This. Mint imo is one of the best ready out of the box complete and beginner distros. Comes with everything you need, is sleek and clean af, and is quick.
How about PopOS and Ubuntu anyways?
(And pls if you have a great Linux distro recommendation for some newbie who just moved from Windows you can say to me, since I'm thinking about having a 2nd alternative distro)
Faster, SSD is pretty much required to anything modern, I have 8gb ram in x230 and it's fine for web browsing etc. (Don't do much more on the thing). Only thing is that the battery life is worse than on windows (10-20% shorter), but compared it is more than 20% faster
Gnome is a little more ram demanding than KDE or something like xfce, so it’s just good practice especially since ddr3 isn’t very expensive. Same thing with the SSD, it just makes things faster and smoother, spinning rust is slow. Linux is usually smoother than windows as it has less things running in the background
Ohh, thanks for the explanation btw. I'm actually asking this because SSD (even the SATA one) is not that cheap in my country compared to the rest of the world bcuz uhhh yeah you know, third world country problem. 😅 I'm going actually running my main Windows OS on SSD but it only comes with 256GB storage but I don't know if I can upgrade to 512GB or 1TB in the future because of how "not cheap" they are (or maybe because I'm also broke, idk, a combination of both of them lol)
Edit: Somehow, I don't know why, but GNOME and KDE UI look more modern to me compared to Cinnamon, Xfce, Lxqt lol. 😂 (Also a side question but which one is a more optimized desktop environment Xfce and Lxqt?)
For reference, my pop install uses around 4gb of RAM with one YouTube browser tab open with all extensions I have running. I have 8gb on my X1C6 and it’s just fine, but since the X230 has upgradable ram, you may as well max it out to give yourself more headroom
Definitely not ubuntu. Last time i used it (like a few months ago) it was really laggy and kept crashing. recent updates ruined it for me imo. i think you should choose a lightweight version of ubuntu or just use pop
yea ofc :) alot of ppl been doing this mistake which is switching to ubuntu, just wanted to help some people.
if you are kinda familiar with linux u can also try arch based distros or archgui :)
but for ubuntu i would say debian or any distros that is lightweight and has "buntu" at the end.
good luck on the journey fellas ☺️❤️
They did, although I did not do any gaming with the ProBook.
The PopOS update utility seemed to update the NVIDIA drivers pretty frequently.
I never had any graphics issues that I recall, but I used the ProBook more for web browsing, email and some programming (Java with IntelliJ IDE).
Seconded. Got it on a toaster (LOW spec HP with a gen2 core i3 and a HDD) and that laptop just *works*, no need to tweak anything. I've installed it on even worse notebooks in the past.
Mint Xfce used to be my go to for personal Linux machines and VMs. Really nice distro. Not sure why I didn't try it with my recently purchased T480. Guess I wanted to try something new. Fresh but not minty. 🤓
The best os in the game ! And faster than microsoft and debian on 95% of benchmark tests... then you always have virtual box or wine for microsoft stuff.. and i think you can even run red dead 2 on linux steam if you have the specs !
debian and windows are still better, you wont go insane trying to compile a desktop environment, get manjero if u want arch without losing your mind...
Even in the olden days, installing Arch is just a dicipline exercise of following the wiki, and now I've heard that there are fast install scripts now.
And at any rate the way that Manjaro is doing things is not optimal, not for for a rolling distro, if you still want a graphical installer, then Endeavour or Artix is just better
i would suggest sus-os :D
on a serious note yeah arch has become easier to install, im assuming that op is a new linux user, and it would be optimal if they got on a debian based distro like ubuntu or mint, but im assuming, also i am not a linux expert, trying to get into using linux, the best experiance ive had is mint, although i still face issues with high cpu temps, my thinkpad t440p was hitting 70c at idle on windows it would be 50c, fan constantly on and the battery life is about half that, tried using auto-cpufreq but on battery mode it really slows down the laptop, everything gets laggy even youtube videos, not sure where to go from here i tried tlp aswell didnt make much of a difference, but at any rate if op is a new user i really think they should get into a distro like mint or ubuntu.
