The decade-old Lenovo ThinkPad W541 has a new operating system.

In October 2024, I resurrected my former daily driver with the installation of OpenIndiana Hipster. Despite my intention to only use it to test the open-source derivative of the Unix System V operating system, it quickly became my “secondary daily driver.” In the year since, I used the machine to browse the web, write blog posts (most of the posts since October 2024 have been authored on the W541,) check emails, render MIDI files using TiMidity++ and more.

The Lenovo ThinkPad W541 came back online in October 2024 after I installed OpenIndiana Hipster on it.

While OpenIndiana did a lot of what I needed well, there were some issues with the relatively obscure operating system. Compared to other operating systems, including other open-source ones, OpenIndiana has an extremely small user base and an even smaller group of developers.

To start, it has a relatively small software repository. Although many common (open-source) applications, from Firefox and Thunderbird to GIMP and Inkscape, have been ported to OpenIndiana, there are many omissions. And not all packages listed in the repository function properly, such as Audacity — which never could open in OI. One operating system update borked GIMP so that it could not directly open most image formats — including JPEG, PNG and other common ones. Another update completely broke TiMidity++. With GIMP and TiMidity++, I had to wait for the next operating system update, which came months later, for the issue to be resolved.

An OpenIndiana operating system update caused GIMP to not directly open many common image formats, including JPEG and PNG. The issue was not resolved until the next operating system update months later.

Many websites, such as Google Suite applications (including Google Maps,) were extremely sluggish – at best – in Firefox on OpenIndiana. YouTube videos would play but dropped video frames a lot. I chalked it all up to the aging W541 and its lackluster specs (mainly the 8GB of memory.) However, I knew that was a poor excuse considering a lower-spec Dell Inspiron 620 that predated the W541 by a couple years and only had 6GB of memory with an Intel Core i3, but ran Linux Mint, rendered those same websites flawlessly with very little to no latency.

Most importantly, however, were the driver issues. OpenIndiana had no support whatsoever for the W541’s built-in Intel Wireless 7260 radio, leaving me without WiFi connectivity. As a workaround, I ended up purchasing an inexpensive travel wireless router that connected to the W541 via Ethernet, allowing me to use it as a bridge to get the machine online.

The ThinkPad W541 with the TP-Link travel router (top center) used as a “bridge” to get the machine online while running OpenIndiana. The router was connected to the W541 using a wired Ethernet connection and powered by one of the W541’s USB ports.

Growing tired of the issues and wanting a wider selection of software to choose from, I looked at other options. OpenIndiana had served its purpose far better than I had initially anticipated, lasting a year – with only two or three kernel panics (all caused by GIMP eating up all the memory) – when it was meant to only be installed for a quick test. Thanks to OpenIndiana, I had acquiesced to using the command line interface and became familiarized with many common *nix commands.

Like many did during the second round of “Unix Wars” of the late 1990s and 2000s, I decided to turn my attention toward the main rival of Unix: Linux.

Picking an operating system

Without going into much detail, I had narrowed down three choices for an OpenIndiana replacement on the W541. You can read more about them in a PDF of a post I had written while pondering the options. (Unfortunately, WordPress began having issues right in the middle of writing it.)

The frontrunner was initially Linux Mint followed by its Debian-based twin, Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE.) My only experience with Linux, at least until November, has been through Linux Mint, which I’ve used since 2014 when I got a CD ISO of it in high school to install on the Asus Essentio Series desktop – later nicknamed the “MintTin.” I’ve had favorable experiences with Linux Mint, enough that I later installed a newer version of it on the aforementioned Inspiron 620.

Linux Mint with the Cinnamon desktop environment running on the Dell Inspiron 620.

However, I wanted to experiment. Ubuntu, which (regular) Linux Mint is based on, and LMDE are both derivatives of the Debian operating system. Furthermore, Debian shares a commonality with OpenIndiana. Ian Murdock created Debian in 1993 as a student at Purdue University, and nearly a decade later spearheaded “Project Indiana” – an official open-source spin of Sun Microsystems’ Unix SVR4-based Solaris. OpenIndiana would become the spiritual successor to OpenSolaris, the product of Project Indiana that was discontinued when Oracle bought Sun in 2010.

As I unsuccessfully attempted with OpenIndiana, the Inspiron 620 became the testing ground for Debian. However, unlike OpenIndiana, Debian runs on nearly anything – including the Inspiron 620. After a couple days of playing with it, I agreed that it was right for the W541.

Picking a desktop environment

As with many other Linux distributions, you’ve got several options for desktop environments with Debian. The list is fairly long, but includes the common ones – GNOME, KDE Plasma, MATE and Xfce.

The default desktop environment in Debian is GNOME, which I initially went with on the Inspiron 620. Personally, I wasn’t a huge fan of it. The user interface seems a lot closer to something you’d find on a tablet or touchscreen operating system rather than a traditional desktop one. I quickly installed KDE Plasma, which seems to be one of the most common desktop environments used throughout the world of Linux.

Debian 13 “Trixie” with the GNOME desktop environment running on the Dell Inspiron 620.

KDE Plasma is a traditional desktop environment that has a similar layout to Microsoft Windows, from the standard taskbar, “Application Launcher” (a la Start menu,) and layout of windows. New Linux users switching from Windows will feel at home with KDE Plasma, which can be customized to your liking. KDE Plasma also comes with a whole suite of KDE applications – KDE Gear – such as KATE (KDE Advanced Text Editor), the KMail email client and the Konqueror web browser. KDE Plasma features its own settings menu, GUI-based package manager and file browser, Dolphin.

