Installing Debian 3.1 (Sarge) on a ThinkPad 600X

Install process: Burn DVDs or CDs of Debian Sarge...you need Jigdo to create the .ISOs. I did this the easy way and bought a DVD set from eBay. Alternately you can download the Net Install CD-ROM image and do the install completely via the Internet.

Linux functionality by part:

PCMCIA	Works perfectly in Debian Sarge
USB port	Worked in Debian Sarge Release Candidate, not tested yet in stable 3.1.
Serial port	Worked in Debian Sarge Release Candidate, not tested yet in stable 3.1.
Parallel port	Worked in Debian Sarge Release Candidate, not tested yet in stable 3.1.
Video port	Worked in Debian Sarge Release Candidate, not tested yet in stable 3.1.
Modem	I honestly don't care about Modem functionality. If I'm on the road I will likely have my Orinoco 802.11b card in. At home, it's my Intel 100e Cardbus NIC.
Sound	600E works but the 600X studders.
Floppy Drive	Works perfectly in stable Debian Sarge 3.1.
Trackpoint	Works perfectly (emulates a ps/2 mouse)
Internal Combo Drive (Matsushta Kotobuki slot-loader)	Reads fine, write not tested yet.
Video	Video took a little massaging. I needed to add these lines: Under Section "Device" Option "OverlayMem" "820000" Under Section "Screen" DefaultDepth 16 Subsection_"Display" Depth 16 Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" You can run this in 24 bit mode, but it doesn't do a lick of good. The LCD is just not good enough to truly render 24 bit color. And you won't be able to use any program which requires a xv overlay like oKle or Kaffeine or xine. The "OverlayMem" statement is there to allow for allotment of VRAM for the overlay.

(My thanks to the guy who did the Fedora install guide, I borrowed his format)

External Sources

• This guide is listed at the TuxMobil Linux laptop and notebook installation survey (IBM/Lenovo).