This Lenovo Thinkpad model is compatible with eComStation. It features an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and upgraded RAM and hard disk. The machine is suitable as a desktop replacement. Lenovo Thinkpads are top quality laptop computers, and the 1920 x 1200 wide screen is one of the best in its class. It's WiFi card supports 802.11n under eComStation.
This laptop computer is configured to boot either Windows XP or eComStation. The eComStation installation provides as complete support as possible on a modern laptop.
Hobopeep was tested with a docking station, which is included.
This section documents what I did to get this computer to work under eComStation. It is intended to show what goes into this computer, and also as a guide to the user who wants to build it himself.
I ordered the Thinkpad W500 from eBay. I was careful to order a machine with the faster CPU and the higher resolution screen (1920 x 1200). Most of the machines available on eBay are for the lower resolution screen (1680 x 1050). I also ordered the Windows XP recovery disks to install the Lenovo Factory installation of Windows XP.
I updated the BIOS from 2.16 and EC from 1.01 to BIOS 3.23 and EC 1.06. The video now displays on an external monitor without issues. Without the upgrade, the video would display on the internal screen, even though display on an external monitor was desired.
I installed two bootable volumes, H: and N:. The H: drive has my server-H installation with SAMBA server included. The N: installation has the traditional IBM NETBIOS and NetBIOS over TCP/IP networking from the IBM File and Print Client.
On each eComStation installation, I replace the ndpsmb.dll to prevent damage to my SAMBA server files. Then I save the installations in the eCS22 directory. If you want the bare eCS installation, this is what you get.
The external monitor works after this:
PanoUtil -d 1 n:
PanoUtil -c 1920 1200
Using Suntan Special, I defined an installation sequence that includes GenMac, GenMU, XWLAN, dhclient and wpa supplicant to provide full support for the WiFi card. The entire suite of Arca Noae drivers is installed. After that I run Suntan Special sequences eCS22, apps, games and cleanup. This is saved as the Factory image. This is normally what would be supplied on the computer.
DOS Window support has been configured in Config.Sys and Autoexec.Bat.
To make the Thinkpad W500 WiFi work with eComStation, the WiFi card needs to be the Intel 5100 mini-PCIe card. No other standard Lenovo card will work. Furthermore, the card must be Lenovo-approved or the Thinkpad will make an error on power on.
Hobopeep came with the Intel 5300 WiFi card. I decided to order an Intel 5100 WiFi card and install it.
The Intel 5100 was installed following the directions in the Lenovo Hardware Maintenance Manual. Once all the above conditions were met, the scan for hotspots now shows 300 MB (802.11n) connections.
The driver for the Intel 5100 WiFi card is from the GenMU unsupported collection. It works, but sometimes it will drop the connection. There are some special requirements for radio operation. Occasionally, the thinkpad will throw trap 0008.
BIOS has to be set to provide 100 percent power during battery operation. Speedstep must be enabled. The radio must be deactivated on startup by XWLAN, then started by enabling the radio from the XWLAN menu. The SSID appears to be required in the profile.
To use the WiFi, edit the XWLAN settings to deactivate the radio on startup. Using the switch on the front of the laptop, start the laptop with the radio on. Once booted, switch the radio off, then on again. Go to the XWLAN widget, and turn the radio on.
To make the bootable recovery DVD, the bootable program is used. The program object for bootAble is changed. The environment page has the following addition, which is case-sensitive: PATH=h:\dvddao;h:\cdrtools2;%PATH%
Notable options are to use GenGRADD at 1024 x 768, AMOUSE.SYS and ACPI with MAXCPU=1. AMOUSE, config.sys.
The computer is set up to connect via ethernet cable or WiFi. Both interfaces have been set up to configure automatically.
The USB 2.0 ports support keyboards, mice, scanners, thumb drives, cameras, MP3 players, external hard drives, floppies and CD Writers.
The DVD multi-burner can read and write DVD and CD media.
This laptop has a single PC Card slot, which supports OS/2 compatible PC Cards. I have not installed PC Card support, however. I no longer have PC Cards to adequately test PC Card support.
This laptop boots to the desktop in under 60 seconds. That's important, because suspend/resume does not work. To make up for that, the laptop does a clean power down when the lid is closed.
The Suspend and Resume features do not work. Instead, when you close the lid, the computer does a clean shutdown.
There is no eComStation support for the modem, bluetooth or fingerprint reader.
PC Card Support does not work for CF card readers.
The laptop has heat issues. All laptops of this era have them to some extent, under any operating system. Installing the latest ACPI from Arca Noae has made the heat issues less bothersome. If the laptop overheats, it takes a few minutes to cool down before it can be successfully started again.