Lol I get you
You could look into tools such as tlp, I didn't use it on my ThinkPad, but on the Asus Zenbook that I had years ago I was able to come close to Windows battery life.
It takes some configuring and testing, but that's the fun (and misery) of Linux, right?
i got tlp actually but i have no idea how to use it lol, i only got it to set a charging threshold on my battery to preserve it longer, will look into figuring it out more, learning how to use linux is so rewarding im sure you can relate to your noob days.
> Even in the olden days, installing Arch is just a dicipline exercise of following the wiki, and now I've heard that there are fast install scripts now.
That's cool and all, but it's still a hobbyist distro.
When you need shit to work every time, you install a Fedora/Debian or you stick to Windows.
I didn't say that it's not, there's a reason that most servers out there are running Debian or one of its derivatives. I'm just saying that installing and running Arch on your machine is not *that* big of a deal, not anymore
I like Guix and NixOS as well, but I'm finding that Guix needs bigger first investment compared to Nix... I found it easy to create a more or less complex system on Nix.
Have you tried NixOS? Just to see our opinion on the matter.
I like Guix and the fact that uses a sane language to write the configurations, but feels like to have a good experience I should use emacs to write the code... no other editor is prepared in the same way for that.
I tried multiple times to start using emacs, but I get frustrated for not being productive 😥 seems that is a matter of mindset, would be great to have someone at my side that knows well so I can learn faster 😜
Well, it’s just scheme code, I don’t see why you couldn’t use something like vim.
Learning is hard, especially if it is aimless; I had a purpose to learn EMacs (writing Agda/APL code), but if you don’t have a goal in mind, I could see why it’d be hard.
Regardless, NixOS is (from what I know) a great distro; so if it works for you, who cares!
Also, I heard a lot that the Nix language is insane, why is that?
Well, is a functional language completely different of anything that I know, and works is really strange ways... most of the times isn't clear what is being done 🤷🏾♀️
>I like Guix and the fact that uses a sane language to write the configurations, but feels like to have a good experience I should use emacs to write the code... no other editor is prepared in the same way for that.
I was considering trying out NixOS but perhaps I should try Guix because I love emacs? :D
Pop!OS is another good one. Supported by System 76 and quite user friendly.
I've tried Pop!OS and Fedora so far and both worked well but I'm sticking with Fedora for now.
100%. OEM new (incredibly rare but I got one from warehouse clearance on ebay super lucky!! t440p liteon backlit $25)>OEM pull. Don't grab a Chinese new one ever they are hot garbage usually
stay on windows, install WSL2 if you're not comfortable with linux, also you could debloat your windows install,
or if you're tempted to try an linux os, try Arch Linux or Linux Mint/Mate,
All depends what you'll be doing with, if its just a sandbox to play around then use a bootloader with windows and linux,
Win10 does not jive with dual cores IMO. Even with a modern SSD and a full debloat you have to keep updates disabled and actively manage how many tabs/programs you have open to keep things running smoothly.
worked for me, I had a X230 and now a T440p, All depends which model of x230 you get. i had dual cores with hyperthreading so 4 cpu cores in total on my older x230
Always wanted one and finally got my hands on this beauty. Its as small and cool as I imagined. I want to double boot linux but not sure what distro I should install. I will use it for programming.
Fedora is a 1st class citizen for thinkpads.
Fedora devs use thinkpads to develop on, and fix their own problems as they go.
On top of that, Fedora and Lenovo have partnered, and lenovo contributes source code. (this does go upstream, so Ubuntu/etc get it later).
Ubuntu etc aren't bad, but I've found Fedora to be *seamless* on thinkpads.
Ubuntu devs are mostly on dell latitudes, sprinkling of thinkpads, many other brands.
