Installing SuSE 7.2 on an IBM ThinkCenter S50
October 19, 2026
Shortly after booting my new IBM ThinkCenter S50 with the SuSE Linux Professional DVD in its tray, I noticed that like Windows XP, it too didn’t accept my USB mouse. Using the keyboard to advance to the screen to select a pointing device, all I saw were PS/2 and serial port mice. So, I turned to Vintage Computer Components and bought a Fujitsu Siemens mouse in the same colour scheme as my keyboard.
My new Fujitsu Siemens mouse
They send it my way the day after I ordered it and one day later I received it. It has a little scroll wheel that, when pressed, acts as a middle button. It is a ball mouse, but it works as well as could be expected on my writing mat.
Another thing I received on that same day was a powered VGA to HDMI converter. It came with a little micro USB cable that I put in one of the USB ports near the VGA output of the ThinkCenter, expecting it to provide 5V. I also got a little 3.5 mm audio cable to connect it to the audio output of the ThinkCenter, combining both analogue signals into an HDMI signal.
“No signal” is starting to become the theme of this post series.
For my astronomy efforts, I have a big battery with USB output from Jackery. It has a little display that shows what it does. I moved the USB-A end of the dongle’s power cable to the battery and rebooted the ThinkCenter. On the battery display I saw the dongle ask for 1 Watt briefly, right after I turned on the ThinkCenter, but then it went back to zero and stayed there.
I replaced the micro-USB cable but got the same results.
I tried the same dongle with my Asus U36JC laptop, which also has a VGA out.
No signal.
I gave up. I got the AOC monitor with the VGA input back from the attic and put it on top of the ThinkCenter. Postponing this problem, with the mouse and the keyboard and the VGA monitor, I felt I had a shot at installing SuSE Linux 7.2. I booted the ThinkCenter with the DVD and selected Install Linux. YaST (Yet another Setup Tool) started. The installer started in SVGA with 800×600 pixels. It found my 80 GB hard disk and an LVM partition on it. I let it format the entire disk and selected the installation option “Default system with Office.”
Next
Apologies for the bad screenshots, by the way. I’m making photos of my monitor and I’m really bad at it. I can connect the VGA cable to the ODV GBC-C upscaler I also use for my SCART connections, but my HDMI to USB cable only does 30Hz and seems to have a terrible lag at these resolutions and colour depths. With that connected, I can’t also connect my monitor, so I can’t use it during this installation.
I had to enter my first and last name, a user login name with no more than 8 characters and choose a password. The root password had to be entered in a separate screen. The next screen told me what it was going to do. The file system for both the boot and root partitions was going to be ext2. Clicking next caused a green modal dialogue to confirm it all, after which it started to format my disk.
Read the FAQ if you’re bored
At the end of the installation procedure, the installer promised to install Lilo, the Linux Loader, in the Master Boot Record (MBR) of the drive, but something didn’t work there. After rebooting, all I got was an “L” and a screenful of “07” strings.
In the reference manual’s index, I found under Lilo: diagnostics. Paragraph 4.8.1:
“`L’ error… The *first stage* boot loader has been loaded and started, but it can’t load the second stage boot loader (/boot/boot.b). The two-digit error codes indicate the type of problem. This condition usually indicates a media failure or geometry mismatch.”
-- SuSE Linux 7.2 reference manual, p.108
Great.
I started the machine again with the first CD in the drive and selected Rescue. It offered a passwordless root. Without lsblk(8), I had to look back at the pictures of the installation to know what to mount(8), to be able to chroot(1) into the installed system:
# mount /dev/hdb3 /mnt/# mount /dev/hdb1 /mnt/boot# chroot /mnt
This gave me a terminal shell into the system, embedded in a friendly green SuSE window. In the boot folder, I found boot.b and lilo.log. The latter appeared to only contain the installation log. I had a look at /etc/lilo.conf using vim, but it seemed fine at first glance.
