fedora/ubuntu on Thinkpad T61p

I've preferred fedora (mainly due to their flavor of KDE) in the past but now, comparing f11 and ubuntu 9.04 on my Thinkpad T61p:

- most fn keys don't work in fedora, work in Ubuntu
- nvidia driver is a pain to install in fedora, doesn't play nice with the thinkpad dock. Ubuntu has automatic install for the nvidia driver.
- sleep works in Ubuntu. In fedora, it resumes to a blank screen and I have to hard reboot.

so, looks like I'll have to switch to Ubuntu for the functionality.
Anyone else care to share experiences with your thinkpad, dock or other laptop?

 

I haven't used Fedora on a ThinkPad specifically, but in general that distro doesn't have the automatic hardware configuration that Ubuntu does; in fact, I would go so far as to say that no distribution can match Ubuntu when it comes to hardware compatibility/configuration.

That said, Ubuntu does have downsides. It's a poor performer and it looks like crap (literally).

 

I used Ubuntu 8.10 on my T61p and it worked GREAT. I was very happy with it. No problems with the install and didn't really have to config anything. My bluetooth mouse worked perfectly as well, which made me happy.

I also used Debian Stable, Testing and Unstable(Sid) on my T61p and they worked very well also. There was ofcourse more config in Debian since I installed just the bare bone packages, since I wanted to keep it clean and fast.

I was thinking of trying Fedora a few years ago, but decided that I wanted to stay with distros that have the apt package management. I really love APT/Apptitude etc.

 

I've switched to Ubuntu for pure practical reasons....it's been stable, well supported, and everything incl hot keys work.

 

The latest Ubuntu SUCKS on Thinkpads especially if it's configured with the ATI cards, 7500 or 9000. It crashes and freezes on the desktop.

Fedora, on the other hand, DOESN'T. Even the latest developmental version of Fedora... what is it at, 12?

 

I get kernel panics with Fedora 11 x64 on my Precision....you have a thinkpad, puter1?

 

Haha, the "looking like crap (literally)" feature is oft-mentioned.
Fedora should just import all the hw compatibility code; it's open source ain't it! Guess the Fedora developers don't use thinkpads much.

 

Yep, but it's an older one. A T41 with the Radeon Mobility 9000. Fedora 12 Alpha boots up although it takes ages. I'm able to surf or do whatever on the Live CD. If it didn't take so long to boot up, I'd probably install it. I'm more used to apt-get and Debian-based distros, though, too, so that is another reason I'm hesitant to switch.

If I went to trying out a different distro, maybe I'd go with OpenSUSE or Mandriva. Both seem to boot a bit faster although I'm wary of using KDE 4 on such an old laptop. I've been assured I'd be okay but still... I might try sidux or straight Debian if Ubuntu's 9.10 isn't 'fixed' enough. I could stay with Gnome if I go Debian or maybe sidux has done some things with KDE 4 so it might be a bit more polished, who knows.