2048
I thought I'd have a go at installing Linux on a T410. I was going to buy another SSD but then though ‘zark it' and decided to just install it in place of Windows; the worst-case scenario is I just have to install Win10 again.
Well, my decision was made easier when I attempted to boot the laptop and it claimed no bootable devices found, so whatever happens, I'm installing an OS at this point. I don't know if the error has arisen somehow, somewhy since I last played around with that laptop, or if I left it without an OS…??
Anyway, onto installing Linux Mint! It went as smoothly as on the Lenovo AIO, and all the device drivers seemed to work. Firefox went on ok, along with the extensions.
For future reference, Firefox extensions (add-ons? Whatever the zark they're called)
Sponsorblock
Ublock Origin
Unhook
Privacy badger (not sure yet)
One concern I had was about opening & closing the lid: to be a Kitchen MCM, the laptop needs to sleep when the lid is closed, and wake straight to the password screen when the lid is opened… and that works!
Still to test:
USB speaker
Bluetooth dongle
…and then Bluetooth headphones
Crucially: there's no X-mouse button remapper for Linux, so we need an alternative; there's something called Input Remapper to try.
Things a Multimedia Consumption Machine MCM needs to do & run:
Firefox + UB + SB
MP3 player… Audacious (and something called “Winamp Refugee”?)
VLC
Surfshark
Qbittorrent
Puddletag (to try; alternative to MP3tag)
Audacity
Okular (to try; alternative to SumatraPDF)
X-mouse (to try: Input Remapper)
2245
Hmm, it seems the last time I wrote about a T410 and Win11, it was to say that it was seemingly working alright, but that was not the case. It kinda worked, but the laptop would frequently throw up a BSoD and need restarting. This was particularly inconvenient because the T410s have a quirk that, upon starting when connected to the dock, they claim there's a keyboard error (which needs Escape to be pressed to get past; it's a weird error that makes no sense).
So I reverted it to Win10 IoT.
You know, or not, being as how the laptop claimed no boot devices today, it’s lucky that I’m installing an OS. To discover the total lack of a bootable system on there would have been very annoying if the current Kitchen T410 had died and I needed to slot in the spare in a hurry…