No relative numbering in vim, yet
The reference manual, on the next page, mentioned the 1024-Cylinder limit, but it didn’t really explain what this limit was. At the end of the chapter, it referred to documentation in /usr/share/doc and in there, I found something about large disks.
# cd /usr/share/doc/howto# lync en/html/Large-Disk-HOWTO-1.html
Apparently, for operating systems that use the INT13 type to point at hard drive cylinders, everything beyond the first 1,024 is unavailable. An 80 GB hard drive typically uses 65,535 cylinders. Indeed, on page 2 they state:
“For very large IDE disks (over 33.8 GB): see IDE problems with 34+ GB disks below”
-- /usr/share/doc/howto/en/html/Large-Disk-HOWTO-1.html
But there, they stated that this was only a problem with 2.0 kernels, and I was on 2.4.4. So, what now? I rebooted the computer with the CD in the drive and selected “Boot installed system”. That allowed me to continue installing SuSE Linux 7.2. I was asked to insert CD #2 and made it as far as the XFree86 configuration. I could input my graphics card details. There was a test button, but that didn’t respond to clicking. And without the test, all I got was a text login, just like in my VM in 2024.
Two things to solve then, in that order:
- Lilo doesn’t load Linux
- No graphical login
To be continued.
Stop KDE’s URL copy menu
October 15, 2026
This is one of those posts that I’m sure I will have to look up in the future at least once.
I am accustomed to being able to use my clipboard’s contents, right after pressing ^C. KDE however immediately parses what I copy and if it looks like a URL, it presents a menu with applications that know how to handle a URL.
KDE’s unnamed ^C URL menu
I find this annoying. I have no idea what exactly the application I select is going to do with the URL, well, except perhaps for the two browsers. My point is, I never asked for this menu and it is in my way, several times every day, forcing me to close it before I can go on doing what I set out to do.
To find out how to turn it off was not immediately obvious, since not only does the menu not have a name, it wasn’t clear what produced the menu in the first place. DuckDuckGo results send me down a rabbit hole, looking for service menus in Dophin and .local/share/kio but nothing there was helpful.
Klipper, the application responsible for the clipboard, is of course the responsible party. Right clicking on the systray icon reveals a configuration panel option, where the menu can be turned off.
Klipper Menu Action configuration (in badly translated Dutch)
In case you’re wondering why there’s a Chromium icon in that menu, it’s because the Espruino IDE for my Bangle.js smartwatch uses web Bluetooth and Firefox doesn’t do that.
Unboxing SuSE Linux 7.2
October 12, 2026
I’ve done a proper unboxing before on this blog, and since SuSE Linux 7.2 is contained in a box, it needs unboxing. But where normally for any box six sides are plenty to make clear what’s inside, advertise logos and paint one corner red with the word “New” (or translations thereof), SuSE apparently needed two more sides, so they simply added them.
A box with eight sides
This box was for the Dutch market, so it’s in Dutch, but the contents are mostly not. On the back side (not visible) a price sticker states ƒ180, which must have been rather steep for me in 2000/2001. Inside are five books, three leaflets, seven CDs and one DVD. The DVD has some scratches, but the CDs appear fine.
SuSE Linux 7.2 box contents
The leaflets invite registering, list support phone numbers and explicitly state exclusion of warranty, referring to the open-source nature of the software.
The Quick Install Manual is the most playful of the books. It is also the only one that is in Dutch. Using a comic style, it helps the user through the installation process, focusing on a happy flow.
SuSE 7.2 Quick Install Manual
On the first page it states that this is the fourth edition of the book. The three versions of SuSE Linux before this one were 6.4 (March 2000), 7.0 (September 2000), and 7.1 (February 2001), so supposedly version 6.4 would have been the first time this book was added. The next few pages explain what Linux is and is not and that it has to be installed before it can be booted. You’d expect someone buying this box to know that, at least I did.
The user is instructed to enter the first CD into their computer and reboot it. There is a section to solve problems at this stage as well, that mentions a boot floppy, that sadly was not in the box. The screenshot of the Language selection screen shows the Dutch language selected. That’s attention to detail.
