2 parts- overview and hardware notes- then Xandros 3.0 and T42 details of the software side. Do note that so far there have been near ZERO issues of the T42 not being seamlessly compatible with Xandros 3.0
I was VERY pleased with last night's initial "test install" of Xandros 3.0 Though it's an older distro version with ethical "Non-Free" liability for some it just plain works for me. I made no attempt to dual boot both for lack of drive space on the drive and the lack of NTFS stability reputed to exist even after updating. The initial cautious default became a 12 GB drive that cost me $5. Do also note that the T42 has a "one screw" primary drive tray. Which made swapping drives trivial The drive trays are under $20 delivered from online sources as of today- 3-17-2008 So the out of pocket to do this "properly" would be still under $30 had I bought the tray. My fix was taping an old hotel room keycard over the drive's pcb as insurance. Yes- ESD potential is always a concern with such expedients. Though some brands of Door Cards are actually ESD safe by design! So far I am just paying back my debt to Linux by reporting hardware issues often snipped by others. The Linux and more directly-Xandrox 3.0 details are next.
The initial procedure I use for these tests is Damn Small Linux as a CFdisk tool for formatting. That being actually quicker than my previous arguments with Xandros 3.0 over NTFS not being supported. So beginning from a formatted as FAT32 drive the install was almost literally "fill in the blanks" for keyboard-time zone- name etc. Everything just worked! Ethernet only needed to be plugged in and selected with a click. The Wifi also just worked. As did pulling several music files across the network and they began playing. The only trivial "did not work yet" was the on screen volume display. The T42 usually displays bars for the audio level in response to pressing the hardware control buttons. the buttons worked- just no display . That's a later project. Summary is- so far Xandros seems a viable XP replacement.