Some Background Information
Thinkpads are some of the most versitile computers, with thier excellence in repairability and servicing, they have become a fan favourite around the tech community. Dating back to the IBM Thinkpad created back in the 90's as primarily an office computer. They have always exceeded in thier classes as a portable computer. Since then, Lenovo has taken over the prodution and salesof the thinkpad. Unfortunately, the modern thinkpad has strayed away from its easy repairability, servicing and, overall aesthetic, as it inches towards how modern day laptops are; garbage within 2 years. Now nerds like me love a computer like this, load up a light weight distro on the thinkpad, create some cool configs, and the computer is as good as new! (well not quite, but you get the gist). So that is exactly what I was on the quest to do!
Chapter 1
Recieving the Thinkpad
November 22, 2024
It was the day of the 22nd and the quest was to attain the thinkpad, after a bargaining battle, I had finally gotten my hands on a Lenovo Thinkpad X200 T(ablet) 🔗. This was the cool version, as it could turn into a tablet with a touchscreen, but when the device came into my hands, I was shocked to realize, It had no battery or charger. So it is yet to know if the device even turns on, so in the mean time a charger comes in the mail, I worked on the OS of the system.
To work on the operating system, I had to find an HDD or, SSD... but to my surprise, there was an SSD inside already and a 256 GB sized SSD! I was stoked but there were more surprises as there were 2 sticks of 8GB DDR3 RAM inside it aswell, I may not have a charger, or a battery, but I found parts that had already made me my money back. Getting started on the software the SSD had a Windows 10 installation on there, but we dont like Windows, so removing it and installing Debian on there was a must. Alongside I have been very into tiling managers instead of basic window managers, So i had prompted to install I3 on there with Poly bar and Rofi. (click here to see my dotfiles). It was all coming together succesfully, I had installed a great OS (UNIX SUPREMACY BABY), added a good config, now all i was waiting for is the computer to turn on. The charger should be here Sunday (Nov 24, 2024), and thats when we test if this was worth it or not. One thing I am scared of is, that the computer will have a Supervisor Lock on it, since it is an old UofA computer. I guess now we wait and see what happens.
Chapter 2
It Turns ON!... But whats wrong with it?
November 24, 2024
Well it was finally the next day, the charger was supposed to come in the mail today, and I couldnt stop checking the Amazon app to see the delivery updates. Estimated delivery times kept changing, but finally the package had arrived. I couldnt wait to play with my old toy, but the fear of a supervisor lock kept was still there and, what if it didnt turn on; it was a gamble anyways. I plug the charger in and the power light goes green! "Texts go green, it hits a little different, don't it?"" - Drake, 2022. Pressing the power button, the backlight turns on and soon enough i see the thinkpad logo pop up, but it doesnt boot into the OS i had downloaded prior . (this was me being dumb, because since the old OS was Windows, it didnt have the GRUB bootloader to boot the debian installation). After trouble shooting, I had finally booted into the Installation, everything was looking great! But was it...
Back in 1997, a great feature was created, something that would revoloutionize the way we use our personal devices, it connects us to the great pipeline of the wonderful world of internet called Wi-Fi. This thinkpad on the other hand has been having connectivity issues, where i think either the drivers have not been installed properly, or the wifi card itself is malfunctioning. "But Saaim, how did you download and configure all the other things?" and to that I say "Great Question!" while installing the dependencies, I was not able to detect any networks locally, though it detected my wifi card on installation. So i opted for a wired connection. Now the 2 suspects of this issue I think is,
So whats the workaround? Thats what we figure out really really soon!
Chapter 3
I Am So Stupid, My Brain Is Unused...
December 8, 2024
Well back in the old log, we were talking about how the wifi card was broken... the physical thing right?... well I am so stupid, if there was a contest for being so stupid, id probably not win because I was too stupid to win. Self depricating humor aside, the solution was really quite simple.
A Sunday morning, at 1:58 am while studying for my STATS final exam, my eyes wandered around my desk and there I saw my thinkpad collecting dust. I pick it up and start messing around with it. and then I see a switch outside on the chasis, the switch had a symbol with the laptop on it and waves radiating from it. "It cannot be, no way im this stupid..." I am indeed this stupid, I plugged it in and flipped the switch, and the Wi-Fi light kept turning on and off responding to my switching of the switch. I booted into the OS and there it was, allowing me to connect to Wi-Fi. 🤦♂️ I really should have taken a better inspection of the computer. Well on the bright side it works!
Conclusion
Well this is the end of the story. I hope you enjoyed reading this, and if you have any questions or comments, dont hesitate to reach out!
Signing off!
Saaim Japanwala