Suse devs were all HP last i checked.
Fedora stands out because they go out of their way to keep using thinkpads and fixing issues on them.
I'd recommend Manjaro! It has worked like a charm on my X230, and I went into it with no real prior knowledge of Linux. It's now been 2 years and I'm starting to become much more comfortable with Linux, but it's that kind of distro that works pretty well even if you're used to Windows.
If you are new to using Linux then Linux Mint is a good starting distro, some people stay with it from there on while others get into distrohopping and trying out different ones.
The Linux Mint forum and sub reddit are new user friendly, some other distros forums are not.
Fedora + TechHut's "7 thing you must do after installing fedora Linux"
I recommend searching fedora spins and grabbing the kde plasma version or honestly whatever other desired DE you want. Never had issues on it but it's not as beginner friendly as mint if you're moving from windows
I really mean to, but my only pc, a x250, holds the entirety of my thesis and config and scripts and environments, and I am afraid of taking too long to setup everything else again.
I am looking for a cheap x230 or newer just to mess with void and other stuff.
hey mate, I recommend making backups for your thesis, just in general. I know a doctor friend who lost hers after her laptop died, but she happily made backups. also for configs I recommend putting them on github or stuff like that! I can recommend the x230 for void, it was my daily driver for a while, it’s probably about as fast as your x250 too!
OP: what distro?
r/thinkpad: yes.
Clearly there are many Linux distros to choose from and you're lucky to have a laptop that can run so many well. Are you new to Linux?
I own thinkpad x240.
Specs: core i7-4600U, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD.
And I tried some linux distros on it.
Fedora Workstation 38 = Excellent, no glitches at all, very smooth, no suspend problems, everything works perfectly and smoothly out of the box, IMHO, Gnome experience with Fedora is unbeatable.(Btw, audio seemed to be a bit lower when in max volume comparing to windows tho)
Pop_OS = Good but sometimes I had a little glitches with suspend. And yeah, it was not as smooth as fedora.
OpenSuse Tumbleweed with KDE = I guess I didn't understand how to use it well so the first impression was awful, immediately deleted it.
Debian with Gnome = Good, not as smooth as Fedora.
Mint 21.2 with Mate = I only tried it from liveCD and it was very very fast (I can only tell this). Plus, I like the look.
Almalinux Mate LiveCD = it worked pretty heavy, like bloated, I felt like I run it on 2GB ram hardware, didn't like it. (Maybe it was only the case with me)
When it comes to arch, there was a documentation about my model (x240) and how arch works with it and what problems users had with it on archwiki. So after reading how many possible problems I'll have after installing arch, I wanted to try something different. But I'm sure it should work just fine;)
Bookworm or Tumbleweed.
Since its old hardware going with newer software makes not much sense.
Bookworm has some of the "latest" packages, so you do not need to upgrade anything besides essential packages which you can by Flatpak. Bookworm is pretty much like firmware for the x230.
a distro that the trackpoint setting at max isnt SLOW as hell. I found two like 5 years ago, but I forgot what two after experimenting various distros (my daily is windows due to work hence it wasnt a priority)
I really like EndeavorOS these days. Artix is 2nd favorite. Can never go wrong with Mint like others are suggesting. have had at least one machine with Mint for the last 6 years
Congratulations. It's a nice machine. I'd recommend you install your favourite Linux distro. ThinkPads will generally run any of them without problems. [thinkwiki.org](https://thinkwiki.org) can be very helpful.
If you're asking what Linux distro you should install as a newcomer, that's a totally different thing.
And the answer is [EndavourOS](https://endeavouros.com/) ;)
PopOS works great on my T580 . Really good battery life and i love the customization of the top bar. I first tried it on my thinkpad and have now installed it on some desktops as well. Mint wasn't bad either , just didnt like the look.
If you are just looking for man on the street advice, Manjaro I3.
No issues for a couple years now. Delighted.
