Ubuntu 7.10 and Ubuntu 8.10 are not happy on the IBM T21. Version 5.10 is the only version that works, of all of the versions that I have tried.

I find this disappointing, and a little confusing. Ubuntu 5.10 works on the T21, and works well. It finds the devices and loads the right drivers -- which means it *has* the right drivers. Later versions of Ubuntu fail, and each fails differently. Version 6.06 will boot off of the live CD, but the install program stops after step 3. Version 7.10 will not start; it gets so far and then halts with a register dump. Version 8.04 will not start either, but it doesn't have a register dump -- it simply stops. (Or it takes longer than thirty minutes to load.) Version 8.10 works a little bit: it starts, complains about a number of things, and then runs in text mode. It complains a lot about being unable to create /dev/null.

So I will keep Ubuntu 5.10 on the IBM T21. With it, I have a portable unit that offers WLAN access. (This was something SuSE Linux never got right.) The battery life is a bit short -- about an hour -- but the screen is large.

What really disappoints me is the uncertainty of Linux. As in the X-Files TV show, I want to believe. I want Linux to run on older computers, and let me use them beyond their Windows life. I want Linux to be robust and reliable. I don't have the confidence that I want.