I bought an IBM Think Pad 2640 about
   5 or so years ago. It is a really nifty little notebook
   computer but it did not have a CD reader.
   I bought a PackBack Micro-Solutions PCMCI
   CD read writer for it. I need it to run
   windows only data aq software.

   I had a Windows 2000 and I wanted to upgrade from
   Windows 98. I got most of the way through
   and Windows 2000 could not access the PackPack
   to finish installing. In fact it disable the Back Pack
   and wanted the original 3.5 inch floppy disk that came with the
   computer. I can't find it so now I am screwed.

   So typical of windows. Linux does not care what you do
   and you can always just download a copy of the OS.

   One does not get new OS's on floppy's anymore.

   I guess the Think Pad is now junk.




   Originally a Windows 95 with 32MB of ram, it's going to run win 2k very
   poorly.

   Product: ThinkPad 560X 2640-70A [change]
   Original description: P 233MMX (256K) 32MB RAM 4.0GB 12.1 SVGA TFT
 Win95

   brian gochnauer

   Your right. Probably not worth fixing.
   The big hang up could be the 1.1 USB port.
   A lot of stuff requires 2.0.

   I just need to buy something else. IBM is selling some newer ones
   used for about $350.

   Paul Lamar


  I've had one of these T61p for about 3 yrs. from work. Very nice machine



http://cgi.ebay.com/IBM-LENOVO-Thinkpad-T61p-Core-2-Duo-2-2GHZ-3GB-100GB-/130426961970?pt=Laptops_Nov05&hash=item1e5e0d8032


  $449.00  23 hrs left on a "Buy it now"

  brian gochnauer


  I just went over to Frys and they have a brand new Acer Netbook
  for $250. Unfortunately it runs System 7 but they want another $90 for
  a version of System 7 that will run XP programs. One GIG ram, 160 Gig
 hard
  drive. 3 USB ports. No DVD burner. A copy of the O.S. is on a protected
  partition on the hard drive so if the main version is corrupted
  the protected version can be copied to the user partition.
  No O.S. DVD comes with the computer.

  I just need something to run one XP Data Acq software package.
  It will not be connected to the Internet. If anybody has
  XP they can share I am game. Send email labeled private.

  Paul Lamar

 It's called Windows 7 (not System 7) but make sure you can get ALL the
 drivers for XP before downgrading, XP is now 8+ years old and netbooks
 contain a lot of new chips on the motherboard.
 Did you try to load the software?
 Windows 7 has a 'XP compatible mode' you can turn on, check the
 properties of the link you click on to launch the application.

 brian gochnauer


 It is the XP compatible mode they wanted the extra $90 for.
 Not XP it self.

 I did not buy the computer. I would rather have an XP
 computer.

 It is not that I am actually going to use the computer or the O.S..
 It is just there to read in data from a device and convert
 the data to ASCII. It will then go on a USB stick
 and into my real Linux computer to be processed by
 open office spread sheet.

 Paul Lamar

Also look at www.geeks.com and www.tigerdirect.com

chris smale

Bingo Chris. Geeks is the hot tip. I already have the Linux
version of the Asus EeePC with 40 gig SSD. I'll pick up an XP version
for $200. Asus Netbooks are gangbusters and very reliable.
I have used mine all over the world to run the newsletter
when I am away.

Thanks for the tip.

Paul Lamar