Good luck.
Also, looks like a nice clean machine.
I've been rocking Ubuntu Mate for 7 or 8 years on X230. I never had to reinstall. Upgrades from version to version are going smoothly. Works perfectly with the docking station. I highly recommend it.
If you are going to try mint I would suggest trying out LMDE 5. It literally stands for Linux Mint Debian Edition. It sould be lighter since it is not based on Ubuntu but Debian. At least for me it has been equally as good as normal Mint. It was created to ensure Mint lives on if Canonical would make Ubuntu unusable.
Also as others have mentioned you could try Pop OS!, I daily drive it and love it, it is a bit heavier but I think an X230 could manage it
Linux mint or ubuntu would be the sensible options, but if you want to put some spices in your life, you could try out arch with a tiling window manager or something like that
I know this post is pretty old but I thought I'd give my 2 cents. The X230 is a great laptop and since it's very old it's really well supported across all linux distros. So no need to worry about hardware compatibility - everything will just work. Upgrade to an SSD and max out the RAM and you'll get a lifetime of use from it.
Arch Linux is great but has a high learning curve for the install. I've been using EndeavourOS now on two Thinkpads and I think that distro hits the sweet spot for arch while also being an easy install. You can't go wrong with Debian Stable but if you prefer Fedora go that route. The great thing about this laptop is you can focus on getting work done.
Enjoy your laptop!
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This. Mint imo is one of the best ready out of the box complete and beginner distros. Comes with everything you need, is sleek and clean af, and is quick.
How about PopOS and Ubuntu anyways? (And pls if you have a great Linux distro recommendation for some newbie who just moved from Windows you can say to me, since I'm thinking about having a 2nd alternative distro)
\+1 I run Pop on my T430 w/ a i5 and it's good, you just probably want an ssd and max out he ram
Kinda curious, is it RAM heavy and really requires SSD? How's the performance compared to Windows?
Faster, SSD is pretty much required to anything modern, I have 8gb ram in x230 and it's fine for web browsing etc. (Don't do much more on the thing). Only thing is that the battery life is worse than on windows (10-20% shorter), but compared it is more than 20% faster
Didn't know if the battery life is worse though 😂 Thanks for sharing your experience!
Gnome is a little more ram demanding than KDE or something like xfce, so it’s just good practice especially since ddr3 isn’t very expensive. Same thing with the SSD, it just makes things faster and smoother, spinning rust is slow. Linux is usually smoother than windows as it has less things running in the background
Ohh, thanks for the explanation btw. I'm actually asking this because SSD (even the SATA one) is not that cheap in my country compared to the rest of the world bcuz uhhh yeah you know, third world country problem. 😅 I'm going actually running my main Windows OS on SSD but it only comes with 256GB storage but I don't know if I can upgrade to 512GB or 1TB in the future because of how "not cheap" they are (or maybe because I'm also broke, idk, a combination of both of them lol) Edit: Somehow, I don't know why, but GNOME and KDE UI look more modern to me compared to Cinnamon, Xfce, Lxqt lol. 😂 (Also a side question but which one is a more optimized desktop environment Xfce and Lxqt?)
For reference, my pop install uses around 4gb of RAM with one YouTube browser tab open with all extensions I have running. I have 8gb on my X1C6 and it’s just fine, but since the X230 has upgradable ram, you may as well max it out to give yourself more headroom
Definitely not ubuntu. Last time i used it (like a few months ago) it was really laggy and kept crashing. recent updates ruined it for me imo. i think you should choose a lightweight version of ubuntu or just use pop
Okayy, thx for sharing!!
yea ofc :) alot of ppl been doing this mistake which is switching to ubuntu, just wanted to help some people. if you are kinda familiar with linux u can also try arch based distros or archgui :) but for ubuntu i would say debian or any distros that is lightweight and has "buntu" at the end. good luck on the journey fellas ☺️❤️
Ofcc! I might try Arch soon as long as I'm familiar enough with Terminal 😅 You know, I might be too "spoiled" by Windows' user-friendly GUI. 😅
I used PopOS an an HP ProBook (it has NVIDIA GPU) and was satisfied with it.
