Thinkpads Forum

I remember hearing about someone building a Frankenpad with a T500 mobo. Does anyone have any information or links on that? I understand you lose the hard drive bay, but you can use the Multi-Bay or, I presume, the bigger docking station.

Search this forum and the net for T62. Somebody asked this about a W500 here. In short, it's been done once (documented on 51nb) and never repeated, the main problem being the video connector is offset to the side. What is doable, albeit with considerable difficulty, is either use a R500 planar in a R60 or a 15.4" T61p planar (this has 256MB vRAM) in a T60.

I remember wujstefan building a FrankenPad with a R500 board in a 4:3 R61 shell. Not for the faint at heart

My memory's foggy on this one, but I believe that someone used a T500 board in a similar mod. It was a PITA job from what I can recall.

ajkula66 wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 13, 2021 11:13 pm

I remember wujstefan building a FrankenPad with a R500 board in a 4:3 R61 shell. Not for the faint at heart

Yup, working on it every day, love it. Absolutely best thinkpad I have ever had. And the list is quite long.
Actually the first one I had was bought not built; later on worked over two such devices, plus one ATI-based.

EDIT: T500 board was used in Z61 chassis.

Mindfulness Quebec wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 12, 2021 5:58 pm

Does anyone have any information or links on that? I understand you lose the hard drive bay, but you can use the Multi-Bay or, I presume, the bigger docking station.

Nope, everything works perfectly, but there's some serious soldering needed. Mine sits on 2503 dock connected to GT730 and works great. UB looses battery function (so you cannot use UB batteries in the bay); I have had one ATI-based and one Intel-based unit with UB battery moved and istalled, but both systems are unstable so I dropped that out. HDD bay can (and is) used for a SATA-to-mSATA adapter as you lose approx. 1/3 of space, so full-sized SSD will not fit. Some SSDs are very short after removing the case, and they do fit. That reminds me I have never 3d-printed an adapter to make mSATA SSD sit firmly, and it's been two years now

Other than that, I rather try to discourage building that. Fitting a 16:10 T61p in R61 4:3 chassis is WAY simplier (due to the same LCD connector and its placement - in case of R500 it was HORROR), provides more raw graphics power, and, after pin-mod, also same (or better) computing. I have to finish that project but am - as always - missing some time. Note that a modded T61p WILL work with Q9100 or even QX9300 (even though it will run very hot unless you make some serious undervolting). Other than that, you lose 30mm of ultrabay depth - I will print out a second HDD adapter to fit flush, or try to rebuild a second battery to fit.

My newest rig consists of a Thinkpad P53 and a NEC P212, 21" 4:3 IPS monitor. Yet, somehow, I'm still attached to the Frankenpads for comfort and good ergonomics.

You can do a traditional T601 Frankie if you really want a Frankie, but at this point the performance difference between the classics T60, T61, and T500 is peanuts compared to a P53. Just throw in an SSD and you're good to go for whatever offline lite things you want to do with it. Especially to hold onto as an antique trinket, it's safer to keep it stock with as little disassembly as possible, the plastic pieces do get brittle.

Mindfulness Quebec wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 15, 2021 12:07 pm

My newest rig consists of a Thinkpad P53 and a NEC P212, 21" 4:3 IPS monitor. Yet, somehow, I'm still attached to the Frankenpads for comfort and good ergonomics.

I'm running a P50 + eGPU + 2x thinkvision 2453p (24" WUXGA IPS). This does not change the fact, that the same LCDs are being connected to a 2503 dock w/GT730 and R600/R61p sitting in there. And I like my R-series much, much better

TPFanatic wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 15, 2021 2:03 pm

You can do a traditional T601 Frankie if you really want a Frankie, but at this point the performance difference between the classics T60, T61, and T500 is peanuts compared to a P53. Just throw in an SSD and you're good to go for whatever offline lite things you want to do with it. Especially to hold onto as an antique trinket, it's safer to keep it stock with as little disassembly as possible, the plastic pieces do get brittle.

Just as well is these online times you can connect your oldie frankie to a new turbo-computer with some sort of remote desktop, right?

I'm actually coming around to the opinion that the best feng shui belongs to a hot-rodded T61 with SXVGA standard screen. Just the right combination of viewing angle and body position.

With just a crossover cable you have all the resources of the P53 available but with a superior interface. Just like with frankenpads the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The linked post has some more about the 15.4" planar-based frankenpads. wujstefan has a thread about putting a 15.4" T61p planar in a 15.0" R61 shell, although how he can do that to a fine 15.0" R61 is beyond me

unixed wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 16, 2021 10:09 am

With just a crossover cable you have all the resources of the P53 available but with a superior interface

Hi! Could you please elaborate a little?
I have honestly tried to but failed to decipher..
What kind of a Frankie are you talking about?

To network the two thinkpads you don't need internet access or a router/switch, just a rewired ethernet cable called a crossover cable.