While searching this forum I wondered if a ThinkPad 240 would be able to run NeXTstep 3.3. I didn´t find anything about it so is it possible at all? If yes or maybe what would it take to get an external CD ROM drive connected via USB to that ThinkPad to be recognized at all for installation?
Thanks again for any hint
J
I have a ThinkPad 570 (pretty much the same thing, but with a 1024x768 screen) and I used to run OPENSTEP 4.2 on it (now I have Win98se, Win2k and Fedora Core 5 installed).
I used an external floppy and a SCSI (TEAC) CD-ROM drive attached to an Adaptec SlimSCSI 1460D PC Card to install it. Everything built-in works (except for the modem, of course). There is no "native" driver for the video card, but the VESA driver that comes with the last OPENSTEP patch supports the native resolution at 16bpp.
The main reason I "switched" to other OS(s) on that machine was that, after 4 years of searching, I still can't find a PCMCIA (or CardBus) NIC that works under NeXTSTEP/OPENSTEP. The second problem was that whenever I would boot the machine without the FDD, OPENSTEP would halt after detecting the FD controller and start looking for the drive.
There was one more thing that used to "Really Grind My Gears" - the HDD (an old 2 GB HD from one of my powerbooks) used to make very creepy "clicks" under OPENSTEP.
Well then, it's done: OpenStep 4.2 is up and running on my ThinkPad 240...
...to some degree only until now. I've forgotten to choose the right display driver but everything else works. In fact even the 3Com ethernet PCMCIA card seems to work but I will set up all this again, anyway.
Why?
I'm thinking about how to use the rest of my HD (a 12 GB one). Is it possible to use another partition for Windows and a third one for Rhapsody within the same HD? Or do these OSses require an installation within the first sectors for a HD? Is it possible to switch between them at boot up, anyway?
In between I noticed some oddity. I got myself two Adaptec PCMCIA SCSI Cards, a 1460 SlimSCSI (note: no 1460 A or B or D) and an Adaptec 1460 B. While the last one is working fine the first one refuses to work together with an OpenStep installation. I didn't find any information about the first modell and Adaptec doesn't reply to my requests. This card works fine with all my Mac laptops (145b, Clamshell, 1400cs, Pismo and else) but it isn't eben recognized by the ThinkPad, so I supposed there must be a major difference between the "simple" 1460 and the 1460 B. Some ideas?
J
Quote from: "iDork"I have a ThinkPad 570 (pretty much the same thing, but with a 1024x768 screen) and I used to run OPENSTEP 4.2 on it (now I have Win98se, Win2k and Fedora Core 5 installed).
I used an external floppy and a SCSI (TEAC) CD-ROM drive attached to an Adaptec SlimSCSI 1460D PC Card to install it. Everything built-in works (except for the modem, of course). There is no "native" driver for the video card, but the VESA driver that comes with the last OPENSTEP patch supports the native resolution at 16bpp.
The main reason I "switched" to other OS(s) on that machine was that, after 4 years of searching, I still can't find a PCMCIA (or CardBus) NIC that works under NeXTSTEP/OPENSTEP. The second problem was that whenever I would boot the machine without the FDD, OPENSTEP would halt after detecting the FD controller and start looking for the drive.
There was one more thing that used to "Really Grind My Gears" - the HDD (an old 2 GB HD from one of my powerbooks) used to make very creepy "clicks" under OPENSTEP.
The older 3com/Xircom cards work fine for NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP. You should be able to find one on Ebay pretty cheap. I have several of the older 3com 3C589 cards that I use for OPENSTEP. They've always worked great. On my 560E/560Z laptops that don't have an internal CDROM or floppy, I always go into Configure.app & remove the floppy driver. That way it don't spend the time on boot up trying to search for it. The 560E is a nice small laptop for OPENSTEP despite only having 80 megs of Ram. :D
Just FYI, when I go to do my install for one of these older laptops that don't have an internal floppy/cdrom, I'll use my old Compaq Armada 1500c to do the install on. Then I make sure I have all possible drivers loaded on the system. After getting a full User/Developer and completely patched, I can take the laptop drive & throw it in any older laptop. Boot up w/ config=Default, and then configure it for the new laptop. It makes it nice to be able to use the same laptop drive for multiple systems. Take care.
Thank you for the suggestions, kb7sqi.
I tried 3 3com cards and there was a problem with the dongle connector auto-detection. I posted twice about this problem - once on the old forum and a second time here:
http://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=Brams seems to have the same problem with hic card(s) (or at least used to).
Quote from: "iDork"Thank you for the suggestions, kb7sqi.
I tried 3 3com cards and there was a problem with the dongle connector auto-detection. I posted twice about this problem - once on the old forum and a second time here:
http://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=
Brams seems to have the same problem with hic card(s) (or at least used to).
Hi iDork,
I've never had a problem w/ the 3Coms. I've got atleast 5 different cards. I have the A,B,C,D & even an E version. They've all just worked. In fact, I have a couple of C/D versions. Now, I know on certain laptops, sometimes the PCMCIA Bus can be problematic & make certain ethernet cards not want to work properly. I recently ran into that when I purchased that IBM Thinkpad 560Z. It's a nice small laptop but don' t like to play nice w/ OPENSTEP. Once I finally got it running, it'd lock up after 45 mins to an hour. It runs winsux fine. It has alot of the problems the early Thinkpad 600's had running OPENSTEP. So, I just picked up a 560E to replace it & I'm happy. This weekend I got my Thinkpad 765L up & running also. It's a TANK compared to the 560E. LOL. But it replaced that Compaq 1500c that I was using for dev work. Even though it's slower, it's nice seeing a 1024x768 color screen & have full audio on the laptop sitting in the corner of my desk. I'm going to keep the Compaq around for future laptop installs. I even played around w/ Interphone calling my self between the two thinkpads. It works! Just think NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP had VOIP over 10 years ago. :wink: Take care.