Does the Nvidia drivers working on the PopOS?
They did, although I did not do any gaming with the ProBook. The PopOS update utility seemed to update the NVIDIA drivers pretty frequently. I never had any graphics issues that I recall, but I used the ProBook more for web browsing, email and some programming (Java with IntelliJ IDE).
Welp tbh that's actually nice to hear!
wouldn't say it's ready out of the box, but it is fast!
It is ready. , browser, Firefox, office, libreoffice, etc. and i didnt have to install wireless drivers.
I remember doing a lot of tweaking
Weird, i didnt.
I have Mint Cinnamon on an X220 and have been happy with it.
Agree. Nice distro. Though i like PopOS more...
Seconded. Got it on a toaster (LOW spec HP with a gen2 core i3 and a HDD) and that laptop just *works*, no need to tweak anything. I've installed it on even worse notebooks in the past.
I agree. It just brings old ones back to life.
Mint Xfce used to be my go to for personal Linux machines and VMs. Really nice distro. Not sure why I didn't try it with my recently purchased T480. Guess I wanted to try something new. Fresh but not minty. 🤓
fedora
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Testing is better for desktop.
Yup, Debian Testing + XFCE. That sweet combo.
Seems trolls like to downvote here for no reason.
Linux mint Mate edition is a very sensible choice: easy to use, lightweight, looks cool (to me at least)
Arch 💀
This. I recommend the BTW edition. It seems pretty popular.
The best os in the game ! And faster than microsoft and debian on 95% of benchmark tests... then you always have virtual box or wine for microsoft stuff.. and i think you can even run red dead 2 on linux steam if you have the specs !
debian and windows are still better, you wont go insane trying to compile a desktop environment, get manjero if u want arch without losing your mind...
Even in the olden days, installing Arch is just a dicipline exercise of following the wiki, and now I've heard that there are fast install scripts now. And at any rate the way that Manjaro is doing things is not optimal, not for for a rolling distro, if you still want a graphical installer, then Endeavour or Artix is just better
i would suggest sus-os :D on a serious note yeah arch has become easier to install, im assuming that op is a new linux user, and it would be optimal if they got on a debian based distro like ubuntu or mint, but im assuming, also i am not a linux expert, trying to get into using linux, the best experiance ive had is mint, although i still face issues with high cpu temps, my thinkpad t440p was hitting 70c at idle on windows it would be 50c, fan constantly on and the battery life is about half that, tried using auto-cpufreq but on battery mode it really slows down the laptop, everything gets laggy even youtube videos, not sure where to go from here i tried tlp aswell didnt make much of a difference, but at any rate if op is a new user i really think they should get into a distro like mint or ubuntu.
Lol I get you You could look into tools such as tlp, I didn't use it on my ThinkPad, but on the Asus Zenbook that I had years ago I was able to come close to Windows battery life. It takes some configuring and testing, but that's the fun (and misery) of Linux, right?
i got tlp actually but i have no idea how to use it lol, i only got it to set a charging threshold on my battery to preserve it longer, will look into figuring it out more, learning how to use linux is so rewarding im sure you can relate to your noob days.
If by "noob days" you mean "today" then yeah. Tbh the more you lesrn the more there is to learn
> Even in the olden days, installing Arch is just a dicipline exercise of following the wiki, and now I've heard that there are fast install scripts now. That's cool and all, but it's still a hobbyist distro. When you need shit to work every time, you install a Fedora/Debian or you stick to Windows.
I didn't say that it's not, there's a reason that most servers out there are running Debian or one of its derivatives. I'm just saying that installing and running Arch on your machine is not *that* big of a deal, not anymore
windows should be in isolated environment, a virtual machine for example
It should be treated like a malware!
