Title: Addition / Confirmation to Laptop Compatibility List
Post by: Jenne on April 16, 2008, 02:07:53 AM
Post by: Jenne on April 16, 2008, 02:07:53 AM
Thanks to this great community I´m by now able to confirm two Laptops running with at least OpenStep 4.2 (both can also run Rhapsody DR 2 but they lack the color abilities and sound...). As stated in RacerX´s list the Compaq Armada E500 is stated "theorized to work", now here is the confirmation:
Its running with 128 MB RAM, uses a 5,7 GB harddrive (which is cut down to a 2 GB partition), makes use of the VBE 2.0 driver with resolutions from 600 x 400 up to 1024 x 786, communicates with a 3Com Etherlink 3C589D PCMCIA (which is also great for older Mac laptops and Newtons!), an Adaptec 1460B SCSI PCMCIA (driven by the Adaptec PCMCIA 6360 driver). Sad to say: no sound.
Pretty much the same is the ThinkPad 240:
While using 192 MB RAM it´s slower than the Armada but also much lighter, smaller and very handy to use. It is able to display resolutions up to 800 x 600 (1024 x 768 is possible, too but the screen overlaps the display´s frame). It uses the same drivers like the Armada and also has no sound.
Both are able to work with Rhapsody DR 2 but with no sound and no driver for their displays - if it should be possible to transfer display drivers from an OpenStep installation to a Rhapsody installation I assume the VBE display driver would work with these even within Rhapsody.
IBM ThinkPads are known for some keyboard troubles like stuck keys which prevent for example Windows 98 and else from starting up correctly. My ThinkPad suffers this problem, too but when using OpenStep this symptom is simply ignored and You can use this fine machine to full extent. Those small ThinkPads are pretty cheap to get at eBay´s while the Armadas are more expensive.
Both can use Apple HFS (standrad, not extended) formatted floppies and CD ROMs, for installation You should use the mentioned Adaptec PCMCIA 1460B card along with an Apple SCSI drive (I used a 600e and a 300e with no troubles at all) along with the ThinkPad 240. Logically You will have to chose the standard EIDE and ATAPI driver (not dual) from the driver floppy along with the Adaptec 6x60 driver, for the Armada it´s just the standard EIDE and ATAPI driver (not dual). After applying the OpenStep patches available from Apple and elsewhere You can change the display settings.
Enjoy!
J
Its running with 128 MB RAM, uses a 5,7 GB harddrive (which is cut down to a 2 GB partition), makes use of the VBE 2.0 driver with resolutions from 600 x 400 up to 1024 x 786, communicates with a 3Com Etherlink 3C589D PCMCIA (which is also great for older Mac laptops and Newtons!), an Adaptec 1460B SCSI PCMCIA (driven by the Adaptec PCMCIA 6360 driver). Sad to say: no sound.
Pretty much the same is the ThinkPad 240:
While using 192 MB RAM it´s slower than the Armada but also much lighter, smaller and very handy to use. It is able to display resolutions up to 800 x 600 (1024 x 768 is possible, too but the screen overlaps the display´s frame). It uses the same drivers like the Armada and also has no sound.
Both are able to work with Rhapsody DR 2 but with no sound and no driver for their displays - if it should be possible to transfer display drivers from an OpenStep installation to a Rhapsody installation I assume the VBE display driver would work with these even within Rhapsody.
IBM ThinkPads are known for some keyboard troubles like stuck keys which prevent for example Windows 98 and else from starting up correctly. My ThinkPad suffers this problem, too but when using OpenStep this symptom is simply ignored and You can use this fine machine to full extent. Those small ThinkPads are pretty cheap to get at eBay´s while the Armadas are more expensive.
Both can use Apple HFS (standrad, not extended) formatted floppies and CD ROMs, for installation You should use the mentioned Adaptec PCMCIA 1460B card along with an Apple SCSI drive (I used a 600e and a 300e with no troubles at all) along with the ThinkPad 240. Logically You will have to chose the standard EIDE and ATAPI driver (not dual) from the driver floppy along with the Adaptec 6x60 driver, for the Armada it´s just the standard EIDE and ATAPI driver (not dual). After applying the OpenStep patches available from Apple and elsewhere You can change the display settings.
Enjoy!
J
Title: Addition / Confirmation to Laptop Compatibility List
Post by: kb7sqi on April 16, 2008, 11:03:12 AM
Post by: kb7sqi on April 16, 2008, 11:03:12 AM
Congrats Jenne! Both look real nice running OPENSTEP. :wink: I was curious about the Thinkpad 240. I'd read somewhere it has the quite a few of the same issues as the original 600 series where it'd lock up spuradically, etc. You seeing any of those issues? My Thinkpad 560Z for example uses the VESA driver also & I had to completely disable APM. It'd boot up fine, run for about 45 min to an hour and then would completely lock up. Had to power cycle it. I know it wasn't the hardware because winsux runs fine on it. I also couldn't get the PCMCIA ports to work correctly either. That's the reason I got the 560E, which is 100% supported. I looked at some 240's on FleaBay. Makes me think about getting one again. Thanks & take care.
