[Ubuntu PA] NTR Laptop Project: Now the fun begins!!

[Kevin Valentine]

John A Back wrote:
> Jim,
>
> Thanks for paying for the pizza and drinks I think we all owe you some 
> money or are we just taking turns paying for food.
>
> Ben was most helpful in dealing with these old laptops that haven't been 
> turned on for years, I image. The battery on the motherboard is dead or 
> weak and Ben pointed out that leaving the computer stuck in the BIOS 
> error allows the motherboard battery to recharge.
>   
Keep in mind that some of these PCs are approaching the 10 year lifespan
of the CMOS's lithium battery.  Yes, they can be charged but the charge
won't keep for long.  Lucky for us Linux doesn't really depend on the
BIOS settings.  I have several old laptops with dead cmos batteries
working fine with linux.

> I notice on the DSL disk that one needs to set a root and user password. 
> It would logical to me that all of us should set the same passwords and 
> I am suggesting that root be ubuntu and user be linux. Your thoughts?
>   
This could turn into a complicated discussion.  I wouldn't touch the
root password because this a sudo type of system.  The reasoning behind
this is discussed in great detail on this Ubuntu page:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo

The default user, in this case 'dsl', should always have a password. 
I'm just not sure if we should be setting it for them.  I think it's
already set to something quite random, similar to how the root password
is set.  I've tried logging in manually and it's not blank.  So if your
concern is network security, that shouldn't be an issue.  I think the
most we should do is tape a piece of paper on each laptop that says,
"please change your password".  If anyone has any more info on this,
feel free explain in greater detail.

> I found an interesting posting about putting Linux on old Thinkpad 
> laptop - http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT6185716632.html
>
> One final thought, what thought has been give to making these laptop 
> wireless with old 802.11B pcmcia cards assuming that is possible and 
> cards can be located?
I have two 16-bit Netgear wireless cards that I use for testing with old
laptops: MA401 and MA701 (cf size).  I strongly suggest using the
MA401.  It's worked on every laptop I've tested.  For more info on
supported wireless cards in DSL, here's a good page on their wiki:
http://damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/index.php/Verified_Wireless_Cards

-kevin