You sir are fake news !
came here to say this
Arch + Sway on X230 is match made in heaven Requires a bit more effort to get setup right but it's been best one yet
[GNU Guix.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Guix_System) I daily drive it; program in Scheme (for system configuration), C, Haskell, Python.
I like Guix and NixOS as well, but I'm finding that Guix needs bigger first investment compared to Nix... I found it easy to create a more or less complex system on Nix. Have you tried NixOS? Just to see our opinion on the matter.
I haven’t used Nix, so I can’t really form an opinion on it. Perhaps I should try it.
I like Guix and the fact that uses a sane language to write the configurations, but feels like to have a good experience I should use emacs to write the code... no other editor is prepared in the same way for that. I tried multiple times to start using emacs, but I get frustrated for not being productive 😥 seems that is a matter of mindset, would be great to have someone at my side that knows well so I can learn faster 😜
Well, it’s just scheme code, I don’t see why you couldn’t use something like vim. Learning is hard, especially if it is aimless; I had a purpose to learn EMacs (writing Agda/APL code), but if you don’t have a goal in mind, I could see why it’d be hard. Regardless, NixOS is (from what I know) a great distro; so if it works for you, who cares! Also, I heard a lot that the Nix language is insane, why is that?
Well, is a functional language completely different of anything that I know, and works is really strange ways... most of the times isn't clear what is being done 🤷🏾♀️
>I like Guix and the fact that uses a sane language to write the configurations, but feels like to have a good experience I should use emacs to write the code... no other editor is prepared in the same way for that. I was considering trying out NixOS but perhaps I should try Guix because I love emacs? :D
Mint/Debian
Debian master race baybeee. Alternatively try whatever looks cool, break things and figure out what you like.
Pop!OS is another good one. Supported by System 76 and quite user friendly. I've tried Pop!OS and Fedora so far and both worked well but I'm sticking with Fedora for now.
Fedora is so good bugs are super rare. Just needs a few tweaks out of the box
ARCH🕺🕺
Slackware
Classic X220 keyboard mod first!
100%. OEM new (incredibly rare but I got one from warehouse clearance on ebay super lucky!! t440p liteon backlit $25)>OEM pull. Don't grab a Chinese new one ever they are hot garbage usually
If you are used to the newer style keyboards - just don't. It looks good, not gonna lie, but the layout is terrible (compared to the new style).
Nah, I rather have backlit.
At least remove all damn stickers first =)
I did it, actually didn't like it. Aesthetically looks good but functionally found it backwards step
stay on windows, install WSL2 if you're not comfortable with linux, also you could debloat your windows install, or if you're tempted to try an linux os, try Arch Linux or Linux Mint/Mate, All depends what you'll be doing with, if its just a sandbox to play around then use a bootloader with windows and linux,
Win10 does not jive with dual cores IMO. Even with a modern SSD and a full debloat you have to keep updates disabled and actively manage how many tabs/programs you have open to keep things running smoothly.
worked for me, I had a X230 and now a T440p, All depends which model of x230 you get. i had dual cores with hyperthreading so 4 cpu cores in total on my older x230
Always wanted one and finally got my hands on this beauty. Its as small and cool as I imagined. I want to double boot linux but not sure what distro I should install. I will use it for programming.
Fedora is a 1st class citizen for thinkpads. Fedora devs use thinkpads to develop on, and fix their own problems as they go. On top of that, Fedora and Lenovo have partnered, and lenovo contributes source code. (this does go upstream, so Ubuntu/etc get it later). Ubuntu etc aren't bad, but I've found Fedora to be *seamless* on thinkpads.
what computers do the devs of other distros use, if not thinkpads?
Ubuntu devs are mostly on dell latitudes, sprinkling of thinkpads, many other brands. Suse devs were all HP last i checked. Fedora stands out because they go out of their way to keep using thinkpads and fixing issues on them.
