Luke: If you need the serial port on that Thinkpad 600, you will need to enable it in CMOS--or by using the DOS utilities available for that model. The DOS utilities are accessible to DOS screen readers. The Thinkpad control utilities for Linux may also work--but I don't start with such a recommendation as you may not be that far along! <grin> The default on most Thinkpads is to have the nin-pin port disabled in favor of infrared. You need to kill the infrared, enable the serial port, and assign it as the first serial port--in that order. On Fri, 13 Sep 2002, Gil Andre wrote: > > Hi Luke, > > On Thu, 12 Sep 2002 22:00:01 -0400 (EDT), Luke wrote: > > I am abot to be installing Slackware or Debian on an > > IBM Thinkpad 600. > > > > Is there anything I might need to know, before attempting > > my first laptop install? > > For general information, please check out the following web > page: > > http://www.linux-laptop.net > > At last count, they had 19 people who installed Linux > successfully on an IBM Thinkpad 600/600E/600X. The > information these people supplied to Linux Laptops can > be very, very important when you try to install Linux. > (regardless of which distro you choose). > > Also, you should check: > > http://tpctl.sourceforge.net > http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/tpb/ > > As these are additionnal software, specifically written > to use Thinkpad features under Linux. > > Next, to be more specific: > > Unless you have a very, very fast Internet connection, use > Slackware 8.1 for this installation. I recently installed > this version of Slackware on my laptop and everything worked > very well. I do not recommend Debian, in general, because > installation seems harder than Slackware. > > On the other hand, updating Debian once it is installed is > muche easier *if* you have a high-speed connection to the > Internet. A colleague of mine has, at work, a complete and > up-to-date mirror of Debian and he uses to update all his > machines -- most can be updated with a single command and > a few minutes. > > Slackware, on the other hand, offers less functionality when > it comes to updating, but is (to me) easier to install and > a very, very stable platform indeed. > > The one thing to remember with Slackware is to configure the > different modules (in /etc/rc.d/) that will be needed to > support all the hardware of your laptop. The rest is easy. > > Hope this helps! > > -- Janina Sajka, Director Technology Research and Development Governmental Relations Group American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) Email: janina@afb.net Phone: (202) 408-8175 Chair, Accessibility SIG Open Electronic Book Forum (OEBF) http://www.openebook.org _______________________________________________ Blinux-list@redhat.com https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list