Configuration
The book with the chameleon painting the letters LINUX from blue to green (with the word SuSE on its paint bucket) warns it is taking “the risk of boring some and overwhelming others”.
SuSE 7.2 Configuration manual
Despite the title, this manual isn’t just about configuration. It has entire chapters dedicated to introducing and explaining using KDE2, GNOME and Konqueror. Other chapters, however, explain how to configure KDE, how to use YaST2, or SaX2. There are chapters on printing or scanning, watching TV on your PC, working with the (Bash) shell and even workplace ergonomics.
Konqueror’s chapter explains the difference between Java and JavaScript and that it is the former that is needed to run Java applets. Cookies are admittedly convenient, but they “also make the user’s details transparent. (…) data may be transmitted without your approval.” (SuSE Linux 7.2 Configuration, 3rd edition (2001), p.51).
With YaST2 and SaX2, SuSE has gone to great lengths to shield the user from having to edit configuration files themselves. Even though the chapter on Bash has an introduction into basic shell usage as well as the shortest introduction into Vi that I’ve ever seen, configuring SuSE Linux and its applications is done by clicking on icons with the mouse and filling in a form here and there. But it was exactly this approach, and its limits, that made me switch to Crux, years later.
Applications
The Applications manual is what you would want or perhaps even expect from a book with such a title in such a context. It has “a summary of several programs and an introduction to using them effectively” (Foreword, SuSE Linux 7.2 Applications, 3rd edition (2001), p.iii).
SuSE Linux 7.2 Applications manual
The first chapter is on StarOffice 5.2, warning that it “cannot discuss this extensive program in all its details.” (SuSE Linux 7.2 Applications, 3rd edition (2001), p.1). StarOffice is not open source and has to be installed using an installer, a procedure which is discussed in this chapter. It then explains the basics of each of its applications Writer, Calc, StarBase, Schedule (calendar), Draw and Image (presentations) and discusses a few example use cases. It is these use case that bring the story to life. Simply listing menu functions in order doesn’t tell you how to use an application.
Other applications mentioned are Acrobat Reader, Netscape, CD player KSCD, music player XMMS, X-CD Roast, “the GIMP” and XSane but several operating system level use cases, such as faxing (using a computer prevented someone far away filling your study with fast yellowing paper) and using Audio and MIDI. Here too, documentation approaching software via use cases acknowledges that people want to do things, not use things.
Reference
What’s left are two more serious books with less playful covers, Reference Manual and Network. These are more technical in nature. Both are first editions, meaning that, contrary to the books discussed above, they weren’t included in an earlier form with earlier versions of SuSE Linux. Both have indexes and Reference Manual has a bibliography.
SuSE Linux 7.2 Reference Manual
Reference Manual’s chapters 2 (Your first Linux Installation) and 3 (YaST) contain a more in-depth explanation of the installation procedure than the Quick Install Manual discussed above, discussing for example swap partitions sizes and installation via NFS. Chapter 4 is entirely on booting, mostly using LILO, and also discusses exception flows, such as those caused by the 1024 cylinder limit of IDE disks.
Chapter 5, The X Window System, opens with a historical background that is an interesting read. Apparently, X11 was first developed in 1987 by DEC and MIT after which “a handful ambitious programmers (…) founded the XFree86 project in 1992.” (SuSE Linux 7.2 Reference Manual, 1st edition (2001), p.121).
Hardware such as PCI and ISA cards, PS/2 and USB ports, tape drives, PCMCIA, APM and infrared (IrDA) are discussed in chapters 6 and 7. Printing systems are explained in chapter 8. In chapter 9 we get to the kernel, its sources, parameters and how to load and unload modules.