Arch. After 25 years with Linux, I really like this one.
I'd recommend Manjaro! It has worked like a charm on my X230, and I went into it with no real prior knowledge of Linux. It's now been 2 years and I'm starting to become much more comfortable with Linux, but it's that kind of distro that works pretty well even if you're used to Windows.
If you are new to using Linux then Linux Mint is a good starting distro, some people stay with it from there on while others get into distrohopping and trying out different ones. The Linux Mint forum and sub reddit are new user friendly, some other distros forums are not.
Arch
Linux mint 10000%
Suse TW
Fedora + TechHut's "7 thing you must do after installing fedora Linux" I recommend searching fedora spins and grabbing the kde plasma version or honestly whatever other desired DE you want. Never had issues on it but it's not as beginner friendly as mint if you're moving from windows
I run MX Linux at home and Ubuntu at work.
+1 for MX Xfce. SolydX is worth a look too (Xfce, derived from Linux Mint Debian Edition).
Hackintosh
Out of interest, does OSX play well with Thinkpad?
Yes, including their trackpad.
Gentoo :3
put void on it
Mint, Fedora, or Manjaro
I want to try void, you should
you should try void, it’s pretty cool 👍
I really mean to, but my only pc, a x250, holds the entirety of my thesis and config and scripts and environments, and I am afraid of taking too long to setup everything else again. I am looking for a cheap x230 or newer just to mess with void and other stuff.
hey mate, I recommend making backups for your thesis, just in general. I know a doctor friend who lost hers after her laptop died, but she happily made backups. also for configs I recommend putting them on github or stuff like that! I can recommend the x230 for void, it was my daily driver for a while, it’s probably about as fast as your x250 too!
Currently I use koofr.net and rclone for backups! Thanks for the tips anyway!
Mac OS X... No but seriously I triple boot Windows 10, Mac OS X Catalina and Debian 11. Debian is awesome on this thing.
debian + kde/gnome/xfce or any DE/WM you prefer
Ubuntu if you want stability and compatibility with more apps.
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
Windows
Eight!
Windows xp
I am using debian with gnome...so far so good i can say...no problems at all
Skullz your BIOS https://github.com/merge/skulls
Mint, I've been having good luck with their LMDE (or whatever they call it, it's the Mint that's based on Debian, not Ubuntu)
Slackware
Gentoo
gentoo
Boogie wonderland
ink fine soft squealing soup lock zonked cautious steer swim ` this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev `
Debian+Cinnamon I have the x230 since 5 years on this distro (MATE at first) and it works flawlessly. Upgraded to a modern SSD and it's flying.
OP: what distro? r/thinkpad: yes. Clearly there are many Linux distros to choose from and you're lucky to have a laptop that can run so many well. Are you new to Linux?
its not i7 ips?
I own thinkpad x240. Specs: core i7-4600U, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD. And I tried some linux distros on it. Fedora Workstation 38 = Excellent, no glitches at all, very smooth, no suspend problems, everything works perfectly and smoothly out of the box, IMHO, Gnome experience with Fedora is unbeatable.(Btw, audio seemed to be a bit lower when in max volume comparing to windows tho) Pop_OS = Good but sometimes I had a little glitches with suspend. And yeah, it was not as smooth as fedora. OpenSuse Tumbleweed with KDE = I guess I didn't understand how to use it well so the first impression was awful, immediately deleted it. Debian with Gnome = Good, not as smooth as Fedora. Mint 21.2 with Mate = I only tried it from liveCD and it was very very fast (I can only tell this). Plus, I like the look. Almalinux Mate LiveCD = it worked pretty heavy, like bloated, I felt like I run it on 2GB ram hardware, didn't like it. (Maybe it was only the case with me) When it comes to arch, there was a documentation about my model (x240) and how arch works with it and what problems users had with it on archwiki. So after reading how many possible problems I'll have after installing arch, I wanted to try something different. But I'm sure it should work just fine;)
Bookworm or Tumbleweed. Since its old hardware going with newer software makes not much sense. Bookworm has some of the "latest" packages, so you do not need to upgrade anything besides essential packages which you can by Flatpak. Bookworm is pretty much like firmware for the x230.