Using KDE Plasma with Debian 13 “Trixie” running on the ThinkPad W541. The system specifications are shown in the System Settings menu and using “screenfetch” in a Terminal window. Akregator, one of the many applications that come bundled with KDE Plasma, displaying the RSS feed for my blog. It is a news feed/RSS feed viewer that automatically notifies you of new entries.

Linux Mint’s Cinnamon desktop environment is also available for Debian. Like Plasma, it is a traditional desktop environment with a similar layout and feel to Microsoft Windows. However, it’s less customizable and not as sleek – at least in my opinion – as KDE Plasma. For those who really want to use Cinnamon with the stability of Debian, I’d recommend checking out LMDE because you also will gain some of the built-in features of Linux Mint.

MATE – the default OpenIndiana desktop environment – is also available for Debian.

MATE, the default desktop environment for OpenIndiana, can also be used with Debian.

After switching to KDE Plasma, I never looked back. It is the only desktop environment I’ve used on the W541.

Debian first impressions

After choosing a desktop environment, I got to work installing Debian on the W541.

Before doing anything else, I copied all of my files in OpenIndiana to a USB flash drive so they could later be transferred back onto the W541 after Debian was installed. Writing nearly 30GB of files to the flash drive took several hours to complete.

Using a graphical user interface, the Debian installation process is fairly straight forward and similar to that of other *nix operating systems. However, I didn’t notice a “Live USB” option that allows you to use the operating system before installing it on your computer. (Perhaps something I missed?)

The superiority of Debian was noticeable during the installation process when it automatically detected the Intel Wireless 7260 radio – the same one OpenIndiana couldn’t use – and located several local wireless networks. Thus, the need for the travel router was eliminated. Some other parts of the W541 that previously didn’t work in OpenIndiana, such as keys for controlling the screen brightness and contrast, also work in Debian.

Then, I immediately noticed a massive performance boost upon the first boot of Debian. While OpenIndiana would take a solid minute to boot, Debian was up and running in around 30 seconds. The same was true for shutting the machine down: OpenIndiana would normally take around 45 minutes to come down, while Debian is normally down in less than 10 seconds.

With Debian installed, I immediately copied the files from the flash drive back to the W541’s solid state drive. Using the same USB 2.0 port as I did when moving the files to the flash drive, it took only a few minutes to copy the files back over to the SSD.

All the software packages I had installed in OpenIndiana were readily available on the Debian repository for download, if not already preinstalled in Debian. This time, Audacity loads with no issues. I also installed SuperTuxKart, an old favorite of mine that I used to play on the original MintTin.

OpenIndiana’s software repository didn’t have any games listed on it. However, Debian — like most Linux distributions — have a ton of games one can choose from, such as SuperTuxKart. Minecraft will also work in Debian, and I’ve heard nearly all Steam games will too using their Proton “compatibility layer.”

What about those websites that wouldn’t load, or would render extremely slowly to the point of being unusable, in OpenIndiana? They all work fine in Debian, including Google Maps and other Google Suite web apps.

Google Maps works flawlessly in Debian, with very little latency. In OpenIndiana, Google Maps was so slow it was unusable.

So far, Debian – based on the Linux kernel – has been much faster than OpenIndiana – based on an open-source SVR4 kernel – running on the same exact hardware. There’s a wider variety of software to pick from in Debian’s software repository compared to OI. And, I find KDE Plasma to be much better than MATE in nearly every way.

In the month since installing Debian, I’ve only had one hang caused by having too many Firefox tabs open. Instead of taking the entire operating system down into a kernel panic like OI, Linux terminated the program and alerted me of the memory shortage.

“Memory Shortage Avoided” error message by the Linux kernel displayed after having too many Firefox tabs open simultaneously.

About the only negative to Debian, so far, is TiMidity++ playback. With OpenIndiana, MIDI files rendered using TiMidity++ sounded fairly decent and had relatively even audio channels. In fact, I would say OpenIndiana is the best operating system to run TiMidity++ in. Those same files rendered using TiMidity++ on Linux Mint or Debian sound totally different, with lots of missing or horribly-sounding samples. Unlike with OpenIndiana, one audio channel would play at normal volume while the other would be relatively weak in Linux.

Comparing Debian and OpenIndiana’s renditions of the Christmas carol “Joy To The World” MIDI after processing them in TiMidity++. The top track shows the Debian version, which has unequal channels. (The top channel plays at a normal volume, while the bottom is so loud that it clips through most of the song.) In contrast, the OpenIndiana version on the bottom, has both channels playing at roughly equal volumes. The two renditions sound very different despite using the same MIDI file and software to render.

Ultimately, I think Debian might eventually end up becoming my main daily driver operating system. I’m strongly considering terminating my relationship with Apple, at least on the desktop front, after the 2020 M1 Mac mini – my main daily driver – reaches obsolescence and can no longer be used. Among other qualms I have with modern Apple, I want greater control over my hardware and the ability to use a free, open-source operating system. I’d like to build my own PC (although that might not happen due to obscene RAM prices,) although I might switch back to purchasing another ThinkPad. Although the need to replace the Mac mini is several years off, using Debian as my secondary daily driver just familiarizes me with it and will make the transition much easier.

Many are switching to Linux because of the actions of Microsoft and Apple. Whether you’re looking to escape an AI-riddled excuse of an operating system, frustrated with a stagnated operating system that places form over function, or boycotting a company because of its capitulation to a fascist regime, I’d recommend Linux Mint or Debian to anyone wishing to jettison Windows or macOS.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to my readers! I hope 2026 brings you joy and peace.