How's installation and use on a Toshiba Satellite 1905-301

UnuMondo

After a recent mugging in which I lost my Dell laptop, I've recently ordered a Toshiba Satellite 1905-301 which hopefully will arrive in a few weeks. It's got Windows XP on it, but I plan on wiping the hard drive immediately and installing Gentoo. Has anyone used Gentoo on this model, and if so how easy is installation and customisation of Gentoo? What features does turning on kernel support for Toshiba laptops offer?

Hope to hear from someone on this!

UnuMondo

X-SoCiaL · Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2002 6:22 pm Post subject:

Hi to ya ... Im running a Toshiba Satellite 5100-503 with Gentoo 1.4rc1 right now. I havent tried out any of the features in the kernel support though I got it compiled in the kernel. But as a general note about my Satellite the main problem that I have is switching between internal(TFT) and external(CRT) monitor. My Satellite doesnt have all the FN button functions in BIOS it seems. The switch of VGA output doenst work in Linux(tried SuSE,Debian,Gentoo and a fue others). In Debian there is a tool that is installed when adding the Toshiba module to the kernel but it didnt work with my Satellite =/. And also, I have to hack /usr/src/linux/drivers/char/keyboard.c to not get keystrokes to repeat itself. Otherwise than that Im happy with my Tux Toshiba. Ohh, one more thing, the support for i8x0 soundcards aint that good in linux yet.

/Roger
_________________
~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~
: Would I do it if I couldnt do it with a computer?
~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~

pilla · Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2002 6:45 pm Post subject:

Have you tried to enable the toshiba laptop support in the kernel? And yes, i810 audio does not work that well... I still cannot make gnomemeeting work with it, even using ALSA

X-SoCiaL · Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2002 8:18 pm Post subject:

Ya, I got the Toshiba stuff enabled in the kernel ... activating the numeric keypad works fine but not the display switching with FN+F5
_________________
~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~
: Would I do it if I couldnt do it with a computer?
~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~

UnuMondo · Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2002 12:14 am Post subject:

Bump.

I just picked up the laptop yesterday, but won't have access to the necessary broadband connection until the 10th of January. Oh well, gives me more time to decide how to ideally tweak my installation.

I've heard that Toshiba laptops actually depend on software drivers in Windows to make the fan work, and that the fan will not come on in Linux until the Toshiba utils are installed. Will that complicate installation? I'd hate to be nearly finished bootstrapping and then the laptop suddenly bursts into flames.

UnuMondo

UnuMondo · Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2002 12:14 am Post subject:

Bump.

I just picked up the laptop yesterday, but won't have access to the necessary broadband connection until the 10th of January. Oh well, gives me more time to decide how to ideally tweak my installation.

I've heard that Toshiba laptops actually depend on software drivers in Windows to make the fan work, and that the fan will not come on in Linux until the Toshiba utils are installed. Will that complicate installation? I'd hate to be nearly finished bootstrapping and then the laptop suddenly bursts into flames.

UnuMondo

oniq · Guru Joined: 02 Sep 2002 Posts: 597 Location: Connecticut

X-SoCiaL · Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2002 9:13 am Post subject:

My fan works just fine even under the installation and I have to emerge the Toshiba Utils by hand when the installation is finished. This is a Satellite so I dont know about the Pro and Portage models.

/Roger
_________________
~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~
: Would I do it if I couldnt do it with a computer?
~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~'¨'~

delta407

UnuMondo · Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2003 8:12 pm Post subject:

I have Gentoo running just fine on this laptop now and want to mention:

* The 1905 series has a Phoenix BIOS, so the Toshiba kernel extras won't run on this particular model.

* Switching from X to the console or vice versa can indeed cause the screen to go fuzzy, but this can be solved by switching back and forth a couple of times.

* The Radeon DRI kernel module in the 2.5.59 kernels will lock up the system, so DRI and the development kernel is not a working combination. However, I've gotten everything else of 2.5.5* working fine on here. And the mouse is a lot more zippy with 2.5.5* than 2.4.* for some reason.

UnuMondo

doumalgentoo · n00b Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Posts: 6

I also have the 1905-301. You need to update the bios and everything will be fine. The bios controls all the fans and other stuffs. Even the Fn keys works under linux because the bios is handling the commands.

I just have not figured out how to get linux to recognize the battery for power management. I get 2.5hours when running linux and 3.5hours when running windows with power management.