FreeBSD on an IBM Thinkpad 220

WARNING: The information in this page is grossly out-dated. I will leave the pages up in case they might be of some use.

NOTE: I have not used NetBSD for more than 2 years! I have not used MacOS or Mac hardware in more than three years. If you have questions, you are probably better off e-mailing the NetBSD mailing lists rather than me.

Quite a while back, I bought a Thinkpad 220. As far as I can tell, it is only sold in Japan. The CPU is a 16MHz i386SL, with 2MB of RAM, 1 PCMCIA slot, and an 80MB HD. It was a good deal since it only cost me a few hundred dollars and it fit my needs. I needed a light laptop that could run a DOS-based terminal emulation program for router configurations in the field. At the same time, I found a Megahertz 14.4K PCMCIA modem for about 70 dollars. It had an English manual and software which is probably why it was so cheap in Tokyo.

The 220 is very light, it can run on 6 AA batteries, and has 1 serial, 1 parallel, 1 VGA, and 1 PS/2 port. The screen is grey-scale but the VGA port is color. It also came with a cute DOS-based PIM in Japanese, which I used for a while. I didn't use it very much, but when I did, it served its purpose well.

With my obsession for installing BSD on any computer that will take it driving me forward, I did some research looking for a way to run some BSD on the Thinkpad. The first thing I did was increase the RAM, so it now has 10MB (the maximum). The ability to use the PCMCIA slot was mandatory and it seems that FreeBSD has the best support for PCMCIA cards, although version 1.3 of NetBSD does include PCMCIA card support. That led to my decision to go with FreeBSD.


Hardware

Software

FreeBSD 2.2.7-RELEASE
I can run X reasonably well using wm2 window manager.

Windows 3.1 (Japanese) installed on C: drive
I use it for dial-up Internet in emergencies. Netscape 2.0 runs OK.

My ThinkPad 220 Diary

December 12, 1997.

I am preparing for the rapidly approaching day when I will lose my ethernet connection to the Internet from my home. Having setup Netscape to work on my laptop, I figured the best way to go for ppp is to have my laptop connect. I am still having problems getting the Megahertz modem to be recognized. However, since I am at home anyway and the Megahertz is only 14.4K modem, I set up my Zoom V.34.

Basically, I just followed my own PPP instructions that I drew up for NetBSD. All I needed to change was the device entry for the modem port and it worked fine. When I am off the leased-line Internet connection, I will use BOB as the Internet connection via PPP. I can run Netscape off of BOB. For e-mail, I will use Fetchmail to grab my e-mail from the GIGANET server after I make a PPP connection. I can then move it over to Ratbert by using qpopper on Bob and Fetchmail on Ratbert. Since i have plenty of HD space on Bob, I can use Bob for ftp as well.

December 5, 1997.

Having proved that I can get X runnign on my Thinkpad, I have decided to let it go at that. There is no sense running X on it when it is that slow. I did work on getting Netscape running, so I can run it to Bullwinkle. As Bullwinkle is now my main X server and is working in color, I am going to need something to run Netscape. I am losing access to the BSDI servers soon.

I tried version 4.04, the FreeBSD stand-alone version on Bob. But it just wouldn't work. I got a window labelled Netscape Error but the screen was blank and everything basically remained frozen until I killed Netscape. It wasn't just a matter of waiting because I waited over 30 minutes. Besides top said it was taking 13 MB or RAM. Since I only have 10 real MB, this is a problem. It had probably swapped itself to death.

I found the archive where they keep older versions of Netscape and downloaded versions 2.02 and 3.01 for BSDI. I did not try 2.02 yet, but it should work. I had no problems with 3.01 and it only takes about 7MB of RAM according to top. It is nice to be able to run Netscape, even if it is rather slow.

November 30, 1997.

I managed to trim down the settings in fvwm (using 1.24) so that my RAM comsumption stays under control and I am not constantly swapping.

November 27, 1997. Happy Thanksgiving

I got X working with the ThinkPad. It is very slow, but it works. I have it attached to an external monitor to make it usable. I use the instructions provided on a Japanese page for setting up X under Linux on a TP220. I was able to get X to display properly, but I had problems with the mouse. Basically, it would not work. My mouse is a cheapy 3-button serial mouse called "The Whale Mouse". I have an identical one working with a PC running XFree86 at work, so I used those settings as a base. It still did not work well, but eventually, I was able to get a working setup through trial and error. Also, to get the Japanese keyboard to work properly, I had to make a few changes to the keyboard settings as well. Although I doubt it will ever be of any use to anyone, here is my /etc/XF86Config file.

As expected, X runs pretty slow, but it works. With the 640x480 screen and limited colors (only 512K of VRAM), it is not the ideal X server. But it is cute to have such a tiny computer running as an X server. Once I get some cool things running, I will put up a screen shot. Oh, one more thing, I could never get the automatic configuration program that comes with XFree86 to work on my TP220.

October 25, 1997.

I finally succeeded in compiling a kernel with the ep ethernet driver and using pcic PC-Card drivers instead of using the zp driver. I now have it recognizing my Ethernet card and doing the ifconfig and route stuff properly. I still have not got the /etc/pccard.conf set up correctly so that it will recognize my Megahertz XJ1144 modem yet.

September 7, 1997.

I went through the install process and installed the 970807 snapshot of version 3.0 via FTP. The install process went rather smoothly, although it took a few hours. I was very happy to see my little Thinkpad boot up in FreeBSD and also delighted that my ethernet card works using the zp driver. I decided to name my Thinkpad Bob after Bob the Dinosaur.

September 6, 1997.

