Lenovo blows the Linux desktop off

It was halfassed support to begin with so why bother.

I bought a T61 with SLED 10 preloaded a few months ago when my T42p had to be serviced. That was through the IBM internal store, so I'm not sure if SLED preloads are still an option there. I had noticed that the option was gone from Lenovo's site a couple weeks ago when I looked.

I'm sure it wasn't a business decision and m$ put pressure on them. Eventually some company will grow a backbone and just make money especially with the world economy in a tail spin.

It doesn't surprise me that they pulled the SLED preloads. Just look at the readme with its list of unsupported features. And they didn't include any Novell updates with the system. Who buys a computer and then has to pay for operating system updates? Anyway I blew away SLED 10 and installed OpenSUSE 11. And I have eComStation 2.0 RC5 installed on it as well. Screw windoze.

Anyway I'm back to mostly using my T42p now that it's fixed. The Lenovo Thinkpad isn't quite asnice as the IBM designed one.

It's crappy that they include a multicard reader which is unusable under the preloaded Linux. It's like IBM saying OS/2 was supported on certain Thinkpad models but never providing a modem driver, bluetooth driver or a stinking DVD player. It was halfassed support to begin with so why bother.

Organize a Lenovo boycott?

Hi,

I think we organize a boycott of Lenovo to send a message.

Any ideas of what we could do to make our message heard?

There also lots of prople in

There also lots of prople in china need Linux-based thinkpad, I still cannot buy the SUSE-thinkpad, and have to install the Debian in the thinkpad myself.

I bought a customized T61

I bought a customized T61 Thinkpad with Linux in mid August (I think it was August 17th?), mostly to avoid paying for Vista just so I could uninstall it. Two weeks later, the estimated ship date comes and is changed to add another two weeks to the order, and the T61 I ordered is gone from the website (14.1"). I call to find out not only was my order canceled without notification (and I'd been on the phone with them not two days earlier asking if I could change a part (no) and being assured my order would still be honored), but pre-loaded linux would be impossible for me to order again.
I am very disappointed in Lenovo.

So? Should I care?

So?

Should I care?

Web Link to Linux drivers for Lenovo systems

Reposting with a better subject line. This is the main support page to assist customers doing Linux preloads on Lenovo equipment.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-48NT8D

Just because there will be no formal, tested, company made preload doesn't mean the company leaves its customers behind who want to grow their own preload. The web page above is offered to assist in that regard.

Linux users should bookmark that page, and send it to others in the Linux community....

At this point, it's no big

At this point, it's no big loss, really. The T-60 was the last Thinkpad with a 4:3 UXGA Flex-View screen, which is to say it was the last Thinkpad worth buying anyway. Admittedly it's a very nice machine, and it runs my BSD very, very well, but the only place to buy one these days is eBay.

It's sad to see such a good laptop line fail, but for now, at least eBay still has them :D

This is a bit of an

This is a bit of an overreaction....

Just because there will not be a formally supported preload of Linux doesn't mean the company is blowing off Linux...

Take a look at this support page for Linux drivers from Lenovo:

Linux support information for Lenovo/IBM client systems:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-48NT8D

Aftermarket

I love Thinkpads. I bought my Thinkpad X41 tablet before Lenovo started offering Linux, and to my knowledge Lenovo has never sold a Linux tablet anyway. It came with Kubuntu 6.06 (and XP, into which I have literally never booted) and I bought it from emperorlinux.com for $400 more than lenovo.com's price.

Lest anyone think I'm advertising, I wouldn't actually recommend emperorlinux.com, assuming they're still in business. They seemed to only really support RH/Fedora and their Ubuntu support (let alone Kubuntu support) was an afterthought at best, and nothing on their website at the time would have clued me into that fact. They did things like installing kernel modules and tablet utilities by copying binaries onto each machine rather than building a custom distro or even just a set of packages, so when I did my first round of updates, things started breaking. But if anyone doesn't mind paying a $300-500 premium in exchange for being able to open the box and start working immediately, there are numerous options out there. Of course, you can also buy something other than a Thinkpad and not pay the premium at all, because Dell and other vendors ship with Ubuntu now.

My poor X41 has the permanent faint blue image of a funeral director's footprint on its screen, and I've started thinking about replacing it after only 2 years. But I might just hang onto it and get a netbook instead, since "tiny and light" has been the single most important feature in every laptop I've bought in the last decade. That netbook would certainly have been a Linux-powered S9 if they had decided to sell them in the US. Right now I have to decide if I can stand the lack of function keys enough to get the new Dell netbook, or if I should buy the Acer Aspire One and replace "Linpus" with Ubuntu.

Regardless, Lenovo won't be getting any of my money this time around, and that's a shame.

I also fell in love with the

I also fell in love with the Thinkpad recently after buying a second-hand one for my brother. It felt so sturdy in my hands and digested openSuse 11 so nicely that I decided that I will buy one for myself.
I went to the Lenova site here in Germany but there is nothing with Linux available, only for businesses - what I shame! Well I might have to go back to flirting with Dell, which at least doesn't have a Linux allergy.
Better a Dell with Linux than a Thinkpad with a half-baked Windows Vista.