Lenovo Thinkpad X60s (from year 2006) and a modern SSD

In short, it works. An old Lenovo X60s of mine with 2 GB of RAM and Debian Linux installed was lagging. So what next? Disposal? No, that was not an option. So I decided to give X60s the last chance. Off I went and purchased a brand new 120 GB SSD drive for 26 €.

Removing the old HDD was easy; one screw, pull and there you are. After that few more screws and SSD was ready for action. No need to enter the BIOS. SSD drive was automatically detected.

I'm fond of Raspbian (download here: https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/ ) which is based on Debian Linux. As it's available for PC the next thing to do was to burn Raspbian ISO on a USB stick. Installing Raspbian took less time than did with the original HDD.

So how is it? Well, I was afraid whether a modern a 3rd generation SSD would work on an old PC or not. SATA III is said to be downward compatible with SATA 1. One has to be careful and read what other userd have experienced. In my case X60s accepted the new SSD drive.

Now I have a very responsive old PC running a modern operating system. A new SSD is the best thing to do when you come across an old PC!

PS What happened to the old HDD? It has a new life as an external HDD!

Ubuntu Touch on Nexus 7 (2013) wifi (flo)

Nexus 7 (2013) wifi (codenamed flo) is one of those tablets able to run Ubuntu Touch operating system from UBports. I recently received my used Nexus 7 (2013) wifi and immediately started to install Ubuntu Touch on it. There were issues, not too many:

• First of all, flash Android 4.4. Mine had Android 5 or higher and it's a no-go. Ubuntu Touch won't start. Find Android 4.4 image here: https://developers.google.com/android/images 
• Make sure you enable Developer Mode in Android 4.4
• Use Ubuntu Touch installer on Linux when flashing although available for Mac OS and Windows as well. Linux is the best. The other two work if it's a sunny day.
• In case wifi is not working (is not available at all like I had!) on Ubuntu Touch reboot and pray. Worked for me!
• Create a PIN code which also works as a password for root.

That's it! Now I'm a proud owner of a Nexus 7 tablet which is running pure Linux!

My Nexus 7 (2013) wifi (flo) with

Ubuntu Touch installed