I wasn’t expecting the avalanche of replies and e-mails asking — sometimes demanding — to hear more about the hardware I have in the house right now. I’m flattered, and just for the record I wasn’t being self-deprecating or fishing for compliments when I said reading about my old junk would be boring. I honestly thought it would get a bit tedious.
But apparently not. So I might as well drag out a couple more basement dwellers, and show them the light of day. Here are a couple I refer to obliquely as “the ’41s.”
Through some twist of fate I came up with two Thinkpads from the same release era: the X41 tablet on the right and the stock T41 laptop on the left. Every picture tells a story, so here’s a little background for each.
The X41 was a deliberate purchase that coincided, ironically, with my plan to transfer all my personal electronic documents to an encrypted live system. This is a true Centrino, with the 915 graphics card, a 1.5Ghz processor and PRO/2200 wireless.
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller (rev 03) 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03) 00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03) 00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03) 00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 03) 00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 03) 00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 03) 00:1d.3 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 03) 00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03) 00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev d3) 00:1e.2 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03) 00:1e.3 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 03) 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03) 00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) SATA Controller (rev 03) 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03) 02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5751M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 11) 04:00.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev 8d) 04:00.1 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 13) 04:02.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG [Calexico2] Network Connection (rev 05)
It’s a good combination for Linux in particular; I haven’t seen a thing on this computer that required more than the tiniest measure of configuration. About the only hiccup I ever see is a recent hesitation by the 2200 card to keep connections under Arch Linux. I see this in other machines though too, so it’s not specific to this computer.
Courtesy of inxi:
System: Host: lv-c5551 Kernel: 3.13.0-32-generic i686 (32 bit, gcc: 4.8.2) Desktop: Gnome Distro: Ubuntu 14.04 trusty
Machine: System: IBM (portable) product: 18665GU version: ThinkPad X41 Tablet
Mobo: IBM model: 18665GU Bios: IBM version: 75ET34WW (1.05 ) date: 09/07/2005
CPU: Single core Intel Pentium M (-UP-) cache: 2048 KB bmips: 1197.1 clocked at 600.00 MHz
CPU Flags: acpi apic bts clflush cmov cx8 de dts est fpu fxsr mca mce mmx msr mtrr
nx pae pbe pge pse sep ss sse sse2 tm tm2 tsc vme
Graphics: Card: Intel Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0
X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1024x768@60.0hz
GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel 915GM x86/MMX/SSE2 GLX Version: 1.4 Mesa 10.1.3 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio: Card: Intel 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller
driver: snd_intel8x0 ports: 1c00 18c0 bus-ID: 00:1e.2
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.13.0-32-generic
Network: Card-1: Broadcom NetXtreme BCM5751M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express driver: tg3 ver: 3.134 bus-ID: 02:00.0
IF: eth0 state: down mac: 00:0a:e4:3b:c5:b2
Card-2: Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG [Calexico2] Network Connection driver: ipw2200 ver: 1.2.2kmprq bus-ID: 04:02.0
IF: eth1 state: up mac: 00:13:ce:86:7f:18
Drives: HDD Total Size: 40.0GB (9.0% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: HTC426040G9AT00 size: 40.0GB temp: 31C
Optical: No optical drives detected.
Partition: ID: / size: 36G used: 3.4G (11%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
label: N/A uuid: 01e3748a-7b12-457b-b480-32d25b36afa8
ID: swap-1 size: 1.60GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5
label: N/A uuid: f1d61a8b-cd4a-4d44-8acd-b1accc79dd11
RAID: No RAID devices detected - /proc/mdstat and md_mod kernel raid module present
Unmounted: No unmounted partitions detected
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 46.0C mobo: 39.0C
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 0
Info: Processes: 152 Uptime: 10 min Memory: 334.2/1499.9MB Runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.2
Client: Shell (bash 4.3.11) inxi: 1.9.17
Yes, that does show Ubuntu 14.04 on it; the photo is a much more agreeable Arch Linux system. But I’ve never used a tablet computer for any length of time, and I have talked down the Unity interface for so many years, I figured I should at least test it in a tablet/smartphone style before continuing to deride it.
It’s more or less what I expect: It’s completely unintuitive for me as a regular desktop user, the application search tool is particularly obtuse, and I really, really dislike the injection of so much Amazon and online searching crap. But it’s not intended for me, so my complaints are moot point. Perhaps some other time I’ll tell you what I really think about it.
