Thinkpads Forum

Hey guys, after some time I came back to this forum!

This is my recent desk setup where I mostly use my R51e as main machine, mostly for programming and running old games (now Fallout 1 via Dosbox). As I started to read Programming Linux 4th Edition by Neil Matthew and Richard Stones I needed to match hardware and software from the time when the book has been written, with my hardware just to have all lessons from the book consistent with software configuration. For that purpose this R51e together with Ubuntu 8.04 was a great choice. I have maxed the configuration out so this is probably very rare R51e with Pentium M 780 @ 2.26GHz, paired with 2GB of RAM, 320GB Samsung HM160HC one-platter drive and an Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG (these were blacklisted in R51e officially so I needed to run no-1802 script to fix it permanently) and I was also able to make proprietary FGLRX driver for ATI Xpress 200M fully working so 3D games in Linux run just fine and smooth. Ubuntu 8.04 just flies on this config. I was also positively surprised that all Ubuntu internet mirrors needed for online installation are still working and one is able to update 8.04 with the latest versions of packages which were released for this version, although Synaptic says I am running an unsupported version of Ubuntu - but - no big deal since I am using this laptop only for occasional connection to FTP, SSH, and IRC channels. No web browsing, no downloads from internet. Speaking about web browsing, latest Firefox I was able to successfully run on 8.04 is 3.6.17 (17.0.9 ESR) but here's a problem that all its certificates are expired so you won't be able to open most of webpages anyway. For that purpose, there's an iPad next to my R51e I love the keyboard of my R51e - much more than the keyboard in my M1 MacBook Pro actually. This R51e is a great workstation with tremendous ergonomics, still capable of various things today, mostly for educational purposes in the old systems, low-level and C programming, exploring of Linux and its kernel etc. I will be using it until I can.

The R51e is a fun little big beast with the unique ATI Xpress 200M chipset. With all the mergers since, can you imagine an AMD chipset with an Intel CPU nowadays? And to think that in the nineties you had chipsets and sockets that were compatible with Intel, AMD and Cyrix processors at the same time.

Love the touch padless palm rest. It reminds me of my R60e.

Those ultimate IBM ThinkPads were really sexy with the functional asymmetry, colorful accents, gloss effects, and gray keys. While I have to favor the *60 series for bringing back the Superkey and generally being more reliable and supporting x64, a part of me always wonders how to bring a *40 or *50 series back into my life. it's hard enough to justify that I don't think I'll find myself living that dream anytime soon. i am thankful to you for showcasing your execution of the vision, it's very pleasant and spreads happiness.

Absolutely beautiful desk setup! I'm a CS student myself and have had this idea for a while but I would need another desk setup for more modern tasks as well and I simply don't have the space at the moment. I've got a very mint T42p to use though when the time comes!