Centos 6.4 on a Thinkpad ultrabook

So, is anyone running Centos 6.4 on a current model Thinkpad ultrabook or Thin & Light, or maybe an ASUS? Looking to buy one and would like to find something compatible.

 

Hi pjc123

In generel you can almost never go wrong when buying a Thinkpad (in regards to running Linux on it).

I am not sure what Thinkpad exactly you are interest in but since you are saying ultrabook I am guessing you would prefer something from the X and T series.

Thinkpad T430s (14") is a lot lighter than the T430 and from what I can see Linux should run great on it: Category:T430s - ThinkWiki

Thinkpad X230 (12") is also a nice machine: Category:X230 - ThinkWiki

Thinkpad X1 (13") If you rally want to spend some cash on a nice real ultrabook: Category:X1 - ThinkWiki

As you can see they should all run Linux without any problems. I have over the years been running Linux on 7 different Thinkpads an more or less all with an out of box experience.

 

Yes, I have been searching for a year now for the ideal laptop, and I see that Linux laptop vendors mostly pick the Thinkpad T430 or T530, and sometimes add the x230 or ASUS ux31; the same holds true on the various forums. I like the x230, but I really want to go with a 14" screen. I recently recommended a T430 to someone for college, but between the heavy weight and the horrific screen, that one is out as well. I have been narrowing it down to the T430s (Unfortunately, I imagine it has the same screen door effect as well) or the ASUS ux31. Lenovo is about to issue a T440s with a rumored IPS screen and 12 hour run time, and that is so ideal that I may say the heck with Centos compatibility for now (not sure of Haswell support on Centos 6.4), and just install a newer Red Hat based Linux distro like Fedora for the time being until Centos catches up.

 

Yes the rumored IPS screen for the T440 is indeed something that would be nice if it becomes reality

A new distro like Fedora 19 would almost certainly run out of the box on the T440. If you like Gnome 2 there is now a really nice Classic Mode for Gnome 3.8. LINK

 

I am a big fan of KDE, but unfortunately I see interest in that fading; I hope it doesn't go away. I have only used one of the original Gnome desktops for a little while, and that was at least acceptable, but I have not tried one of the newer versions. People apparently need pretty pictures to click on or swipe, like Unity; what a horror that one is. Mint Debian Cinnamon is barely more tolerable. Just give me a simple menu system so I can find things immediately when I am not running commands from the command prompt. Although I have spent most of my time supporting Red Hat servers, during the last year I have been playing with Debian Squeeze and Wheezy on my Raspberry pi, and I have come to like it a lot. If I didn't need a Red Hat distribution on the upcoming laptop, me ideal desktop would be something like a Mint Debian KDE.

Do you know if you can typically disable the Nvidia graphics in the BIOS on Lenovo laptops and use the Intel graphics only?

 

I know that it is possible to switch between discrete and integrated on the T400 and T500 so I am almost sure this is also the case for newer T-series. However you should be able to find it documented on ThinkWiki

EDIT: Also I would like to add that the T400/T500 was switchable graphics with ATI/Intel, whereas T410s, T420, T430 and probably T440 are Nvidia/Intel, then you have the bumblebee option besides the BIOS option.

Besides that it is my understanding that latest Nvidia drivers have improved optimus on Linux so the future might have a much better solution

 

I was just told that the T430 and T430s both have the option to switch the graphics type in BIOS, so I imagine the T440s will also have that capability. I am trying to avoid the extra complication of installing Bumblebee, but may try it later on.

 

Forgive my ignorance, but what's wrong with Unity? It seems pretty polished in 13.04. I didn't like its limited customization options at first, but for me it's functional. Was very sluggish first couple iterations but it's very snappy now. Just hit the windows key and type the frist 2 letters of the app you need and viola. Very similar to Server 2012/W8. No need for long menu trees anymore. But maybe I'm missing something, so please, do tell....

 

Windows 8! I need not say more. Windows 7 will be my last Microsoft. OS.

 

I just use classic shell on Windows 8, feels almost exactly the same as Windows 7, but with the better ssd, usb 3, and task manager support.

Sent from my SGH-I717D using Tapatalk 4

 

But that is the exact problem. Without a menu system I'm not sure what programs I really need to do something. Want to edit pictures? Typing in edit pictures or picture editor etc doesn't get you there. You need to know the name of the program you want is Gimp etc. With a well layed out menu system you go to applications -> graphics -> and then have a nice choice of options you want to look at etc. A well laid out menu system is great, and Gnome had one. It was much better laid out than Windows 7 and befores Start button, especially for system tasks. Now when I want to edit some esoteric part of my OS I have no menus to lead me there. Unity was a tragic mistake of "follow the leader" when in fact gnome had a very good menu layout. The desire to follow Apple and Windows is misdirected. Make a good UI with a solid menu system and I'm sold.

Supposedly there will be a real class Gnome shell again soon, with menus etc. We'll see. Meanwhile there is some app for ubuntu that gives you back a menu, and while I don't use it a lot, I use it enough to know I don't want to deal with an OS that doesn't have it.

 

What classic shell do you use for windows 8?

 

He is probably referring to: Classic Shell - Start menu and other Windows enhancements

 

@Sxooter

To begin with, you're not supposed to rely on a menu to recall what to use. The time you spend on worrying about this would be more valuable if spent on learning your work flow and toolchain instead.

Even if you need one, it's not that hard to hit "Applications" or add a menu extension.

 

Why not to learn a system?