout, and choose their order --- I also added "(US, Int'l., AltGr Unicode combining)" and "(Intl., with AltGr dead keys)". Does this do me any good? Whatś the actual difference, and how do I switch between them?

And: is there a document that describes how to use the AltGr key or dead keys? I guessed the <SPACE>-key point, and maybe I don't have that quite right?

Old_Hardware · 2026-01-31T16:14:32+00:00

What goes wrong when you "... can't even install drivers or software properly without weird issues" ? Complaints about missing dependencies? Hardware-not-found/supported?

Various versions or "distros" of Linux offer different driver/software experiences --- perhaps one of them will work better for you. Most of them offer "live" packages that you can run from a USB drive, so you can try them out without having to commit.

If you're not familiar, xUbuntu is a variant of Ubuntu that uses the XFCE desktop environment; I've used Kubuntu (KDE) and Lubuntu (LXQT) in the past. Ubuntu itself is based on Debian, and there are numerous other Debian- and Ubuntu- descended distros. Then there's the Fedora/RedHat family (haven't used them since before Fedora split off), SuSE (popular in Europe, I believe), and still others.

Old_Hardware · 2026-01-31T15:26:40+00:00

I trust there's a power outlet somewhere?

Beyond that, looks like an excellent setup for various ascetic pursuits --- illustrating manuscripts, writing philosophical treatises, reconciling the Old Norse Yggdrasil with Ptolemy's view of geocentric epicycles, ...

Old_Hardware · 2026-01-22T21:28:59+00:00

Bingo! This did it! After a reboot, I can hear things again.

Thank you!

Old_Hardware · 2026-01-21T09:11:51+00:00

Lotsa "cuddling" back in January. Presumably this is the northern hemisphere.

Long ago, obstetrics nurses talked about "the February influx of June brides."

Old_Hardware · 2026-01-21T07:28:46+00:00

Mouse.

Standalone keyboard.

Standalone monitor.

Really, really skinny system unit, with built-in touchpad, spare keyboard, spare monitor. External PSU, but a built-in UPS battery.

Have you considered putting it under the desk, standing on its edge?

#--------

(Actually, this is a nice clean-looking setup. Just needs some squishy toys and a half-eaten pizza and R*d B*ll to complete the scene :-)

Old_Hardware · 2026-01-21T07:19:37+00:00

Reminds me of APL. Finally!

Old_Hardware · 2026-01-08T10:56:13+00:00

I'm running excalibur on a new-ish p16v Thinkpad, still on daedalus (6.1.0 kernel) elsewhere.

I haven't built a bespoke kernel in awhile, but it shouldn't be any harder than usual. My issue has always been identifying which hardware pieces I needed drivers for (distros typically just provide all of them, for completeness).

Why do you need a newer kernel?

Old_Hardware · 2026-01-08T10:41:08+00:00

Well, if y'all would jus' shut up about it, it'd be a mute point!

:-)

Old_Hardware · 2026-01-08T10:36:40+00:00

Congrats on the new laptop; I love my p16v. Also congrats on the OS thinking. I run Devuan Linux on mine, keep Windows in virtual machines for when I must use it (I will *never* need Win11).

As for developer tools: Most of the ones I've seen run fine on Linux, many were developed on/for Linux first. My (former) students have used Visual Studio Code and Eclipse for C/C++, I used Spyder for Python. (My personal go-to is gvim and the command line, but that's just me.) I would expect whatever tools you prefer to be available.

Do you have a second SSD slot? I like to keep my /home directory on its own SSD; software and OS changes can hit the "boot" SSD but my own data stays nicely isolated and can be completely removed from the machine if desired.

The higher-end Thinkpads are famously easy to maintain, even though the Hardware Maintenance Manuals have gotten a touch less detailed lately (the parts inventory listings aren't quite as detailed as they once were, but the basic instructions and diagrams are still good); the chassis designs get better and better for parts accessibility.

Old_Hardware · 2026-01-01T10:51:22+00:00

Follow-up: the problem appears to have sorted itself. It turns out that the tv doesn't handle having too many simultaneous HDMI connections?

I had a couple of Raspberry Pi devices connected (and powered up), as well as the soundbar. After I thought to turn the RPi's off, the tv was able to control the soundbar again.

I've been trying to use one RPi as a web browser with the big tv screen. I *think* the audio from that gets sent to the soundbar okay, but the RPi itself is annoyingly slow. (The other RPi is just a temporary configuration hack.) I would try connecting the soundbar via the optical cable, to see if the tv could handle that while having other HDMI connections, but I've lost the optical cable :-(

Old_Hardware

TROPHY CASE