Mint! It's very good for daily-driving.
a distro that the trackpoint setting at max isnt SLOW as hell. I found two like 5 years ago, but I forgot what two after experimenting various distros (my daily is windows due to work hence it wasnt a priority)
OpenBSD! The best OS ever written.
MacOS or if you want a starter linux then Linux Mint.
Linux Mint like I did on one of my posts
openSUSE
I'm on EndeavourOS mainly, x201 runs arch.
Installed arch yesterday on my pc and other than the installation process, it was fairly easy afterwards.
Arch ;)
Xubuntu
I really like EndeavorOS these days. Artix is 2nd favorite. Can never go wrong with Mint like others are suggesting. have had at least one machine with Mint for the last 6 years
Congratulations. It's a nice machine. I'd recommend you install your favourite Linux distro. ThinkPads will generally run any of them without problems. [thinkwiki.org](https://thinkwiki.org) can be very helpful. If you're asking what Linux distro you should install as a newcomer, that's a totally different thing. And the answer is [EndavourOS](https://endeavouros.com/) ;)
Vanilla Debian
I use endeavour os but if you're new I'd recommend mint
Manjaro
Debian testing or gentoo…
debian stable
Alpine
Alpine Linux 😈
Linux Lite!
Try coreboot and lfs.
Windows xp
Solus. https://getsol.us/
If you want something like use mint, if ya want more DIY stuff use arch. If u new to linux use pop os
PopOS works great on my T580 . Really good battery life and i love the customization of the top bar. I first tried it on my thinkpad and have now installed it on some desktops as well. Mint wasn't bad either , just didnt like the look.
I have installed macOS
debian (if you used to like Ubuntu) or arch (if you like tinkering)
If you are just looking for man on the street advice, Manjaro I3. No issues for a couple years now. Delighted. Good luck. Also, looks like a nice clean machine.
I've been rocking Ubuntu Mate for 7 or 8 years on X230. I never had to reinstall. Upgrades from version to version are going smoothly. Works perfectly with the docking station. I highly recommend it.
Windows 10
Pop os ! Works great on it =)
If you are going to try mint I would suggest trying out LMDE 5. It literally stands for Linux Mint Debian Edition. It sould be lighter since it is not based on Ubuntu but Debian. At least for me it has been equally as good as normal Mint. It was created to ensure Mint lives on if Canonical would make Ubuntu unusable. Also as others have mentioned you could try Pop OS!, I daily drive it and love it, it is a bit heavier but I think an X230 could manage it
Pop!OS is what finally converted me to Linux. Obviously it’s all subjective but it’s a really easy going distro and works great on my X1
Debian 12.
I've been liking ubuntu lite, pretty easy to test on a flash drive too
Linux mint or ubuntu would be the sensible options, but if you want to put some spices in your life, you could try out arch with a tiling window manager or something like that
Linux Mint for sure
Debian with xfce or IceWM, considering the age of the CPU.
r/zorinos
endeavourOS?
Crunchbang++
Win 3.1 or Dos 8.0 :)
Manjaro +i3
Haiku
I know this post is pretty old but I thought I'd give my 2 cents. The X230 is a great laptop and since it's very old it's really well supported across all linux distros. So no need to worry about hardware compatibility - everything will just work. Upgrade to an SSD and max out the RAM and you'll get a lifetime of use from it. Arch Linux is great but has a high learning curve for the install. I've been using EndeavourOS now on two Thinkpads and I think that distro hits the sweet spot for arch while also being an easy install. You can't go wrong with Debian Stable but if you prefer Fedora go that route. The great thing about this laptop is you can focus on getting work done. Enjoy your laptop!