This is about my ongoing project with my ThinkPad R52, which is the last ThinkPad designed and manufactured by IBM. I'm very pleased to have a machine with 7 rows of keys and a ThinkLight, and a TrackPoint running windows 10 and linux. I plan on using it for school after thanksgiving. It is a 20 year old ThinkPad. I plan on maxing it out with 2 gb of ram, and I could not just install the latest version of windows 10, I have to install version 1607 and then update it. I also am going to a SSD to replace the HDD. So far windows 10 is running far more smoothly than I was told even in version 1607. And Q4OS really brings back the classic Windows XP feel which was originally on this laptop. I'm excited to finish all of this. I wonder what I will do next with this, maybe get a better wifi card.
Got my R52 dual-booting Windows 10 and Q4OS
- Thread starter Lynx52
- Start date
Condobloke
Well-Known Member
wifi card. or wifi dongle ?
Condobloke
Well-Known Member
@Brickwizard will likely know something about that.
in theory if you're handy [and careful] with a screwdriver its not a hard job, normally, and here comes the crunch bit, before I can offer my thoughts on a replacement card I need to know exactly which one is fitted
if you have inxi installed then from the terminal run inxi -Nn and copy/paste back the results
oh just remembered on a machine of that age it will in all probability only support 802-11 BG protocol [54mbs max speed] this style of card is no longer in production so before you buy a second hand one, CHECK to see if there is a BIOS update for your machine. Your option is to buy a usb2 n150 mini dongle [I use to use one on my old dell which had the 802-11 BG card] below is a similar one to mine [available from e-bay USA]
I will be off-line from around 18-00 CST to around 00-30 CST
Yeah, I think the only bios update would change the booting logo from IBM to Lenovo, as in theory that was the only thing that had changed. I'm not sure if it is really my wifi card that is the problem. When running lynx is loads pages quickly, when running firefox it is very slow. My guess is that I should not hope for much on 512 mb of ram, hopefully it will run much faster when I upgrade it to 2 gb of ram. Windows 10 seemed to run fine, but the wifi won't even connect in it. Unless anyone here knows how to help me I will find some windows people. That is why I put this in off topic. When I go to change the network it does not list any networks for me to choose. I plan on opening my r52 up tonight so I will find all the specs out for the wifi card. I've been thinking it would be cool to buy one of those x200ai motherboards, they can fit in a t60 and the r52 is very similar to the t60 in form. This is kind of just a fun hobby project, but It would be cool If I could get this running in a way that I can use it for some school work.
True, that MB will take a max of 2gb if you can find some of the right type, normal i would suggest taking out the HDD and putting in an SSD BUT, your HDD is ATI not SATA so an SSD won't work
There are some updates available for win XP and Win 2000, but NOT for your Intel Wi-Fi
No I'm putting in an hdd. I found one that will fit here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/KingSpec-2-5...05f-85db-fa1101d31370&pd_rd_i=B008RWKFYE&th=1
OK so you wish to put in a Pata/ATI SSD, although it will be faster than the plate spinner HDD bear in mind it will run slightly hotter and compared to a SATA one a lot more expensive [that is why I didn't recommend it], as it will run a bit hotter please ensure your cooling system is clean, and the fan is working ok.