The last three chapters are specific to SuSE Linux, explaining package management using the Redhat Package Manager (RPM), updates and how to upgrade from SuSE Linux 6.4 to 7.0, 7.0 to 7.1 and 7.1 to 7.2. Discussed is how SuSE Linux uses the initrd RAM disk, the Rescue system and how runlevels are used, a must-read if you are from the future and are used to systemd. SuSE Linux has a central configuration file that influences everything in /etc/rc.conf. It is discussed in detail. The book ends with a thoughtfully printed manpage of e2fsck(8) and the full GPL version 2.
Network
What seems missing from Reference Manual is a chapter on networking, but as mentioned, the SuSE documentation authors wrote a dedicated 177-page book on the subject. It discusses setting up, configuration, monitoring and security subjects such as firewalls and masquerading. Much of it is theory and quite useful even for the 2026 reader. What is the difference between TCP, UDP, ICMP and IGMP? What is the structure of an Ethernet package? How do you set up an IPV6 Address?
SuSE 7.2 Networking
There are brief introductions in setting up Apache and Squid, a proxy server. SuSE’s simple Personal Firewall is discussed as is OpenSSH. Wvdail, a program that establishes a TCP/IP connection over a phone line, is one I remember using all the time in 2001, before my flatmates allowed me to install cable.
The book ends with a section called “Security as a matter of Confidence.”
Closing
I have never reviewed five books in one blog post, much less without reading any of them cover to cover. If you have made it all the way down here, wow. I promise, for the next post I will actually turn on the ThinkCenter S50 that has both caused and allowed this project. I do believe that the other box, SuSE Linux 9.2, only contains two books, but I won’t read them entirely either.
My new Dell AT101w keyboard
October 08, 2026
If you’ve read my previous post about my attempts to get an IBM ThinkCenter S50 from 2005 to boot past its Power-on self-test (POST), you are aware that I required a PS/2 keyboard. These are no longer available in local electronics or computer shops, so, once again, I took to Marktplaats.nl. There I found a handful of PS/2 keyboards, none of them small and none of them black.
The most beautiful keyboard I could find was a Dell AT101w (with the “w” indicating a Windows key) that was at that moment in Haarlem and of which the seller claimed he had meticulously cleaned and tested it. It arrived at the day of writing this post and, after unwrapping, looked positively beige.
I wonder if I can get matching Super keys
With the keyboard’s purple cable end attached to its purple PC counterpart, the ThinkCenter still complained about a missing disk drive but F1 allowed me to enter the IBM Setup utility, in which I changed nothing. Using my new keyboard to browse around the menus gave me the chance to get to know the keyboard somewhat. It has ALPS switches which I am unfamiliar with. They type slighty heavier than my UHK cherry brown switches. The sound is clicky but not too high pitched, if a little loud. I think they will type comfortably, but I need more experience to determine that. I won’t take this keyboard to the office.
A keyboard with cable management
Turning the keyboard over, there is a cable gutter that allows for the keyboard cable attached to exit the keyboard in one of three places. The cable is fixed and cannot be removed. In the corners, there are two feet that can anti-ergonomically be lowered. I won’t be doing that. Just one odd angle per wrist is enough.
After exiting and pressing F2, the ThinkCenter resumed to power off. Subsequently, I reattached the disk drive, the hard disk and the DVD ROM drive. I had put the original 40 GB one back in, just to make sure there were as little differences as possible from what supposedly booted last time before I bought the PC.
Powering the ThinkCenter on again still made it beep for using the default configuration but then it started Windows XP.
Windows XP booting on my ThinkCenter
It took a while, but then I got the familiar Windows XP login screen indicating a single user called Gebruiker, which is dutch for User. Windows did not recognise the modern USB mouse that I had plugged into one of the eight USB-1 ports. Using the TAB and Return key I was let in without a password. I looked at a blue loading screen, heard the Windows XP welcome tune and, minutes later, found myself at an unbearably slow Windows XP that cost me all of my patience just to turn it off, but not before I saw a Snapchat toolbar along the top of the screen and a systray at the lower right corner filled to the brim with icons. Those can't have helped. Here’s to hoping the SuSE Linux Professional 7.2 installer will at least accept my mouse. If not, I’ll have to find a PS/2 mouse as well.
