/tech/ - Soyence and Technology

/tpg/ thinkpad general

do all your thinkpad poasting in here

Why ThinkPad?
>Used machines are plentiful and cheap
>Utilitarian design: e.g. mix of old and new ports, stable keyboard layout
>Easy to repair, upgrade (some models) & maintain thanks to readily available service manuals, spare parts easy to obtain
>Usable in cramped quarters thanks to the TrackPoint
>Excellent Linux & *BSD support

ThinkWiki - General info
https://www.thinkwiki.org/

Model generations:
>Classic IBM: T40-T42
>IBM/Lenovo transition: T43 T60 T61 (T42-T43: significant spec difference; T43-T60: 64-bit arch)
>Classic Lenovo: T400-T430 (T61-T400: 4:3 to 16:10; T410-T420: 16:10 to 16:9; T420-T430: 6-row keyboard, USB 3)
>Boxy ultrabooks: T440-T480 (T430-T440: eDP, M.2, soldered CPU; T460-T470: NVMe, USB-C)
>Thin above all: T490 T14g1 T14g2 (T480-T490: soldered WiFi (Intel), partly soldered RAM, internal battery only)
>TrackPoint on a pig: T14g3 T14g4 (T14g2-T14g3: 16:9 to 16:10, fully soldered RAM/WiFi (AMD), end of mechanical docks)
>iFixit-approved TrackPoint on pig: T14g5-… (T14g4-T14g5: Ctrl/Fn swap, camera bump, modular RAM returns)

FAQ:
>Oldest that won't choke on the modern web
Light use: x60
YouTube, Gmail etc: xx00(s)
>Oldest that drives a 4K monitor
xx40(p/s)
>Oldest that takes 32 GB RAM
X260 T460p/s W510
>Lasts full day on battery
T550 T560 X260 xx70 Tx80 T16 and any Lunar Lake
>Newest with socketed CPU
T440p W541

BIOS replacement:
https://coreboot.org/ | https://libreboot.org/ | https://canoeboot.org/
Supports x60 xx00(s)-xx30(s) T440p W54x T470s xx80(s)

Additional resources:
https://dankpads.com/tpg/ | https://biosimage.booru.org/ | https://github.com/n4ru/1vyrain

Patches:
https://github.com/digmorepaka/thinkpad-firmware-patches
https://github.com/hamishcoleman/thinkpad-ec

Chat:
##ibmthinkpad on libera | #/tpg/ on rizon