Okay, I know Debian Lenny is still in Beta but I just had to try it on my Thinkpad T60. My Thinkpad is very picky when it comes to BSD/Linux distributions. Normally the Debian-based systems tend to function very well on my Thinkpad.
In the past, I have run Debian Etch, Ubuntu Hardy Heron, Linux Mint and Sidux on my Thinkpad. Etch had problems and I was not in the mood to compile the entire kernel to make a minor change. Linux Mint is really nice but I did not like having to do a full install each time they came out with a new release. Sidux rocks BUT no Gnome desktop. I am not a fan of XFCE or KDE anymore. Got to have Gnome. Ubuntu Hardy Heron was great BUT I needed a more stable system I can easily configure so I can test some open source business applications for clients.
So a couple days ago I decided to try Lenny. Well, Linux Mint and Ubuntu get flying colors for detecting all the hardware on the Thinkpad and configuring the settings. Well, Lenny does the same thing. The only thing I needed to configure was ALSA and my wifi. I used this Installing Debian Lenny on Thinkpad T60 guide to help me. After that, I used alsaconf and alsamixer to configure ALSA. I installed iwl3945 to easily get wireless to work. I have some other minor configurations but at the moment, I am quite happy with my Lenny system.
Is Lenny an Ubuntu killer? Probably not but Ubuntu developers lives became much easier due Lenny’s upcoming release.