Here’s it’s bigger brother, the T41:
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82855PM Processor to I/O Controller (rev 03) 00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82855PM Processor to AGP Controller (rev 03) 00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01) 00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01) 00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01) 00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-M) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01) 00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 81) 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801DBM (ICH4-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01) 00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801DBM (ICH4-M) IDE Controller (rev 01) 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) SMBus Controller (rev 01) 00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 01) 00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 01) 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RV200/M7 [Mobility Radeon 7500] 02:00.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI4520 PC card Cardbus Controller (rev 01) 02:00.1 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI4520 PC card Cardbus Controller (rev 01) 02:01.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82540EP Gigabit Ethernet Controller (Mobile) (rev 03) 02:02.0 Ethernet controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR5212 802.11abg NIC (rev 01)
And from inxi:
System: Host: kl-mkc96 Kernel: 3.15.8-1-ARCH i686 (32 bit gcc: 4.9.1) Desktop: N/A Distro: Arch Linux
Machine: System: IBM product: 2375FU1 v: ThinkPad T41
Mobo: IBM model: 2375FU1 Bios: IBM v: 1RETDRWW (3.23 ) date: 06/18/2007
CPU: Single core Intel Pentium M (-UP-) cache: 1024 KB bmips: 3191 clocked at 1600 MHz
CPU Flags: acpi bts clflush cmov cx8 de dts est fpu fxsr mca mce mmx msr mtrr pbe pge pse sep sse sse2
tm tm2 tsc vme
Graphics: Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] RV200/M7 [Mobility Radeon 7500] bus-ID: 01:00.0
Display Server: N/A drivers: ati,radeon Resolution: 145x55
Audio: Card Intel 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller
driver: snd_intel8x0 ports: 1c00 18c0 bus-ID: 00:1f.5
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k3.15.8-1-ARCH
Network: Card-1: Intel 82540EP Gigabit Ethernet Controller (Mobile)
driver: e1000 v: 7.3.21-k8-NAPI port: 8000 bus-ID: 02:01.0
IF: enp2s1 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: fc:1f:19:e1:a9:0d
Card-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR5212 802.11abg NIC driver: ath5k bus-ID: 02:02.0
IF: wlp2s2 state: down mac: 00:05:4e:47:fd:c4
Drives: HDD Total Size: 30.0GB (94.1% used) ID-1: /dev/sda model: IC25N030ATCS04 size: 30.0GB
Optical: /dev/sr0 model: MATSHITA UJDA755zDVD/CDRW rev: 1.20 dev-links: cdrom
Features: speed: 24x multisession: yes audio: yes dvd: yes rw: cd-r,cd-rw state: running
Partition: ID-1: / size: 28G used: 27G (96%) fs: ext2 dev: /dev/sda1
label: N/A uuid: dcff29f5-b72d-40dc-9535-704e57eea88e
ID-2: swap-1 size: 0.21GB used: 0.03GB (16%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda2
label: N/A uuid: f93b41a6-efd1-4cc1-9248-ed09f27d26b0
Info: Processes: 71 Uptime: 6 days Memory: 139.1/498.4MB Init: systemd Gcc sys: 4.9.1
Client: Shell (bash 4.3.221) inxi: 2.1.29
The T41 has a little more interesting history: I literally pulled it out of a trash heap a couple of months ago. The hard drive had been physically ripped out, taking with it a chunk of the palmrest, and there was no power cord. But the battery was there, and everything else was intact.
I took it home, diagnosed its shortcomings and checked on replacement parts. A meager US$16 later, it had a new palmrest, a new drive caddy and cover, and a compatible after-market power supply. Reborn, from the ashes of its previous self.
It has a few eccentricities though; most recently it has become somewhat hesitant to start. The normal Thinkpad lamp test finishes, the battery light illuminates, but the BIOS logo screen never appears. It’s a little disappointing, but the problem seems to revolve around using the power cord and battery together — start from battery alone and it’s fine; start from power cord alone and it’s fine; connect both at the same time and there’s some sort of unhappiness in there.
But I’m still pursuing that. I am a patient person; if it is suffering through the last of its short life, I’m willing to work with it and offer palliative care. 😉
That’s about it for now. Machines come and go in this household; I divested myself of two dual-core Latitude machines just a week or so ago. Don’t ask about those; I’m doing my best to keep you up-to-date, and a week makes a big difference around here. 
Yay thank you!
By the way, you said machines come and go. You have talked where machines like this 41s come, but I think you haven’t mentioned where they go. (I *really* hope the destiny is not the wasteland 😛 )
No, no. Never throw away. Disassemble for parts, find a new owner or relegate to software testing, like the EzBook 800 does.
It will sound odd, but sometimes I like to have a machine from each generation — P1, P2, P3, P4, multiprocessor — just for comparison’s sake. Some software that seems speedy on a P4 moves like superglue on a P1.
And is there the opposite situation? Like an speedy program under P1 and not so fast under P4 or something similar? I mean, I don’t think so, but I don’t know, perhaps.
Not that I recall off hand. The general rule seems to be that programs that rely on interpreters or supplementary libraries — like python or ruby — may behave well at fast speeds but tend to lag at low speeds. mocp on a P4 is wonderful; mocp on a P1 is hellish.
However anything written in C is lightning fast on P4 and more than usable on a P1. cmus is probably the best example of that.
Those are generalizations though, and it will depend a lot on the program, what it does and how cleanly it was written. It’s case-by-case, in other words. 😉
I currently own an X41 and owned an X31 before that. Those are simply the best all-around laptops I have owned. And the keyboard typing experience… it is simply the best (though a bit loud at times). Too bad the quality immediately went south when the thinkpads were bought by Lenovo.
I’m sorry to say that I’ve noticed that downward trend. I like the X41 a lot, I loved the X60 and X61 I had, and I was pleased with the T61p I owned. Of the Ideapads and Yogas I have used, they were very plasticky. It’s sad.
I have seen it elsewhere on the Internet that the T430-ish machines are still decent. Not perfect, but decent. Perhaps I’ll find one, one day.
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