XBMC on a Thinkpad X21 (P3 700MHZ)? Will it run?

[jonte511]

I have an old Thinkpad X21 (http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:X21) that I think would suit perfectly as my "new" HTPC. However I am a bit concerned that the hardware is a few years too old. It runs a P3 700MHz...

I will only use it for low def material, and it looks to me as the hardware is similar to the old xbox1(?)

So what do you guys think? Is it worth a try, or should I just forget about it?

[spozen]

XBMC requires OpenGL 1.4.

*OpenGL

XBMC Media Center software requires that your computer graphcis hardware supports OpenGL 1.4, at a minimum, to function. We do however recommend a ATI/AMD, Intel, or NVIDIA graphic controller that support OpenGL 2.0 or better to fully experience XBMC Media Center at its best. Please also check your graphics device drivers to see what version of OpenGL your GPU (graphics processing unit) harware supports, and update to the latest graphics device drivers if possible. If your platform of choice is Mac OS X and your system has an Intel chipset (Mac Mini, MacBook or a MacBook Air), then even though the graphics device drivers only support OpenGL 1.2, XBMC Media Center will still run smoothly since most of the required functionality in the graphics device drivers is implemented through OpenGL extensions which are support in those graphics device drivers on Mac OS X.

* ATI Radeon R420 (X800) or newer supported, ATI Radeon R700 (HD 4000) or newer recommended.
* Intel GMA 950 (945G) or newer supported, Intel GMA X4500HD (G45) or newer recommended.
* NVIDIA GeForce 6-Series and newer supported, GeForce 8-Series and newer recommended.

[althekiller]

That hardware is less than the original Xbox plus the added overhead of an OS. It doesn't appear that any of the RAGE series supported more than OpenGL 1.2 anyway.

[jonte511]

Thanks for the replies!

Well I decided to try it anyway. Installed Xubuntu 7.10 and the latest version of XBMC.

It worked, but it was rrrrreeeeeeeeeaaaaaalllllllllyyyyyyyy slow... :sad:

Guess that that extra hardware acceleration was needed.