I've dusted this thing on the inside a lot, it seems to work fine. How about this combo of parts:
CMS 2GB (2X1GB) DDR1 2700 333MHZ Non ECC SODIMM Memory Ram Upgrade Compatible with IBM Lenovo® Thinkpad T42 Pentium M Series Ddr1-Pc2700 - A49 at Amazon.com
Amazon.com: ChenYang mSATA Mini SATA SSD to IDE 44Pin 2.5 inch Hard Disk Case Enclosure Box White for Laptop : Electronics
Amazon.com: Transcend 128GB mSATA SSD with Dram Cache, Up to 550MB/s, Mini SATA III 6G/s Internal Solid State Drive for Ultrabook, Desktop, Tablet, PC, GPS, Server, 3D TLC NAND Flash, LDPC Error Correction, ECC : Electronics
Amazon.com: TP-Link Nano AC600 USB WiFi Adapter(Archer T2U Nano)- 2.4G/5G Dual Band Wireless Network Transceiver for PC Desktop, Travel Size, Supports Windows (11,10, 8.1, 8, 7, XP/Mac OS X 10.9-10.14) : Electronics
CMS 2GB (2X1GB) DDR1 2700 333MHZ Non ECC SODIMM Memory Ram Upgrade Compatible with IBM Lenovo® Thinkpad T42 Pentium M Series Ddr1-Pc2700 - A49 at Amazon.com
Amazon.com: ChenYang mSATA Mini SATA SSD to IDE 44Pin 2.5 inch Hard Disk Case Enclosure Box White for Laptop : Electronics
Amazon.com: Transcend 128GB mSATA SSD with Dram Cache, Up to 550MB/s, Mini SATA III 6G/s Internal Solid State Drive for Ultrabook, Desktop, Tablet, PC, GPS, Server, 3D TLC NAND Flash, LDPC Error Correction, ECC : Electronics
Amazon.com: TP-Link Nano AC600 USB WiFi Adapter(Archer T2U Nano)- 2.4G/5G Dual Band Wireless Network Transceiver for PC Desktop, Travel Size, Supports Windows (11,10, 8.1, 8, 7, XP/Mac OS X 10.9-10.14) : Electronics
OK so from the top
The ddr1-pc2700 should be fine
the Nan flash [mini SSD enclosure and mini SSD, I would be weary of this for reasons of cooling, and although the SSD is SATA when converted you will still only get Pate/ATI speed [about 120/150 bps against 600 bps] I would stick with the full size Pata drive [this is personal opinion based on too many years of pulling computers apart]
I would avoid the TP link, they used to use RTL88*** series chipsets, some of which have native supported in Linux and some will need drivers installing, recently they have been using Media tek chip sets which are based on RTL do not always work with RTL drivers
I have 2 nano dongles both have native support on Linux both are N150 one has the RTL8188cus chipset and the other RTL8188FTV chipset [both are single 2.4gh which is ample for a machine of that age]
The ddr1-pc2700 should be fine
the Nan flash [mini SSD enclosure and mini SSD, I would be weary of this for reasons of cooling, and although the SSD is SATA when converted you will still only get Pate/ATI speed [about 120/150 bps against 600 bps] I would stick with the full size Pata drive [this is personal opinion based on too many years of pulling computers apart]
I would avoid the TP link, they used to use RTL88*** series chipsets, some of which have native supported in Linux and some will need drivers installing, recently they have been using Media tek chip sets which are based on RTL do not always work with RTL drivers
I have 2 nano dongles both have native support on Linux both are N150 one has the RTL8188cus chipset and the other RTL8188FTV chipset [both are single 2.4gh which is ample for a machine of that age]
The TP link is only necessary in windows 10, in Linux my Wi-Fi card has the necessary drivers to function properly. Q4OS is great but unrealistic for use at school because I can't seem to get a good web browser running, not many support 32bit. Windows 10 version 1607 runs very well even on 512 mb of ram, so I expect a great experience with 2gb.
your asking all the right questions with your kit, windows will also improve with more ram, all 32 bit support will come to an end in the near future most of the main distributions have already stopped, applications are not being updated as they once were, some distributions may continue to offer a few security updates, thats about it,
if you want a more fully fledged Linux then anti-x still offers 32 bit [ http://iso.mxrepo.com/Downloads/Final/antiX-23.2/antiX-23.2-net_386-net.iso ]
if you want a more fully fledged Linux then anti-x still offers 32 bit [ http://iso.mxrepo.com/Downloads/Final/antiX-23.2/antiX-23.2-net_386-net.iso ]
looking forward, to run 64 bit for daily task [not games] you could look for a cheap Dell or Lenovo from around 2010 with either an Intel T series or earlyI3 twin core CPU or AMD A5 series, they are reasonably solid machines, can be found very cheap and still have plenty of life for daily use. [but avoid old chromebooks]
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Yeah, for now I do not care about using 32 bit. Being that this is a hobby project. And I feel that using Q4OS past it's end of support will not be very risky due to the fact that I doubt any hackers are targeting Q4OS systems. I continue to use Windows 10 even past it's end of support. Really with windows 10, the updates never did much good for me. On 2 occasions the updates failed and rendered my computer useless until I went in with a OS image and reinstalled. I just use Malwarebytes. This whole plan has been approved by some very good software engineers who think it is just as safe as using windows 11 and not updating to avoid bricking my laptop. I prefer windows 10 and Q4OS.
In the future, I would really like to buy a t25 ThinkPad because of the great keyboard and the i7 processor among other things. If not, I will buy a t480 and a t25 keyboard and switch them out as I have seen people do.
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