I backup all my data from the 80MB HD. Then came the surgury to replace the hard disk. Basically, it involves completely disassembling the Thinkpad to remove the hard disk. Here is the basic procedure. Note: You should only attempt this if you are confident in your ability to work with delicate hardware. The hard disk replacement can be performed by an authorized service center. I assume no responsibility whatsoever for any damage or data loss caused by someone attempting to follow these directions.

  1. Unplug the pwer cord and remove the battery pack and any PCMCIA cards.
  2. Open the lid. Gently pry up the top cover near the lockng pins above the Esc, F8, and Page Down keys. Once the plastic cover is up, you will see two screws which hold the keyboard in place.
  3. Remove the screws and gently lift the keyboard up. Very carefully remove the the this ribbon cables that connect to the motherboard by opening the locking tabs carefully. Be careful not to tear the ribbon cables.
  4. Once the keyboard has been removed, you will see two screws in the lower right portion of the base. These hold the hard disk in place. remove the two screws.
  5. Carefully turn the Thinkpad over so the bottom is now facing up. Remove the two rubber feet. Under the rubber feet, you will find two hidden screws. Remove those two screws as well as the two other screws on the bottom. Note that the screw in the middle of the base differs from the other three.
  6. Once the screws have been removed, carefully lift up the bottom cover. If you put your hand in the battery well and gently push up, you should be able to remove the bottom cover.
  7. Once the bottom cover has been removed, you should see the hard disk. Carefully disconnect the ribbon cable which is attached to the hard disk from the motherboard. Carefully lift out the hard disk.
  8. Gently remove the ribbon cable from the olfd hard disk and attach it to the new hard disk.
  9. Now reassemble the Thinkpad by reversing the previous steps. Be very careful when reattaching the ribbon cables to the motherboard. To attach the keyboard cables, I had to have my wife hold the keyboard while I attached the cables. Also, I used some double-sided tape to reattach the rubber feet on the bottom of the Thinkpad.

Thanks to Eriko Yugawa and Shinya Umino for the instructions and tips on replacing the HD. Here are their original instructions in Japanese.

September 5, 1997.

I went to Akihabara today and bought a Toshiba MK-1401MAV 1.4GB hard disk and a 3Com 3C589D-TP EtherLink III PCMCIA ethernet card. Now comes the fun of backing up all my data on the Thinkpad.

August 26, 1997.

While on my business trip to the US, I looked for hard disks and Ethernet cards for my Thinkpad. Both were about the same price as what I can get in Akihabara. It was a strange feeling to a T-Zone in San Jose. I decided to wait until I get back to Japan to buy the hard disk and ethernet card.

August 12, 1997.

I am getting serious about running FreeBSD on my TP 220. I have been pricing hard disks and ethernet cards. I sent e-mail to the two FreeBSD on TP220 users from the survey database. Both gave me instructions on how to replace the hard disk. I noticed that in Japan, the only 3Com PCMCIA Ethernet card available now is the EtherLink III 3C589D. According to the docs, it is not supported in 2.2.2, but is supported in 3.0. I guess I will have to use a 3.0 snapshot.

July 18, 1997.

Did more research on FreeBSD. The most recent "release" version seems to be 2.2.2. I signed up for a few of the FreeBSD mailing lists including the "mobile" list for laptop users. I also found a FreeBSD Laptop Users Survey page. There are two users listed with Thinkpad 220s. This just might be possible.

July 12, 1997.

Purchased RAM upgrade for my TP 220. I now have 10MB of RAM. I started looking on the Internet for a BSD to run on the Thinkpad. It looks like NetBSD's PCMCIA development is not very advanced. The same goes for OpenBSD. FreeBSD seems to support quite a lot of cards. There also seems to be a good FreeBSD following in Japan.

ThinkPad 220 Links

I was surprised to find many ThinkPad 220 links out there on the 'Net. They have been helpful since IBM provides little or no information about the TP220. So here are some links. Note: All these pages are in Japanese!

Shishamo's TP220 Room
This page describes the a ThinkPad 220 running Debian Linux. A more complete list of TP220 links are provided as well as information on setting up Nemacs.

Electric Light Graphics' Thinkpad 200 Page
This set of pages describes how to set up a Thinkpad 200 to use Linux or WindoZe 95 (yuck!). In the case of ELG, they set up Slackware Linux. The page on setting up X was especially helpful for me.

Slackware Linux on a TP220
As the title suggests, it is a page describing the use of Slackware Linux on a TP220. It includes detailed, step-by-step installation instructions.

Thinkpad 220 as a Server
This page describes a TP220 doing real work in the trenches. The Thinkpad runs Linux and acts as an amateur wireless network server with a WWW gateway. It is nice to see them making good use of the TP220.

Why Bob?

Bob I chose the name Bob for my Thinkpad for two reasons. First, since my computers tend to be named after cartoon characters, my Thinkpad is named after Bob the Dinosaur from the cartoon Dilbert by Scott Adams. Bob is a minor character but he plays an important role. He is proof that dinosaurs are not extinct but rather just in hiding. His primary role is to do Dogbert's bidding and give wedgies to people. He is also often mistaken for a COBOL programmer. Let's face it, among Intel chips, a 386SL running at 16MHz is a dinosaur.

Second, a few years ago, the folks up Micro$oft way came up with a program to make computers more "user friendly." They called the program Bob. Of course, the attempt by Micro$oft to come up with something original (and user friendly) was doomed to failure. And so, Bob was summarily taken deep into the forest of Washington state, shot, and buried in a shallow grave. So, naming my Thinkpad serves as an added tribute to Bob, since the most user friendly thing I could do for a Wintel computer is to install BSD on it.


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Last updated, 99-07-12.
This page and all pages in this site are Copyright 1997-1999 by Mark Andres. All right reserved.

URL for this page: http://www2.giganet.net/~mark/NetBSD/tp220.html