Title: Addition / Confirmation to Laptop Compatibility List
Post by: Jenne on April 16, 2008, 11:45:07 PM
Post by: Jenne on April 16, 2008, 11:45:07 PM
I noticed two "issues" while using both machines. While the ThinkPad works fine until now the Armada locked itself up after starting the Mail application. Remembered me of the early days of Mac OS X and the ever-rotating ball of pain... I did not have the time to retry this to confirm this malfunction but I will let You know when it will occur once again.
The other one is rather unexpected but known to me as I'm working with many old machines. If You connect those 3com PCMCIA cards directly to a 10/100 MBpS switch they sometimes loose connection or lock themselves up, too.
You can make a workaround to this if You are using a 10 MBpS Hub between the Armada / ThinkPad and that switch.
J
The other one is rather unexpected but known to me as I'm working with many old machines. If You connect those 3com PCMCIA cards directly to a 10/100 MBpS switch they sometimes loose connection or lock themselves up, too.
You can make a workaround to this if You are using a 10 MBpS Hub between the Armada / ThinkPad and that switch.
J
Title: Addition / Confirmation to Laptop Compatibility List
Post by: asfme on May 14, 2008, 06:11:32 AM
Post by: asfme on May 14, 2008, 06:11:32 AM
Quote from: "kb7sqi"My Thinkpad 560Z for example uses the VESA driver also & I had to completely disable APM. It'd boot up fine, run for about 45 min to an hour and then would completely lock up. Had to power cycle it. I know it wasn't the hardware because winsux runs fine on it. I also couldn't get the PCMCIA ports to work correctly either.
It seems the same problem that I have on a Thinkpad 380z with a 300 Mhz PII and a 10 Gb IBM Hard drive.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/asfme/380z.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/asfme/380zOS42.jpg
During the installation, and since from the first boot, I had several problems with the APM. I'm sure it isn't an hardware problem because I've currently installed WARP 4, Win 98 (NT too in the past), Beos Max as well DAMN and everything works great. Now the APM has been disabled but the problem often still persists.
Andrea
Title: Addition / Confirmation to Laptop Compatibility List
Post by: kb7sqi on May 14, 2008, 07:32:42 AM
Post by: kb7sqi on May 14, 2008, 07:32:42 AM
Quote from: "asfme"Quote from: "kb7sqi"My Thinkpad 560Z for example uses the VESA driver also & I had to completely disable APM. It'd boot up fine, run for about 45 min to an hour and then would completely lock up. Had to power cycle it. I know it wasn't the hardware because winsux runs fine on it. I also couldn't get the PCMCIA ports to work correctly either.
It seems the same problem that I have on a Thinkpad 380z with a 300 Mhz PII and a 10 Gb IBM Hard drive.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/asfme/380z.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/asfme/380zOS42.jpg
During the installation, and since from the first boot, I had several problems with the APM. I'm sure it isn't an hardware problem because I've currently installed WARP 4, Win 98 (NT too in the past), Beos Max as well DAMN and everything works great. Now the APM has been disabled but the problem often still persists.
Andrea
Hi Andrea,
Yeah, that's why I pretty much gave up on the 560Z and got the 560E. It's a little slower, but it works 100% like the 560 does. I also have the 560X model, but I haven't got a chance to try OS4.2 on it yet. I've got quite a few thinkpads. If you don't mind the weight, the 765L is another model that runs OS4.2 perfectly. It's just a bit heavy. LOL. :D I used that to replace a faster compaq laptop that I use for compiling. So it looks nice sitting on the corner of my desk. ;-) If you do a advance google search in comp.sys.next.* about thinkpad 600, you'll see several references to what I described about the 560Z. The 380Z is pretty similar to the 560Z. I haven't tried this yet, but have you updated the BIOS to the latest level? I know mine is down a couple of revs. I was going to give it a shot when I got a chance just to see if it helped. Take care.
Title: Addition / Confirmation to Laptop Compatibility List
Post by: asfme on May 23, 2008, 09:21:21 AM
Post by: asfme on May 23, 2008, 09:21:21 AM
Quote from: "kb7sqi"
The 380Z is pretty similar to the 560Z. I haven't tried this yet, but have you updated the BIOS to the latest level? I know mine is down a couple of revs. I was going to give it a shot when I got a chance just to see if it helped. Take care.
Hi and thanks for reply. Sure, a while ago I tried to flash the bios with the latest release. After upgraded the system I experienced a lot of problems since the first reboot, expecially with trackpoint and video adapter. I had big troubles also turning OS 4.2 into the single user/default mode. I encountered the same trackpoint problem with BeOS... but Windows 98 worked fine :wink:
Anyway if somebody has to use/install NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP on a 380Z I suggest to set the BIOS with an older version than 1.08. Releases 1.05 and 1.06 have been tested on mine.
Bye, Andrea