Installation instructions for the ThinkPad 760

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Specific installation notes for the ThinkPad 760C, 760CD, 760E, 760ED, 760EL, 760ELD, 760L, 760LD, 760XD and 760XL.

General Notes

One of the main pitfalls to installing Linux on this ThinkPad line is the lack of bootable CD-ROM support. Though it is possible to install using a set of startup floppies, being sure to get one for PCMCIA support and another for network drivers, it tends to be more of a headache than it is worth. Using a utility like sbootmgr (available from the Slackware server here, the homepage of the software is curiously out-of-date) makes this headache virtually disappear. Simply write the image to a floppy drive, and boot up. Highlight the hard disk in the Main Boot menu screen that appears. Then hit Tab to enter the Main Menu, head down to System Settings, press Enter, select Install Smart BootManager, and answer Y. Turn your computer off, swap the CD-ROM into it, insert the Linux distro of your choice, and boot up. Smart BootManager will start up, and you'll need to head back into the System Settings menu and Rescan All Partitions to add the new bootable CD-ROM to sbootmgr's list. After you've done this, your CD-ROM will be in the menu, which you can then boot from, by highlighting it, heading back into the menu, and selecting "Boot It."

Granted, a CD-ROM was an option on some of the models in this line, so if you don't have one, you'll either have to get one from eBay (about $20) or fall back on using a network install.

Distro specific Instructions

External Sources

ThinkPad 760E

ThinkPad 760ED

ThinkPad 760EL

ThinkPad 760XL

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