![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.gratuitousscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/Desktop-1.png\" "\\"Desktop")
<\/a><\/p>\nI’ve still got that 10 year old Thinkpad.\u00a0 And I’m still enjoying it.\u00a0 Here’s a status update for those of you waiting breathlessly for such information.<\/p>\n
This puppy now dual boots both Ubuntu 10.04 and Windows 98 SE.\u00a0 That’s a month-old operating system coupled with a 12 year old operating system on a 10 year old computer.\u00a0 Man, I’m such a geek.<\/p>\n
And why is this important?\u00a0 It really isn’t.\u00a0 It’s just something that occupies my time so I can mindlessly plod away on something geeky while my mind resets itself.\u00a0 It’s called Vegetation.<\/p>\n
I do have some old DOS games installed on that thing, and some old computer and game console emulators.\u00a0 I haven’t set those up yet, but the games are running just fine.\u00a0 Except Risk 2. And 1602.\u00a0 And Rome.\u00a0 I guess the “SE” part of that Windows 98 deal messed around with DOS a bit more.\u00a0 Oh well.\u00a0 I still have my first PC to play those on.<\/p>\n
There will be a bit of an issue I can see coming up.\u00a0 That is that this laptop only has 1 USB port.\u00a0 I don’t have any spare PS2 mice kicking around, so I have to use my spare USB mouse… which just kind of died.\u00a0 Right-click no longer works.\u00a0 But in any case, when I need to use a game controller for the emulators, I’ll have to unplug the mouse and use the direction button.\u00a0 You know, that silly little orange nub between the G and H keys that allows you to move the cursor around.<\/p>\n
I already tried my USB hub.\u00a0 Doesn’t work.<\/p>\n
Anyway, I’ve got both OSs tweaked just right, except sound doesn’t work in Ubuntu.\u00a0 There’s a problem with sound on all Thinkpad 600E models.\u00a0 The soundchip doesn’t get identified correctly, and as a consequence, no driver is installed.\u00a0 I found a workaround for the issue, but that was from 2006, and it didn’t work in Ubuntu 10.04.<\/p>\n
There’s also a non-functioning internet connection for the Windows partition, but this is on purpose.\u00a0 I found all kinds of drivers for Windows 3.1, 95, 98 and XP for this machine on Lenovo’s website.\u00a0 That’s how I got the sound, video and on-screen display drivers.\u00a0 But I chose not to get the internet connectivity drivers (modem, PC card) because I don’t want an internet connection for the Windows side of things.\u00a0 If I left it unattended and hooked up to the net, it would get infected with malware in a manner of minutes.<\/p>\n
So it’s basically set up for me to play DOS games.\u00a0 Or I might give it away to someone who wants an extra PC to fuck around with.\u00a0 But I’ll probably keep it.\u00a0 Thanks, Uncle Furry. ;)<\/p>\n
And here are some screenshots from it:<\/p>\n