Booting my 2005 IBM ThinkCenter S50
October 05, 2026
If you’ll remember from last time, after unpacking my new 2005 IBM ThinkCenter S50, I was without a keyboard or a way to connect a monitor. So the only things that I knew worked, were opening the DVD-ROM tray, the power and hard disk LEDs and the CPU fans.
But there was another problem. While having, until now, focused my retro computing activities to the eighties and very early nineties, with PCs, I’ve always just kept with the time. Never did I have to bridge the decades by trying to make old PC things work with new PC things. The commercial market for Sinclair, Atari and MSX computers never lived long enough for these problems to arise. I suppose finding cheap dongles online didn’t trigger me into thinking those were never going to work.
When the package deliverer rang in the afternoon, I opened the door to see his van with its back doors opened, but I didn’t see him. When, after several minutes, he emerged from his van, he reluctantly explained he had two packages for me, but could only find one. It was the one with the VGA cable and the VGA to USB-C dongle that I had ordered to connect the ThinkCenter to my monitor’s last free port. Annoyed, I accepted his promise to deliver it, at the latest, next Monday (it was a Saturday). I went back to my study and connected the VGA output to my monitor, turned on the ThinkCenter and saw nothing.
The ThinkCenter, open on my desk
Then the bell rang again. The package deliverer had found the other package, the one with the keyboard PS/2 dongle, so now at last I could connect my keyboard to the ThinkCenter (or so I thought).
Still, no signal on the monitor. I got an older monitor from the attic, an AOC monitor with a VGA input, hoping it was the VGA to USB-C dongle that was the issue.
It was, of course, but things were more elusive than that. The AOC monitor’s screen remained black too. What was going on? I disconnected the power cable again, opened the machine again and disconnected the hard drive, the disk drive and DVD-ROM. I took the SIMM from its slot, inspected its connectors and, incidentally, saw that it was 256 MB, the recommended amount for SuSE Linux 9.2 Professional. I pressed the power button down for 15 seconds to empty the capacitors. Still no signal.
I replaced the CMOS battery, which coincidentally was of a very generic type that we use for more devices here, so we had one left and available. Still no signal. By now I began to wonder if this machine was a lost cause. I hadn’t paid a lot for it in money, but spending an afternoon with it had apparently made me emotionally invested enough to wonder if I had, for the first time in my life, feel enthousiastic about a PC. There was one thing that I hadn’t tried yet, though: booting without RAM. I hadn’t heard the speaker yet, but I could see it and it appeared connected. I hoped the machine to at least start beeping when it wouldn’t be able to find any RAM.
At last!
It happily and cheerfully did. I turned off the machine again, unplugged the power yet again, reseated the tiny SIMM into the first RAM slot and turned the machine on again. And then, at last, undoubtely shaken from the RAM-less experience, the monitor came to life, showing an IBM logo for a few seconds. The logo was replaced with a screenful of errors demanding I press F1 immediately or else.
- 0162: System boards
- 0211: Memory
- 0662: Floppy drive or adaptor
Sadly, The F1 key press on my Ultimate Hacking Keyboard via its USB-C to USB-A dongle and USB-A to PS/2 dongle never reached the ThinkCenter. Keyboardwise, it seems, I’ll need a different solution. The ThinkCenters originally came with style-correct keyboards but they got less than enthousiastic reviews, and they are difficult to find.
Dongles with an unrelated but working example
This was not a well-researched project. As I leared during the attempts to get my machine to run described above, both VGA and PS/2 are analogue signals and to transform them to modern digital signals, a powered chip is needed to measure the incoming signal and create a digital conversion based on that. Simple dongles will do nothing but replace connectors. In retrospect, this seems very obvious. It was a learning experience though, and if it wasn’t obvious to me, perhaps there are others.
Lets hope the return to default settings has also cleared any and all BIOS passwords.
My new Fujitsu Siemens mouse
Next
Read the FAQ if you’re bored
No relative numbering in vim, yet
