My personal history with IBM Thinkpads goes back a long way. I am a
serial Thinkpad owner, my first Thinkpad was a 760ED, followed a
while after by a 560 (I loved this machine) that got stolen and then
the R31 that replaced it.
## My previous Thinkpads
I loved the modularity of the 760ED and the ultra-portability of the
560. Unfortunately the R31, although far superior in performance, was
a bit of a letdown. After the R31 I lost my way and in 2005 ended up
purchasing a 12" apple powerbook...
## The return
Of late my tastes have been somewhat retro with regard to hardware
and my love of Thinkpads has never gone away, I even use a Thinkpad
USB Trackpoint keyboard on my desktop computers!
I had already decided in my mind that I would keep an eye out for a
vintage, yet usable, example if one should present itself. Candidates
were x200 or x61. The x61 reminded me so much of my second love, the
560. With its square format screen it had the perfect retro aesthetic
and was of enough age that it still appeared to have that genuine IBM
quality that has all but been lost since their aquisition by Lenovo.
With a dual core processor and maximum ram capacity of 8gb I was
pretty sure it could easily meet my meagre mobile computational needs.
I had happened to mention my Thinkpad preference in passing on
#gopherproject and as sometimes rarely happens, the stars aligned.
One of the regulars, lumidify, happened to have an x61s that he
didn't need, which required a battery and harddrive but was otherwise
in good condition and working order. He offered to send me the laptop
and I couldn't refuse.
A couple of days later he notified me that the package was in the
post and with that I identified a fast 120Gb SSD (Samsung 850 Evo)
and bought the cheapest second hand one I could find on Ebay.
## Package arrives
I had been waiting in anticipation for the arrival of the laptop and
soon enough there was a knock at the door. I was initially surprised
that I wasn't asked to pay some import tax on the package before it
was handed over. But once the door was closed my attention was fully
on what was inside the box. It had been well packaged, as I'd hoped,
and the charger brick and cable kept separate from the laptop so
nothing got bashed together in transit.
Taking a first look at it, I was amazed how small it seemed, was this
really a 12" screen? It was so slim and light, it reminded me so much
of my 560 that it was love at first sight...
## First inspection
On opening the screen I could see that it was a bit dirty, especially
around the bezel so I got out the foam cleaner, some clean cloths and
a fine boar bristle brush. I first cleaned the power brick, as I'd
been told it was a bit smelly as it had been owned by a smoker. I
gave the cable and plastic housing a thorough clean with the foam
cleaner and cloth.
I turned my attention to the x61s itself, first cleaning the exterior
and then opening it up to thoroughly clean the screen, bezel and then
keyboard. And there it was, a few scars telling of it's road warrior
life but you could tell that it had been cared for and not abused by
its former keeper.
## Spirit of the machine
Machines like this deserve care and respect. Treated well they will
serve you for decades, if you don't get caught up in stupid fads of
the web and corporate software... OpenBSD and I will be its new
companions, hopefully for many years into the future.
