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How to speed up the internet on "older" thinkpads.

Older ThinkPads from the 300, 500, 600, 700 Series, iSeries, Transnote etc.
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paul*robertson
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How to speed up the internet on "older" thinkpads.

#1 Post by paul*robertson » Sun Dec 27, 2009 5:44 am

Hi,

600x 7200rpm hd, 576 ram, ie6, win 2k. Browsing and office use only.

How can i speed up internet use on my 600x. I've read certain browsers are faster than others, secondly you can disable flash content and stuff like that. This forum is always a joy to browse, but its becoming the exception to the rule. Any hints or tips.

As always, i'm trying to delay the retirement of my 600x.
X61 and (retired)600x.

Neil
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Re: How to speed up the internet on "older" thinkpads.

#2 Post by Neil » Sun Dec 27, 2009 9:23 am

Just for giggles, try out OffByOne web browser, it may be the world's smallest and fastest web browser with full HTML 3.2 support. It is a completely self-contained, stand-alone 1.2 MB application with no dependencies on any other browser or browser component.

Another small and fast browser is K-Meleon. It used the Gecko engine that Firefox used to use. Opens a lot faster than Firefox, but browsing is not much different. I'm using it now on my 600X. Win98SE, 256MB RAM on a 802.11b wireless network and I don't feel any need to more speed.

If either of these browsers doesn't give you more speed, then what you need is more bandwidth, ie, a faster internet connection. What type of connection are you currently using?
Collection = T430 - T500 - R400 - X300 - T61 (14" WXGA+) - R61 (15" SXGA+) - T60 - X40 - T43p - T43 - T42p - A30P

paul*robertson
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Re: How to speed up the internet on "older" thinkpads.

#3 Post by paul*robertson » Sun Dec 27, 2009 3:43 pm

Cable broadband.
Is your 600x okay on atuff like Amazon and Ebay which can be quite intensive on graphics.
(trying K-Meleon btw)
X61 and (retired)600x.

Neil
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Re: How to speed up the internet on "older" thinkpads.

#4 Post by Neil » Sun Dec 27, 2009 11:33 pm

Yes, I would say it's OK on Ebay and Amazon, etc. It may be that my expectations are not very high. But, the 600X does not feel noticable slower than my other Thinkpads, or desktop machines either for that matter. All of which are getting a little old (in computer years).
Collection = T430 - T500 - R400 - X300 - T61 (14" WXGA+) - R61 (15" SXGA+) - T60 - X40 - T43p - T43 - T42p - A30P

paul*robertson
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Re: How to speed up the internet on "older" thinkpads.

#5 Post by paul*robertson » Mon Dec 28, 2009 4:20 am

Slightly off topic, the only upgrade left on my 600x is the 850mhz cpu upgrade. For that i'd need to get a 650mhz first, then upgrade it to 850mhz.
To anyone who has done it, is it a worthwhile upgrade. Can you really notice the difference, is it stable. I use my 600x plugged in most of the time. Could i change the motherboard to a speed step one, is it easy.
X61 and (retired)600x.

pkiff
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Re: How to speed up the internet on "older" thinkpads.

#6 Post by pkiff » Wed Dec 30, 2009 7:20 pm

Up until August my 600X was still in daily use (though it has been upgraded to PIII 850) and I found that the biggest problems I had with sites responding slowly related to JavaScript and Flash. For a few sites, switching from Opera to Firefox helped a bit, but the ones I had problems with were still largely a problem due to JavaScript and/or Flash. eBay in particular is a very heavy JavaScript-based site these days (it used to be a lot less of a problem about 1-2 years ago). Amazon I don't know because I don't browse it regularly.

Are you using Firefox? If so, then have you tried NoScript or AdBlock Plus? This combination of add-ins will eliminate alot of the flash ads that slow down all your pages and also give you fine-grained control over whether or not to run JavaScript on various pages. In some cases, this means that a site is unusable until you enable JavaScript or Flash for that site again. But in other cases, you can selectively enable only the JavaScript coming from particular places and that can be enough to make an otherwise unbearable site visit into something you can at least live with.

There is a difference between a PIII 500 and a PIII 850 in terms of the speed with which it can process certain (usually poorly written) JavaScript. But I would say that the difference is probably not worth upgrading for. I find that even a PIII 850 will still struggle with particular scripts, and it is probably not until you get up to a PIV 1.5 or a Pentium M or later that you will get rid of some of the more egregious examples of JavaScript delays -- including those introduced by eBay when they brought in their new customizable layout.

Phil.
X1E Gen 4 · X1T 3rd Gen · W520 · Legacy: P52, T60p, X61T, 600X, 770Z
Nostalgic for: 600X PIII 850MHz in a SelectaDock III with 64MB Voodoo 5 5500 and Sound Blaster Audigy 5.1.

virge
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Re: How to speed up the internet on "older" thinkpads.

#7 Post by virge » Wed Dec 30, 2009 9:50 pm

I use my 600X (500Mhz, 2x256MB, 8GB SSD) at work as a secondary machine so I don't have to undock my T42. I'm running XP Pro with all the updates.

For browsing I use the latest version of Firefox with adblock plus, Flash Block, and IE tab installed. Adblock is great for removing unwanted images, cookies, scripts, etc. Flash Block allows me to choose whether or not to run flash (just click play to see the flash, otherwise shows as empty box with "Play" icon). Also, many websites are using Flash data for tracking instead of cookies now. IE tab means that whenever I have a website that doesn't work with Firefox or the addons I can open IE in a separate tab or switch within the same tab.
Current Thinkpads: 600E, 600X, 701C, A31 (Flexview), R51 (Flexview), R60, T42P (Flexview), TR50E, T60 (Flexview), X61s (Ultralight), Z61m (Ti) Non-Thinkpad: Toshiba 100ct

paul*robertson
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Re: How to speed up the internet on "older" thinkpads.

#8 Post by paul*robertson » Fri Jan 01, 2010 5:49 am

Thanks, i'll try some of those options. At the moment i'm trying K-Meleon. Its a little faster. Regarding the 850 Mhz upgrade, i'm glad you said its not worth it. I can now leave my 600x as it is.
X61 and (retired)600x.

emeraldgirl08
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Re: How to speed up the internet on "older" thinkpads.

#9 Post by emeraldgirl08 » Fri Jan 01, 2010 11:21 am

I've installed K-meleon on my dads 600X. It seems faster and after I've installed adblock it pretty much does a better job than Firefox. It does have it's drawbacks though. Like an ugly interface and non-user friendly menu system. However if you're eager and determined it seems to be a browser which gives you almost total control over your browsing habits.

I've also toyed with the idea of deleting XP Pro. I find that abiword, gnumeric spreadsheets, and OSMO organizer would satisfy the family office work needs. The abiword would be nice for a basic word processor, gnumeric spreadsheets for the times we have to use spreadsheets, and OSMO is fine for personal organizing. Don't need Open Office or MS Office to do what I can do with less HDD space and open sourced (free) software :)

I also have been able to run a LiveCD of a distro called Masonux. It is an LXDE Ubuntu-based distro. It seems that it will require less hardware resources and just might be alot faster than XP Pro is! The thing about Masonux LiveCD is it seems you have to have the latest BIOS flashed on the 600X to run it. I had the old BIOS for the last month and it wouldn't boot the GUI for the livecd run. Since updating the BIOS it works now.
Thinkpad T470 | iPhone XR | mATX Comet Lake Desktop | Hackintosh Monterey | Lenovo L24q-30 Monitor

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