This computer has the Windows XP preload as supplied by IBM. Both Windows XP and the original IBM Rescue and Recovery may be selected from Boot Manager.
The Windows XP installation is the original IBM preload. When you first start Windows, it will run through its introductory screens, allowing you to name the computer and your user account and to select the administrator password.
IBM Rescue and Recovery can be used to maintain the Windows XP installation.
This is the procedure I used to install Windows XP and eComStation on this computer.
I use Suntan Special to install the software on all Blonde Guy computers. Suntan Special software can be used to install all updates to the system and its applications and to install additional applications. When newer versions of software are released, Suntan Special can keep your Blonde Guy computer up to date.
The recovery DVD supplied is a bootable eComStation DVD with a backup of the hard drive as delivered. You can boot the machine from DVD, and perform maintenance functions. The maintenance folder is available on the recovery DVD. The factory backup is stored in the \image\Factory directory. The backups are simple zip files. You can use unzip to extract some or all of the files in a backup.
DFSee is a generic disk, partition and filesystem utility for maintenance and data-recovery. It supports partition tables (FDISK, LVM), FAT, FAT32, HPFS, NTFS, and partly JFS, EXT2/3 or REISER filesystems. DFSee is commercial software which requires a license key for continued use.
Height: 1 inch
Width: 14 inches
Depth: 10 inches
Weight: 5 lbs 14 oz
Power consumption is 52 Watts (60 Watts in SMP), measured with the computer is booted to the desktop. This computer consumes less than a Watt if it's plugged in, but switched off.
The disk is partitioned to provide two bootable partitions, one for use as a server and including SAMBA server, and the other is set up for as a tradtional NetBIOS networking using the IBM File and Print client. User data is stored on a separate volume.
This is the layout for a 500 GB drive.
| Volume Name | Disk Format | Drive Letter | Volume Size | Windows XP | NTFS | - | 49,996 MB | Recovery | Type 12 | - | 6,430 MB | Boot Manager | - | - | 7 MB | Server-H | JFS | H: | 12,004 MB | eCS-N | JFS | N: | 12,004 MB | Data | JFS | D: | 396,491 MB |
eComStation 2.2 beta 2 (Dec 30) is the version used for this installation. This is the output of the version command.
For the server-H volume:
Installed Component Name Version Service Level Drive ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Serenity Systems eComStation 2.2 XR0C007 H: . Base Operating System 4.52 XR0C007 H: . Base Device Drivers 4.52 XR0D003 H: . Base Networking (MPTS) 6.01 WR08708 H: . Internet Applications (TCP/IP) 4.32 UN02334 H:
For the eCS-N volume:
Installed Component Name Version Service Level Drive
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Serenity Systems eComStation 2.2 XR0C007 N:
. Base Operating System 4.52 XR0C007 N:
. Base Device Drivers 4.52 XR0D003 N:
. Base Networking (MPTS) 6.01 WR08708 N:
. Internet Applications (TCP/IP) 4.32 UN02334 N:
. File and Printer Sharing (Peer) 5.2 IP08608 N:
. LAN Requester 5.2 IP08608 N:
. User Profile Management 5.2 WR08608 N:
This table reports the SysBench 0.9.5 benchmarks for this computer. You can download SysBench 0.9.5 here: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/
| Category | Measurement |
|---|---|
| PM-Graphics-marks | 35 |
| CPU integer-marks | 903 |
| CPU floating point-marks | 62 |
| DIVE-marks | 31 |
| File I/O-marks | 33981 |
| Memory-marks | 1663 |
| Simultaneous I/O-marks | 40 |
| Disk I/O-marks | 445 |
To buy this computer, fill out an order form and submit it to Blonde Guy. Blonde Guy will review your order and send you an invoice, payable using PayPal or any major credit card. If you prefer to pay by check, note that in the notes field of the order form, and I will e-mail you an invoice payable by check.
If you have questions, you may enter them in the notes portion of the order form.
The final price of the computer depends on tax, shipping and options.
An order for the computer is for the hardware as descibed on this page and for the software licenses.
| Product | License | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| eComStation | Business | $290 |
| Home and Student | $145 | |
| User's own copy | $0 | |
| Arca Noae OS/2 & eCS drivers and software package | Commercial | $79 |
| Personal | $49 | |
| User's own copy | $0 |
The eComStation License is available three ways. For a business, the full license is required. For most other uses, a Home and Student license is sufficient. If you already have an eCS 2.1 license available for this machine, and you upload your license key, there is no charge for eComStation.
The Arca Noae OS/2 & eCS drivers and software package is available three ways. For a business, the commercial license is required. For most other uses, a Personal license is sufficient. If you already have an Arca Noae OS/2 & eCS drivers and software package available for this machine, there is no charge.