Debian and Toshiba Sallelite S105

[Fire59 0]

I have a toshiba satellite S105 laptop and i have always want to put a debian distro on it. I really want to learn how to use debian. So far the biggest problem i ran into is xfree and my wireless network.

 

I've installed debian 3.0 rc1 and it comes with the old xfree 4.2 i think. I have a radeon 7500 which is not support by the old xfree. I know it's supported in the new xfree but i dont know how up get the new xfree with out upgrading the kernel.

 

I've also ran into getting my mouse to work.

 

I think i need to upgrade the kernel anyway because i've been looking at website to get my Belkin F5D6020 ver.2 wireless pcmcia card to work requires it.

 

I had some success with bonzai linux but didn't get too far. I've also downloaded a sarge image and ran into error before i could do a base install.

 

Can anyone point me to a helpfull toshiba laptop tutorial and what i should install to get it running or a debian distro that i should try.

[Admiral LSD 0]

Woody comes with XFree86 4.1.0, it's Sarge and Sid that have 4.2.0 (although Sid should really have 4.3.0 by now except Debian's ridiculous 'all or nothing' policy toward packages and architectures is keeping it stuck at 4.2). ATi supply drivers that cover the whole gamut of XFree86 4.x drivers but these are only for the 8500 and up (including their FireGL variants) so are useless for you 7500.

 

In any even though, I'd suggest you upgrade to at least Sarge (though preferably Sid) as quickly as possible. You shouldn't have to reinstall for this, just edit to change anything that reads 'stable' to either 'testing' or 'unstable' before running apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade and you should be right. Next, I'd suggest you take a look here and see if they maintain a driver for the 7500 (I think they do). It won't perform as well as the ATi native drivers but it'll get a graphical environment up and running.

[Philipp 6]

XFree 4.3.0 is available in experimental (an extension to SID). You need to add the following sources to /etc/apt/sources.list:

 

Code:

deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-freedeb http://http.us.debian.org/debian-non-US unstable/non-US main contrib non-freedeb http://http.us.debian.org/debian ../project/experimental main contrib non-free 

 

Then run apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade

 

or you install the XFree 4.3.0 backport for Woody (if you run stable):

Code:

deb http://people.debian.org/~mmagallo/packages/xfree86/i386 ./

 

Another alternative is to install Knoppix (based on Debian SID/experimental):

http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-old-en.html

[Dapper Dan 0]

Quote:

Can anyone point me to a helpfull toshiba laptop tutorial and what i should install to get it running or a debian distro that i should try.

I'm not sure if you would have the same luck on your Toshiba with Morphix as I did on our Toshiba Satellite, but it would be easy to find out, and it would only cost you one CDR if it doesn't. Morphix is Debian based and runs from CD. If you download, say, the Morphix-Gnome 4.1 iso's and burn to CD, you can boot it on your Toshiba and see what works. That way you don't run into a lot of trial and error time installing. If it DOES work to your satisfaction, you can then install it to HD.

Morphix found and configured everything on our laptop except the winmodem, including my Orinoco Gold Card. Here's more if you want to consider it. See my post about 3/4 of the way down.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=91054&highlight=Toshiba

You can download the Morphix iso's here...

http://morphix.sourceforge.net/modules/mydownloads/

Good luck, I hope this helps.

[Fire59 0]

thanks everyone, more comments or help is welcome.

 

 

Phillip i'll try upgrading my dist to sid. And if that doesn't work i'll try out the Morphix-Gnome 4.1.

[Fire59 0]

I've try Morphix 4.1 heavy GUI and light GUI. Each time i get to that screen where it says hit f2 for something installation and there's a progress bar it freeze. Maybe i'll try knoppix.

[DssEnigma 0]

I also have a Toshiba, actually 2. A 8000 Tecra and a new A30. I installed Mepis (Debian based) and it runs flawless. Pcmcia, usb, video touchpad, ethernet all autodetected. I have had to next to zero tinkering with it. Try out the live cd, if it works you can use the installer program.

Good luck.

P.S. The only part that was a bit trick was the power management. Make sure your lappy is plugged in because when your login screen comes up it my think your battery is dead until you configure Klaptop apm.

 

Alan.