ThinkPad 3GHz [[ alledgedly]]

[Gary Kline]

On Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 12:27:03PM +1100, Peter Jeremy wrote:
> On 2008-Oct-10 16:43:17 -0700, Gary Kline <kline at thought.org> wrote:
> >	I just bought the last pre-Lenovo [?] IBM ThinkPad.  I would have
> >	much preferred the computer *without* an OS, but hell will freeze
> >	over before that happens.  Nutshell, it's got XP on it and I'd
> >	like to know if I can scrape it off and either give or sell it.
> 
> It should have either been supplied with recovery disks or have
> embedded software that will allow you to build recovery disks.


	This is an old (2005) l'top; used.  The place I bought it is in
	Canada.  I aked the dealer if he could remove it.  He said:
	"Write 'No OS wanted' in the comment section."  Which I did,
	naturally.  I wrote this guy a polite letter expressing my
	dissatisfaction.

	Zip. No reply.  --Of course with the global house-of-cards
	economy what it is, he wasn't going to say *anything*.


> Unfortunately, the latter mechanism will require you to complete the
> XP install process before you can create the recovery disks.  Also, my
> understanding (IANAL and TINLA) is that the XP license you have is not
> transferrable so you would not be able to legally give/sell it to
> someone else and I also believe the license key is linked to the
> hardware configuration and may not work on (eg) a whitebox desktop.  I
> suggest you read the fine print in the EULA before attempting to sell
> it.

	There was nothing but the computer and the cords.  Transformer.
	Zero booklets, zero docs.  I can probably find a DOS program to
	extract the key for this year XP, but if is illegal to sell, 
	well, that how the world turns... .

> 
> >	So: should I just drop in 7.1-R or Ubuntu-XYZ over the Windows
> >	or what?  The ONLY use I'd ever have to use W is to play my
> >	French CD's. O/wise it's useless.
> 
> Your other approach is to shrink the XP partition (Knoppix includes
> suitable tools or you can search the Internet) and put FreeBSD (or
> Ubuntu - but this is a FreeBSD list) on the rest of the disk.  I used
> this approach on a HP laptop and managed to shoe-horn XP into 5GB
> (though if you actually want to use it, you'd be better off with a
> bit more space).


	thanks for your input....

> 
> -- 
> Peter Jeremy
> Please excuse any delays as the result of my ISP's inability to implement
> an MTA that is either RFC2821-compliant or matches their claimed behaviour.



-- 
 Gary Kline  kline at thought.org  http://www.thought.org  Public Service Unix
        http://jottings.thought.org   http://transfinite.thought.org