This guide is intended to provide you details on how well this laptop works with Linux and which drivers you need to configure. For details on how to actually install and configure the required drivers have a look at our guides section for distribution specific instructions.

Page Contents Authors Introduction Editing This Page Specifications Linux Compatibility Notes Related Resources Summary

If you are looking to purchase this laptop you can visit Lenovo's Thinkpad R series page.

Authors

Bill Giannikos (bill2 at giannikos.com.au)

Introduction

This is a guide to running Linux with the IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad R51e laptop, model 1843-A11.

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Specifications

Processor	Intel Pentium-M Processor 740 1.7Ghz
Screen	15"
RAM	256MB
HDD	40GB
Optical Drive	CD-RW/DVD-ROM
Graphics	ATI Mobility Radeon x300
Network	10/100 Ethernet, 802.11g Wireless
Other	2 x USB

Linux Compatibility

Device	Compatibility	Comments
Processor	Yes
Screen	Yes
Optical Drive	Yes
Graphics	Yes
Sound	Yes
Ethernet	Yes
Wireless	Yes	Use Madwifi driver
56K Modem	Yes	Use Linuxant driver
USB	Yes
PCMCIA	Not tested but should work

Notes

For the graphics chip you can use either the open source radeon driver or the proprietary ati driver. However you will likely get better performance from the proprietary driver.

On some Linux distributions you may get a blank screen when booting from the Installation CD. If you get this you need to use the boot option vga=771 during installation.

Related Resources

Preparing your laptop for Linux
Configuring an ATI graphics chip
Increasing battery life

Summary

There were no major problems getting this laptop to work well with Linux. Most of the features worked without configuration.


Have you installed Linux on this laptop? If so how about leaving a comment about your success in the comments section below.